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“Where’s her dog?”
“On her way here. Hazard and Anise are driving up to be with Cher and Stevie. They’re bringing the dog, along with clothes and shit for Yarrow and me. We’ll be staying in Little Memphis for a week or two. Maybe longer if Goldie needs us.”
Blackjack finally asked the question we were both thinking. “What are your plans?”
“I don’t know.”
Blackjack cocked his eyebrow and muttered, “I think you know a little.”
Sighing, I blurted out, “Zodiac is watching my dog. I have clothes from Exile. I can stay at a hotel. But I don’t know how long any of that will last. Basically, the answer comes down to what Goldie wants.”
Blackjack studied me for a moment before smiling at his wife exiting the house and marching toward us.
“Is he shy?” Yarrow asked.
“No.”
Yarrow stood in front of me and frowned. “Is York your road name?”
“No. My parents named me that.”
Yarrow asked, “Why?”
“They liked the sound of it.”
“Why is your mom so old?”
“She had me when she was in her mid-forties.”
“Why?”
“Because she got sloppy with her birth control.”
Yarrow nodded and smiled up at Blackjack. “Did he say the things you wanted him to say?”
“Yeah, we’re good. Let’s go inside.”
Entering the front hall, we were met by the crying sounds of Nova’s girls. Yarrow rushed forward and around a corner to the family room. Skylar and Lyric sobbed against their mom.
“I’m okay,” Goldie said, stretched out on the couch and mostly hidden under a rainbow blanket.
Despite saying the words, Goldie covered her ears until the girls settled down.
“You got hit by a car,” Lyric told Goldie. “You got run over.”
“Goldie is okay,” Nova promised her daughters.
Skylar shook her head. “This is bad. People need to retire. We need to call someone.”
Squatting next to the girls, Boone asked, “Who should we call?”
Lyric shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Neither do I. Our family is right here,” Boone said and walked to his sister. “Maybe instead of calling someone, we’ll take care of Goldie. Can we do that?”
Nodding in unison, Skylar and Lyric wiped their tears. I didn’t blame them for getting rattled by Goldie’s bruised face. She looked like someone beat her up. My temper flared when I imagined those fuckers crashing into her and tossing her unconscious body into their SUV like she was trash.
I pushed aside those thoughts and zeroed in on Goldie. She was so focused on the upset girls that she took a few minutes to notice me.
