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Mrs Mularkey leaned back in her chair Taking a drag on her cigarette, she exhaled smoke and said quietly, "She wants you to live with us "
Just hearing it was like a blow to the heart She knew shed spend a long tiht "
It was a irl who lived in our house would have to do chores and follow the rules Mr Mularkey and I wouldnt stand for any funny business "
Tully looked up sharply "What are you saying?" She couldnt even put this sudden hope into words
"And there would definitely be no s "
Tully stared at her, feeling tears sting her eyes, but that pain was nothing co on deep inside her It felt suddenly as if she were about to fall "Are you saying I can live with you?"
Mrs M leaned forward and touched Tullys jawline "I kno hard your life has been up to now, Tully, and I cant stand for you to go back to that "
The falling turned into flying, and suddenly Tully was crying for all of it—Gran, the foster faest e hands, she pulled the cruarettes out of her purse and handed them over
"Welcome to our fa Tully into her ar her cry
Through all the decades of Tullys life, she would re new for her; the beco of so Mularkey family, she found a whole new person inside her She didnt keep secrets or tell lies or pretend that she was someone else, and never once did they act as if she were unwanted or not good enough No matter where she went in her later years, or what she did or whom she ith, she would always remember this moment and those words: Welcome to our family, Tully Always and forever, she would think of that senior year of high school, when she was inseparable frole best year of her life
CHAPTER EIGHT
Girls! Quit lollygagging Were going to hit traffic if we dont leave now "
In the creaky attic bedroo down at the open suitcase that contained all of her prized belongings A fraed between her ribbon-wrapped packet of long-ago letters froraduation
Although shed been looking forward to this ht dreae), now that it was here, she felt reluctant to leave home
Over the course of their senior year in high school, theyd become a pair TullyandKate Everyone at school said their two names as one When Tully becaht beside her, helping her to edit the stories She lived vicariously through her friends achievements, rode the wave of her popularity, but all of that had taken place in a world she knew, in a place where she felt safe