“Yeah.”
Riley frowned as she handed something to Grace. “Who got Grace a fucking Everydoll?”
“The professor,” I replied. They were a lot more expensive than the average doll butverypopular. There was an entire store of them at one of the malls in Rockland.
“Oh. That’s kinda weird?” Riley’s head cocked.
“He got it when he thought he found me and saved it for when he actually did.” Grace bit her lower lip. “I thought it was sweet.”
“Oh, that is sweet. You have one of the older ones? Nice. I think her hair could use a trip to the doll salon,” Riley replied as she gave Wes his drink.
“Would you like me to take the two of you to the Everydoll boutique like I did when you were younger? We could have tea, then you could have their hair done, and get new outfits for them? We haven’t done that in a while.” It was something Riley and I did every year for her birthday up until a couple of years ago.
Riley flinched. “I don’t have one anymore.”
“You don’t?” Evan frowned as he put out the containers. “You loved them. They always had wild adventures. You used to send me videos.”
Going to the Everydoll store was one of our first outings together and not long after her parents died. Her grandparents needed me to get her out of the house. She was very young. I didn’t know what to do with her, so I’d brought her there and we’d had a lovely afternoon of tea and dolls followed by a movie and a trip to the pizza arcade.
“What happened to them? I won’t be mad if you traded them for a dirt bike,” I reassured her. From her look, I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case.
Riley mumbled something as she set something for me on the tray.
“Um, Sasha did what to your dolls?” Evan turned and looked at her, stricken.
“She was mad at me, so she gave my dolls and all my doll things to the neighbor. Sasha said I was too old for them, anyway. Sonja and Grandma told her off but didn’t make her get them back and wouldn’t let me ask for them. They also told me not to tell either of you. Grandpa promised to get me a new one. And he did, but it wasn’t an actual Everydoll, it was just from Swoop.” Riley wrapped her arms around herself.
While it was nice of him, I could see a discount store doll not quite being the same. While she’d just had a couple of dolls, she had quite the collection of accessories and clothes.
“Shit, I’m sorry. Sasha can be mean sometimes.” Evan wrapped his arms around her.
“I mean, I’m not a kid anymore. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t still like them. Lots of people collect them.” She buried her face in her brother’s shoulder.
“Ugh, it’s not like she doesn’t still have hers.” Evan made a face. “I know because she left them at Grandma’s when she moved.”
Riley looked up. “You don’t think I haven’t thought of kidnapping them?”
“When was this?” I asked. My heart broke. Sasha was sometimes resentful of Riley, but that was pretty awful.
“The summer between seventh and eighth grade, around when you were talking about me moving to Rockland for high school,” she mumbled. “It was one of the reasons I agreed. I knew you all wouldn’t touch my shit.”
That timing correlated with her saying that she wanted to do something else with me for her birthday.
“My mom did that, too–got rid of my toys and gave them to other kids,” Grace whispered. “My dad saved one, but it still was awful.”
“It won’t replace what you lost, but you could choose a new one? Then we can have tea, and go to the doll spa, and you and Grace can select new outfits for them?” I offered.
“I suppose. But only because they just launched a line of official skate smash outfits for Everydolls, and I want a Rockland Raiders outfit for mine,” she said.
Grace was on her phone. “Tiny skates and helmets? Count me in. Ooh, there are so many dolls to choose from.”
“They’re always putting out limited edition ones, too. Some of them arereallyfancy. I think it’s fun to have one or two, but it’s creepy when you have an army of them.” Riley looked at Grace.
“We had something like this in my world. I always wanted one of those dolls, but I never got one,” Grace said wistfully.
“Oh, they had a limited edition Theodosia one. You can still get her on some resale sites. She comes with a tiny working piano,” Brennan said, looking at his phone.
Riley started laughing. “Fucking shit, Bren, really?”
