Chapter 19 - The Space in the Suitcase
August arrived smelling of hot pavement and cut grass. I had two suitcases, a duffel, and a box of notebooks. The Corner Spoon gave me a cake with my name spelled correctly, which made Ruby announce it was a miracle worth celebrating.
Cleo packed a flashlight into my suitcase. "In case the dorm goes dark," she said. Maisie added her yellow paper planet, folded carefully so the rings wouldn't tear.
"You need these more," I told them.
"No," Cleo said. "We have each other. You need something from us."
I almost cried. For years I'd thought love meant being useful until there was nothing left of me. My sisters were offering me something without asking for anything back.
Mom brought my birth certificate and the file of school papers she'd kept in her locked desk. She handed them over without a lecture. She had found a cheaper apartment and rearranged work so the girls could attend the supervised program after school. Things were still tight, but she was making choices that belonged to an adult.
"I can't promise I've fixed everything," she told me.
"I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you not to put it back on me."
She took that in and nodded.
At the bus station Simone stood beside me as the driver loaded my bag. I would be at Lakebridge by afternoon, with a room assignment and a student ID waiting. Talia had already sent me six messages about orientation.
Cleo held on one last time. "Will you answer when I call?"
May you like
"When I can. And if I can't, I'll call back."
She smiled. A promise that allowed both of us to have lives was new territory. So was the empty seat beside me when I stepped onto the bus.
