Page 17 of Outside the Lines
"What are you going to talk to her about?"
This was not a kid to keep secrets from. "Where you're going to be staying tonight and what happened with the Johnsons that made you change your mind about wanting to be there with them."
"Are they going to be mad at me for leaving?"
I couldn't answer that for her. "I don't know. I can't speak for them. Do you care if they are?"
She shook her head. "Are you mad at me?"
"Not at all. I get it. They forced you to get clean. I can tell that you were probably pretty upset. Were you scared too?"
"Yes," she mumbled. She was a tough little bulldog, even in her trauma.
"I would have been too. Do you want me to bring Matilda in here so that we can talk and you can be a part of that conversation?"
Sally nodded. For most people, a seven-year-old couldn't have made a decision like that. Or, if they did, people might have ignored her wishes. But Sally hadn't been a child for a long time. She'd seen too much darkness in the world already to ever be naive again.
"Okay, wait here for me to go get her. There's chocolate in the mini fridge beside you if you want some."
She gave me a half smile and I got up to go find her social worker. Matilda was at the coffee machine when I found her. "She's a mess," Matilda said as I came up to her.
I nodded. Sally definitely was that. "I'd like to talk to you about where she'll be moving to, and she would like to be part of the conversation."
"I was afraid of that. We're running out of places to put her."
"I know. We'll come up with something. We always do." Matilda followed me back to my office where Sally had three candies in front of her. We took up chairs around her, letting her have the couch to herself.
"Where would you like to go?" Matilda asked her.
Sally shrugged. There weren't too many places left.
I leaned toward her. "How about staying at the group home for a while? Just until we figure out a better place for you?"
"I'd rather just stay with you," she repeated while staring at me with those big hopeless green eyes of hers.
Matilda sighed, and I wished that there was some way that I could take her home with me. But she would need her own bed in her own room, and Andy and I lived in a two-bedroom place. "Sally…"
She shook her head. "I know. You don't have room for me there. Iknow."
And it broke my heart. I would love to be able to take all of these kids home with me. "I can take you out to lunch. Or a movie if you want." It wasn't much, but at least I could do that for her. It had already been cleared with Matilda previously that if Sally wanted to go with me, she could.
Sally nodded and wrapped her arms around herself. "Group home then?"
Matilda smiled gently at her. "Yes. Until we find a nice family to place you in."
"One who will understand and won't push you into doing things," I added on.
"Are we done for today?" Sally asked me.
We still had some time, but if she wanted to leave, I wouldn't try to force her to stay. "We can be. Would you like to go out for lunch tomorrow?"
"Tacos? I'll only go if you promise me tacos."
That was a pretty fair deal to me. "Sure. We can have tacos."
Sally got off the couch and left with Matilda. I thought about her, and tried to come up with a solution for her without any luck, for the rest of the day.
Chapter Five
