She shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“I’m going to need more than that, Janie,” I say with a sigh. “We could be here all day if I have to drag the details out of you piece by piece.”
She doesn’t look too upset by this threat, but she tells me the story anyway. “Michelle said something mean, and I told her to take it back. Then Natalie called Betsy trailer trash, and I toldherto take it back. When she didn’t, I gave her a shove, and she fell off.”
Betsy is a new girl. Her family just moved to Highland Hills two months ago, and she’s had a rough time with the transition. While I’m proud of Jane for standing up for her new friend, violence isn’t the answer.
“It was just a tiny shove.” She holds up her thumb and forefinger to show a sliver of a crack. “Natalie was being a drama queen.”
“So how did Michelle end up punching you in the nose?”
“I shoved her too, and she swung her arms around trying to keep her balance and smacked me in the face.”
“What did Michelle say that pissed you off?”
Her gaze darts to her teacup. “I forgot.”
“Why did Natalie call Betsy trailer trash?”
She gives me a look that suggests I’m an idiot. “Because she lives in a trailer.”
I nod. It’s not a full explanation, but it will do for now. “Natalie wasn’t nice, but neither were you.”
Indignation stains her cheeks red. “She wouldn’t take it back, Dad!”
“Then tell a teacher, J. You can’t go shoving people around when they disappoint you or piss you off.”
Defiance fills her eyes. “Youshove people around at Ziggy’s when they get too drunk or start a fight.”
“That’s different,” I say, getting irritated. “Those people are behaving badly, and I’m removing them from the brewery so they don’t hurt the other customers.”
“And I was removing Natalie, who was behaving badly and hurting Betsy.”
Well, fuck. She has a point.
“Ready to have your tea leaves read?” Tina asks as she stops by our table.
I’m equally grateful for and frustrated by her appearance.
“Can you really tell our future?” Jane asks eagerly.
“Well…” Tina hedges. “A very small portion of it.” She takes Jane’s mostly empty cup, turns it upside down, twists it on the saucer, and then picks it back up and stares at the bottom. Her brows pinch together in concentration, or at least a show of it.
“What does it say?” Jane asks, practically bouncing in her seat.
Tina tilts her head to the side. “Well…it says you have some changes coming in your life.”
It feels like an arrow has pierced my heart, until I remind myself this is a load of cockamamie bullshit. Tina makes this crap up as she goes along. Still, I can see that her prediction hasn’t made Jane all that happy either.
Shit. Have the Labelles said anything about seeking custody to Jane? I’ve asked her a few times since the subject first came up earlier this year, and she said the most they’d done was make off-handed suggestions that she might enjoy living with them all the time and seeing me on my days off, to which she’d said, “Nah, I’m good.” But something is off because she’s taking Tina’s fortune to heart, and not in a good way.
“Change can be a good thing,” Tina says. “Like meeting your new best friend. Getting a new…What are you into? Kids your age are always into some sh—something.”
Jane shrugs.
“You have to be into something,” she prods, then flicks her eyes to me.
“Sports,” I say. “She likes soccer, softball, basketball—”
