Curvy Valentine Match

“Yeah. Maybe.” This early morning drive wasn’t about me or my past, it was about Lonnie. “I’ll think about it. Later.”

“Right. Because now we’re going to be heroes. Right?”

I snorted and shifted the car into park right in front of the small house with the brown roof that I’d spent my high school years living in. “Right. Heroes, that’s what we are. Let’s go.” Unlike my last visit to Tulip, there was no hesitation in my steps. I marched up the three concrete steps and gave the door three solid taps. The door opened a moment later and instead of Helen, it was a face I hadn’t seen up close in too many years to remember.

“Mara? Holy shit, it is you!” Before I could apologize for not keeping in touch, his grey eyes lit up into a smile and his big arms pulled me in for a hug. “It’s so damn good to see you. Ma said she’d seen you, but you know…”

“You’re like a grown man now, Will. What’s with all the muscles?”

He laughed and took a step back. “That’s what happens lifting people in and out of ambulances all day. Ma said you might come to dinner one of these days.”

I nodded and stepped inside, nodding to Joss that it was okay to follow. “I came and I saw you and Audrey with your families, I realized I still didn’t belong and, well I didn’t want to make it awkward for everyone.”

Will laughed and shook his head at me like I was still that silly girl who thought he hung the moon. “I was hoping to see you. Guess it’s a good thing I stopped by to fix Ma’s sink. What brings you by?”

I sighed, knowing this would be the hard part. “I need Helen’s help. I know it’s not fair to come here after all this time and ask for something right away, but the help isn’t for me.”

“Of course, it isn’t. You’d never ask for help for yourself, would you?” Helen’s voice sounded behind me and I turned to see her leaning against the doorway with a knowing smile. “For the record, I would help if you needed it Mara.”

“I know.” My voice was quiet and subdued because I heard the reproach in her tone. “I’m working on it.”

“She is,” Joss assured her. “Asked to borrow my car to come here and get you. It’s progress, and I’m Joss by the way.” She held a hand out to Will, offering her up beautiful, radiant smile. He took it, and Helen wrapped her in a hug.

“You must be close if she trusts you enough to ask for help.” Helen gave her a long glance and nodded. “You’re beautiful, girl.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I can see why Mara is so tough.”

Helen barked out a laugh and smiled at me over Joss’ shoulder. “Nah, she was tough when I got her.”

“I can hear all of this,” I said, annoyed, which was met with three booming laughs. “Whatever.”

“A pot of coffee is brewing and I’m no good without it, so let’s go to the kitchen and Mara can tell me what she needs.” Helen herded all three of us into her small kitchen, the same way she used to when we were rowdy teenagers with big appetites.

Will took a seat and stared at me for a long time, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. I didn’t want to know, either. “You’ve been in Pilgrim all this time?”

“No. After juvie, I spent a year in San Antonio, but no one wants to hire a juvenile delinquent reformed or otherwise, even to work in a kitchen. Found a job opening in Pilgrim and moved there when my boss hired me.”

“You never came back.”

I shrugged. “I’d already caused enough trouble here, no point bringing more with my new baggage.” It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, staying away from the only people who had ever been like family to me, but it was better for everyone. “Helen deserved better.”

Will shook his head, but said no more. Probably wishing I’d just go back to Pilgrim and stay away for another decade.

Helen shuffled around the kitchen gathering up bagels and toast with deli meats while the coffee brewed. After a good ten minutes of fussing, she dropped down in a chair and smiled. “What I deserve is to see my own damn daughter once in a while. Mistakes don’t define us, Mara. They are what make us who we are.”

“Exactly,” Joss agreed. “How you bounce back from mistakes says more about you than the mistake itself. And you’ve bounced beautifully, my friend.”

I grunted out a laugh. “Thanks, Joss.”

She flashed a smile and reached for a bagel to slather with the cream cheese she kept at her elbow. “Anytime.”

“Okay Mara, who needs my help.”

I nodded and sucked in a deep breath, hoping this wasn’t another mistake I was saddling Helen with, if she agreed. “Her name is Lonnie. She’s incredibly intelligent. Sixteen. Smartass.” She sounded a lot like me at that age, only she was way smarter. “Got into some trouble with the law and the Sheriff won’t budge. Her foster parents don’t give a damn about her, never reported her missing either, but he says there’s nothing he can do.” I still couldn’t believe Xander was towing the company line, but it was my fault for expecting more. “Anyway, there are allegations of abuse but none on record, you know how that goes. So she either goes back into the system or back to them when a social worker finally shows up.”