“Aggie?” Rosa points at the small home, and I smile and nod.
“You’ll be staying with Aggie today and maybe tonight.”
“Maybe tonight,” Rosa repeats, and I turn back to look at her, her green eyes bright and shining as she looks at me.
God, she looks like her father sometimes.
I shake off the empty feeling in my chest, getting out of the car and helping Rosa out of her seat.
I walk up and Agnes meets us at the door. She’s sixty-five and a bit of a hippie. She believes in crystals and astrology. She coos at Rosa and the smell of something like patchouli assaults my nose.
Rosa doesn’t seem to mind, though, practically jumping into Agnes’ arms.
“Aggie! Aggie, my shoes,” she says petulantly and Agnes just praises her.
“Your shoes are beautiful.”
“She had such an attitude this morning. You wouldn’t believe it.”
“My Rosa? With an attitude?”
Rosa grins and wrinkles her nose.
“I guess that’s just your Gemini rising shining through,” Agnes tells her, poking her nose with the tip of her nail.
Rosa giggles and leans against Agnes.
“Have a good day at work, Sophia.”
I nod, exasperated. Rosa only seems to want to act up when I’m almost late for work.
Which is nearly every shift, if I’m honest with myself.
I’m starting to become jaded, I guess.
I do my job, find the perp, take them in. Sometimes I can’t quite collar them, and it bugs me for days.
Sometimes they beg. Sometimes they tell me their stories and I feel empathy. Too much empathy.
But I haven’t been undercover yet.
Not really, anyway. I’ve worked Vice a few times and pretended to be a junkie prostitute, but I haven’t been given any big assignments.
It seems like the lieutenant is just using me for my photographic memory more than anything else at this point.
I kiss the tip of Rosa’s nose.
“Love you, Rosie girl.”
“Love ya, Mama,” she says, almost matter-of-factly, and I can’t help but smile.
As difficult as she can be, she’s the light of my life.
Agnes smiles at me, giving me a side hug. “You look tired. You doing okay?”
I nod, giving her a forced smile. “Just peachy, Agnes. Don’t worry.”
Agnes has been with me since I first fell pregnant. We used to live right next to each other, but I’d had to move into a new place once Rosa came along.
