Wherever all that baggage had come from, Rue had loved her grandmother. And she had always been kind to Rue, but she knew people weren’t formed from nothing and nowhere, and her mother was no exception. And now, her mother had become the gift that kept on giving.
“Thank you,” Rue said. “I... I’ll figure it out.”
Rue turned to Justice. “They’re going to auction the house off. I’m going to have to go move the rest of my stuff.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I just... This is so unfair. I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t the responsible one. So why are they doing this to me? Why... What is this happening to me? It doesn’t seem fair.”
“It doesn’t. You’re right.”
“There’s supposed to be a reward for good behavior. There’s supposed to be... a point to this.”
“I don’t know. Some people say that virtue is its own reward.”
“Well, fuck this rewards program,” she said, kicking a stone on the sidewalk. “I hate it. It hasn’t given me anything that I want.”
She put her hands over her face.
“Rue, it’s possible that we could pool the money from the ranch...”
“No,” she said. “You can’t do that. I won’t let you. That is taking this whole friendship thing a bridge too far. It’s not like I’m going to be homeless. I’ll be able to get something together. I will be able to buy another house. I can do it in Mapleton. I can probably find arental. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll find a rental near the yarn store...”
“You’re going to move to Mapleton?”
“It makes sense.”
Except it hurt. Because she worked in Mapleton, but Justice was her life. Still. She had to make the drive in one direction or another.
That didn’t help. Nothing helped. Everything just felt terrible and disruptive and like the absolute worst thing that could’ve happened. But she was going to try not to dissolve out there on the streets.
“Do you want to go into the yarn store for a minute?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. I can’t face anyone yet. I can’t... I can’t.”
“Yeah. I get it.”
“Can we just go back...?” She almost saidhome. When she said that, she meant King’s Crest. She hadn’t forgotten that she wasn’t staying at her grandmother’s. Not anymore.
“We can go back,” he said. “Hey, if you want to box up your things that’s fine and I get it. But...”
“No. I’ll do it.”
“Well. I’ll stand guard and make sure those lackeys from the repossession company don’t try anything.”
“Thanks. I wasn’t worried about that. And now I am.
“Hell. You should always worry,” he said.
“You never worry.”
“Because I have you to do it for me. If you stopped, though, I might get myself into trouble.”
That was like a little pinhole of sunshine coming through the darkness. It was silly, maybe. But it wasa reminder. Of how they balanced each other. Of how she mattered.
“Okay,” she said. “We’ll move my stuff out.”
“You can store it in one of the old outbuildings.”
