Page 38 of Minted
“No.” Nikki picks up the pizza box and throws it at the door. “Get out. We don’t want anyone to ‘help’ us.” She makes air quotes.
“They have systems in place for this,” I say. “The help is real.”
“Our friend Madison went to an orphanage and she said it’s horrible,” Nikki says.
“She probably went to a group home,” I say. “They don’t really have orphanages anymore.”
“Who cares what they call it?” Ricki asks. “We can pay our rent, and we are. We usually go to school, too. So leave us alone.”
“How about we work on trying to get this place cleaned up,” I say. “Because the social worker will be here soon, and I imagine it’ll look better if it’s not totally full of trash.” When I grab a half-full bag from the corner, a rat explodes out of it, leaping toward my face.
He pivots and hops over my shoulder, his poky little claws racing down across my back as he books it for the door. I was unprepared, though, and I definitely scream.
Really long, and really loud.
“The rats leave you alone,” Nikki says. “Unless you try to clean.”
I can’t help shuddering. “You cannot stay here tonight.”
“Where do you think we’re going, then?” Ricki asks. “Because we’re not going to a group home.” She folds her arms and sets her jaw.
“What if they let you come stay with me?” I ask.
They don’t say no, but they don’t look excited, either. I’m probably not their favorite person right now, and that’s okay.
“What about him?” Nikki glares at Bentley. “I’m guessing he’s not really a pizza guy.”
“He’s not,” Bentley says. “He’s a friend of Barbara’s.”
“I asked him to help, because the neighbor told me you only let delivery people through the door.”
The girls keep arguing with me, and Bentley braves his way through filling and taking out as many bags and boxes of trash as they have in the apartment before Alice arrives. He dislodges three more rats, but one of them is pretty small.
Impressively, he never shrieks. He doesn’t even whimper, not even when the bottom falls out of a soggy box and covers his fancy shoes in sludge. The smell gets worse, which surprises me, but maybe that’s normal in a clean-up operation.
When Alice gets there, I think the place is looking way better, but she still looks horrified. I task Bentley to keep the girls busy so we can talk with a tiny bit of privacy in the front entry area. “I’ve called the central office for an emergency placement, and I think—”
“What about me?” I ask.
“You have to have a home study and take classes on fostering—”
“I have,” I say. “And so has he.” I toss my head at Bentley.
“Right,” Alice says. “Because you’re friends with Seren and Dave.”
“I’m Seren’s family now,” I say. “So of course I had to go through all the training and approvals so I’d be an option for respite care. Their youngest is a teenager at this point, but I revised my home study after my divorce in case they ever had to leave the country. Plus, with them, you never know when they’ll take someone else in.”
Alice smiles. “Or, apparently, when you will.”
“Girls,” I say, moving back into the main part of the apartment. “Let’s get your bags packed. I have a really nice guest room.”
“Do you actually have a deluxe guest room?” Bentley asks.
I shrug. “Deluxe might be a stretch, but compared to this place, it’s the Ritz frigging Carlton.”
He laughs. “I’m assuming it’s cockroach and rodent free.”
“Last I checked,” I say. “Doing the dishes every day really helps me.”
