Laneer was still in the back yard, crouching next to a barrel-sized ceramic pot full of mustard greens. He was plucking weeds, so Faye squatted down and helped him. Keeping an eye on Kali, he told her, “I hear somebody talking to Sylvia. You go check that out. I’ll stay here and watch for a bit.”
In the front yard, Faye found a man about her own age, early forties. He was chatting amiably with Sylvia, who looked to be standing straighter and smiling bigger. One capable hand was smoothing the apron down over her hips, and the other one was offering the newcomer a handful of candy.
Faye could see why. It wasn’t that this man was so very handsome, although he was tall, heavily muscled, and flat-bellied, and he stood with confidence. His eyes were a little too deep-sunk for beauty’s sake and his teeth were a little crooked, but he had an open smile that would have shone all the way to the back of a Broadway hall.
“Faye, this is Mr. Walker—” Sylvia began.
“Call me Walt,” he said. His deep voice was as arresting as his smile. He looked at Faye just long enough to say, “Sylvia just calls me ‘Mr.’ because I teach school,” then he turned his expansive charm back to Sylvia, leaving Faye in the cold. “I came to check on Kali. I missed her at the playground today.”
Faye shoved away the feeling of being snubbed. Kali’s well-being was more important than her feelings, so she needed to know more about who this man was. Giving him a closer look, she said, “I remember you. You gave Kali an extra juice box yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Yep. That was me. She’s a sweet kid and I don’t want her to get thirsty. Besides, a little extra Vitamin C never hurt anybody.” And again, he returned his face to Sylvia.
“So true,” Sylvia said. “Laneer does his best with this garden, and he does grow the sweetest tomatoes I ever had, but we’re all grateful for the calories you sneak into that girl. Lord knows she needs some calories. Which I don’t. And vitamins. She needs them, too.”
“That’s why I’m here. Kali would never miss picking up her lunch on Friday unless something was bad wrong, so I came straight over here when we finished giving out the food. Today’s the day we hand out backpacks for the weekend. You know that, Sylvia. Kali counts on that backpack so she’s got what she needs to eat till Monday. Food’s not high on Frida’s priority list. Anybody can tell that by how skinny she is. You and Laneer can only do so much.”
“Poor Frida,” Sylvia said.
Walt’s face went still. “What are you saying? What’s wrong?”
“Somebody hurt her last night. Hurt her bad. She’s at the hospital.”
Walt looked at Faye. “Is that why you’re here? Are you some kind of social worker? I wondered what you were doing following Kali around yesterday.”
“No. I just got worried about where a little girl was going every day by herself, so I followed her.”
“You go around saving little girls all the time? Is that how you get your jollies? Nobody in your neighborhood needs help, and you’ve got to come to ours to be a do-gooder?”
Faye had to force herself not to take a step back from his hostility. Her own adopted daughter, Amande, had been a young girl who needed a home and Faye had given it to her. The decision to make Amande part of her family had given her more joy than she could explain to this man. He didn’t know what he was talking about, but she wasn’t about to bring the decision to adopt her daughter into this conversation. Faye would be damned if she’d give this man a chance to taint it.
“I don’t like the sound of ‘do-gooder,’ not the way you say it, but my mother and grandmother taught me to look for the right thing to do, then do it.”
“Did they do it the ladies’ club way? Sell each other tickets to a fundraiser luncheon, then write some charity a check? That way, they could forget about all those people who need help when they sat down at their luncheon and filled themselves full of iced tea and cucumber sandwiches?”
Faye looked down at her borrowed clothes and wondered how it was possible that she seemed so rich to this man. Was it the way she talked? And also…cucumber sandwiches? Was this guy for real?
Did Laneer, Sylvia, and Kali see her that way? Her mother had taught her never to argue with a fool, but when Walt Walker insulted the memory of the women who had raised her, he’d earned a few moments with the rough side of Faye’s tongue.
“My mother was a licensed practical nurse who worked the night shift. My grandmother was a secretary for a man who never paid her any more than he could get away with. And my father died before I was two. Mama and Grandma didn’t have time nor money for ladies’ club lunches, but they always found a way to help people. The checks they wrote for charity and to their church weren’t very big, but they did write them.”
Walt said nothing. To his credit, he looked taken aback, but Faye wasn’t through with him.
“You didn’t know my mother and my grandmother. It’s not okay for you to insult them when you don’t like me because…I don’t know. Why don’t you like me? Because of the way I look? The way I sound? Do I smell bad?”
“No, no, no. I didn’t mean to be a jerk. I’m really sorry.” This time the expansive charm was focused on Faye. “I get too involved with my children. My students. And their families. About twice a year, some people come in here and convince these people that they have all the
