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At 613 west, she paused a moment, then opened the door

The room held two beds The one by the as unoccupied In the other lay Lexi Although her bed was angled up, she was asleep Her pretty, heart-shaped face was bruised, her left eye had a bandage above it, probably from a laceration, and her left are sat in a plastic chair The woman looked older than Jude rehtly in her lap

Jude had heard so many stories about this woht unseen and offered her a home Eva had had hardly any money, and only a rented trailer and a secondhand car to her name, but she’d welcomed Lexi in “Hello, Eva,” Jude said “May I come in?”

Eva looked up Her dark eyes sith tears and the wrinkles on her cheeks were accordion-deep “Sure ”

“How is she?” Jude asked

“How should I know? Getting a doctor to talk to you is like finding a winning lotto ticket ”

“I’ll have Miles get you so to hear about … Mia, too ” Jude looked at Eva, and though they had al in co between them

“I don’t get it,” Eva said softly, her eyes ht at your house With Mia ”

“Yes That was the plan ”

“But they weren’t home at 3:30?”

It occurred to Jude suddenly, sharply, that her children were responsible in this, that they’d driven … and that she had let thenored their curfew ”

“Oh ”

Jude irl her son loved It all seeht they’d had because of that love The question of colleges Jude would do things differently from now on Honest, God I’ll be better Just make Mia and Zach and Lexi okay “She’s like a part of our family ”

“I kno much she loves you all ”

“We love her, too Well I better go back now,” she said at last, stepping back “We et word on Mia ”