“I am,” she said quietly.
“Oh, thank God!” The girl, Cami, slid into the booth on Frankie’s side, and my daughter sent me a look that saidget out of here fast. She had slipped into the age of being embarrassed by her mother, and I hadn’t even noticed.
I slipped out of the booth and said, “I’ll be at the counter. Frankie.” I waited for her to look up and gave her a look that said,mind the bill. Reminding her silently that I still didn’t have a job.
“Let’s get a bunch of appetizers and split them,” Cami suggested.
“Um,” Frankie stuttered and looked up at me, humiliation in her eyes, and I smiled and nodded. If I had to, I would humble myself and call Slyce for help with the bill. This dinner was more important than I had realized.
“Cami,” her sister began. “We will not abuse Joellen’s kindness. If you order it, you eat it.”
“I know, Maggie.” Cami rolled her eyes, and I chuckled without thinking. It was a look Frankie gave me repeatedly.
Maggie huffed and turned to me. “Would you like to sit with us?”
“Um, sure.” I gave a last fleeting look at my daughter to make sure she was okay, and she didn’t even notice I was there. Her focus was solely on her new friend. Guilt assailed me again.
“Rhoda said I could sit at the counter,” the boy said.
“I did,” Rhoda confirmed as she walked up beside us. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Are you sure?” Maggie asked. When Rhoda nodded, Maggie focused on the boy. “Be good, Nox. I mean it.”
His hand rested over his heart. “It wounds me you think I would be anything but.”
Maggie snorted, and Rhoda laughed, putting an arm over Nox’s shoulders and leading him away. “Let’s go before she changes her mind.”
“Sorry, my siblings can be a lot,” Maggie apologized.
“That’s okay.”
I followed Maggie to a booth where we could keep one eye on the girls, and she could watch Nox with the other.
“How old is he?”
“Ten going on forty.”
I did a double take at the boy sitting at the counter talking to Joellen, the owner. “He’s ten?” I asked in awe. His shoulders were wide, and he was at least my height, if not an inch taller.
“Yeah, our dad was a big guy. Nox definitely takes after him. I think Cami will too. She definitely looks older than she is. I thank God every day that mentally she’s younger than the other girls her age.”
“Frankie is like that too,” I commented, not wanting to explain that I was the reason for her stunted social skills.
“I blame our lifestyle. Cami goes to school, but we live on an orchard, so when she’s home, she’s working.”
“Do you run the orchard?” I asked, thinking Maggie was young for running a business like that.
“Yeah, it’s been in our family for generations. Our mom passed away when Nox was four.”
“And your dad?” I asked and immediately wanted to kick myself when she looked away. “I’m sorry, that’s none of my business.”
“It’s fine. Honestly, I don’t know where he is. After our mom died, he fell apart and started drinking. When Nox was five, he fell out of one of the trees and broke his leg. Dad was supposed to be watching him. I guess he felt so guilty he left.”
“I’m so sorry. You’ve been raising your siblings for five years? You can’t be more than twenty-five.”
“Twenty-two, actually. I was three months from turning eighteen when Dad took off.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility for someone so young.”
