Pure Redemption (Tainted Legacy) (42 page)

He kept a roof over their heads. It was a smallish house, just a rental. It was decent enough. But it was nothing fancy—or even inviting. It was simply livable with its stark white walls, gray carpeting and white and silver flecked linoleum. She would’ve liked to have been able to at least paint their bedrooms but the landlord wouldn’t allow it.

Sometimes Paul grudgingly gave Luci a bit of spending money when she begged him for it. He paid for her school lunches. Usually. He gave Cleo fifty bucks a week to put toward groceries for the three of them. It didn’t go far. She had to buy the rest. She usually packed her lunch for school. Anything else she needed, she bought herself. She never asked Paul for a dime. He wouldn’t have given it to her even if she had. So she saved herself the humiliation of asking. Some weeks it was hard enough to get grocery money from him. She’d learned early to get it first thing Friday afternoon; payday.
If
she could catch him before he headed out to the bar.

If only Paul spent as much on groceries as he did on cigarettes and alcohol, Cleo knew they’d be all set.

She finished making the spaghetti. Since Paul had left and wouldn’t be around to grumble, she only used half of the hamburger she’d browned. She put the rest in the fridge for another meal. Noodles were far cheaper so she and Luci filled up on them with sauce, light on the meat.

“So tell me more about these girls,” Cleo said as they sat down to dinner. “Tell me again how you met them?”

Luci reached for a second piece of garlic bread. Cleo swatted her hand away. “Not until you eat your green beans.”

“I hate green beans,” Luci moaned.

“Yeah, me too,” Cleo agreed with an encouraging smile. Emma’s mom, Patty Donovan, had given them to her, fresh out of the garden. She hadn’t wanted to be rude by not taking them, or letting them go to waste. She was pretty sure Mrs. Donavon knew this. It was just another one of the dozens of ways she tried to help watch over Luci and Cleo. “But since you hate all vegetables I thought, why not green beans for tonight?”

Luci pouted as she took a tentative bite.

“So, these girls?” Cleo pressed.

“We met during lunch,” Luci said around a bite of noodles. She’d already abandoned the green beans.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Sweet Pea, it’s rude. And pretty gross,” Cleo admonished.

Luci rolled her eyes as she made a point of swallowing.

“I don’t have lunch with Jill
or
Bridget,” she began in a voice that fully implied how unfair this was. Cleo immediately empathized because again, she understood the trauma lunchtime could bring. “And I didn’t know
where
I was going to sit. So I was just standing there feeling stupid and Micah Carter…he’s so cute…he was like
whoah
!” Luci opened her eyes wide to emulate him. “And I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then he pointed behind me and Addison and Marissa were there. He was like…‘You guys all look alike! I must be seeing triple’! So that’s how it started. They laughed and we found a table. Then I had a class with Marissa after lunch.”

“You really look that much alike?” Cleo wondered. She tried to keep the skepticism out of her tone.

“Well, yes,” Luci decided. “I mean, we all have long blond hair and blue eyes. Well, we are different because of our bangs. And they don’t have freckles,” she admitted with a bit of disappointment. “But mostly we’re the same height. Okay, maybe I’m a little bit shorter. But when we were walking down the hallway at the end of the day, everyone stared,” she admitted with a giggle.

Cleo had to wonder if it was the twins alone—not only
twins
but new girls in school—that were
really
the center of attention. But no way was she about to burst Luci’s little bubble of happiness by pointing that out to her.

“Who do you have lunch with?” Luci wanted to know.

“I got lucky. I’ve got lunch with Emma again this year. And Melanie,” she added as an afterthought.

Luci looked pleased for her sister.

“Do you have Jill and Bridget in any of your other classes?” Cleo asked. They were her two best friends from early on in elementary school.

Jill’s mom, Teri Abernathy, had known their mom. She hadn’t known her well. Just in passing because of birthday parties and sleepovers both girls attended. The Abernathys were great about inviting Luci over now. Or if Cleo ever needed somewhere for her to go, Teri had told her the offer to take Luci overnight was always open. She’d only taken her up on it a few times. She didn’t want to take advantage of the situation. And they invited Luci over frequently anyway. Jill’s family had kind of taken Luci in the same way Emma’s had done with Cleo.

Luci nodded and made a point of swallowing again. “They have lunch together but I have Bridget in my gym class and I have Jill in art and math.”

“That’s good,” Cleo said.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, “and I also have Addison in my language class. But I had that first hour and we didn’t get to be friends until later. But now I think first hour will be a lot more fun.”

“So, other than making new friends, what was your favorite part of the day?” Cleo wondered as she hurriedly forced down a bite of green beans.

Luci’s smile was so huge it took over her face and made her crinkled up eyes sparkle. “Cleo…oh…my…
gosh
! You should
see
the library! It’s
huge
! And there are no baby books in there. At all. I mean, like, no picture books for the kindergartners like there was in the elementary school library. This one? It’s
full
of books that
don’t
have pictures. And we get to go twice a week. But we can only check out two books at a time. I’ve already started a list for this year but I’m not even half way done with writing them all down. I can’t wait! We get to go for the first time tomorrow! I saw it today, but only because I got to go in before the bell had rung. And I didn’t get to look around too long because the librarian told me I should probably find my first hour class. But tomorrow?! Is going to be so awesome!”

“Did you go into the library without permission?” Cleo suspiciously wondered.

“Well…maybe. But I’ve been waiting all summer to see it!”

Luci’s smile was infectious and Cleo grinned back, happy to see Luci happy. And not surprised that the books made her sound even happier than her newfound friends did. Books, after all, were Luci’s passion.

So,” Luci said after swallowing another bite of beans with a grimace, “how was your first day?”