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“Oh. Right.” Tammy smiled at Beatrice and then looked back at me. “That’s hard, kid.”
“They’re taking their time with it.”
“So you and their mom . . .”
“Jade didn’t tell everyone?” I asked.
“No. It seems pretty serious, and we try not to gossip about things like that.”
“That’s nice. And their mom and I were friends. Only friends.”
“Good for Jade then. No wonder she changed her tune so fast.” Tammy rapped her knuckles on the table. “Now, your order? My other customers can’t wait forever.”
I blinked. I didn’t mean to keep her from her other customers for so long, but it was nice to catch up.
“My usual.”
“Teen-you usual or what you got last time?”
“Surprise me.”
“I hate it when people do that,” she muttered with a shake of her head. “You’ll be lucky if I don’t bring you a pile of slop.”
“I wouldn’t complain.”
“Don’t challenge me,” Tammy said as she walked off.
That was when I focused on Agnes and Beatrice.
“How were the last few days?” I asked.
Beatrice looked up. “So much fun! I want to be left with Jade from now on.”
It would be so easy to get defensive, but I knew that was what Beatrice wanted. I remembered when Agnes told me she needed time. As I was by myself, I also realized she needed patience.
“What did she do with you guys?”
“Why?” Beatrice asked.
“Because I’m not the best at coming up with ideas and I’ve let you two get too bored. I wanna do better.”
Beatrice’s eyes went wide.
Agnes was the one who answered. “She had us watch old, boring movies.”
“Did you enjoy those?”
“No. I enjoyed the dragon ones, though.”
“I liked the old ones!” Beatrice argued. “I want those too!”
“So both. I can make that work.”
We lapsed into a somewhat comfortable silence that was broken only by Tammy bringing me my food.
Eventually, Agnes looked at me. “Where did you go?”
“Back to San Francisco,” I said. “To check out a school for you guys.”
