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“No Give me the address I’ll be there after my last class”
The rest of my day was a painful blur Mrs Shields had been my most maternal influence Until reetings and chats over banana bread She’d been good to me And to Roman
Oh God
More bricks of reality sla in with Mrs Shields now
I ripped a piece of paper out of my notebook and jotted down a quick letter to Ro I dropped the envelope in the mail on the way to Mr Porter’s office
With Mrs Shields gone, it didn’t seeht to borrow her car anymore It took two different city buses to find my way to his office
Tears pricked one
Why hadn’t I stayed later? She seeht, but I should have checked in on her thiswell and I could’ve gotten her to the hospital or so?
“Come in, Juliet,” Mr Porter said
I sank into the antique leather chair across from his desk and inhaled thepaper
“What happened?” I blurted out before he took his seat
“It looks like she had a heart attack this ”
A strangled cry escaped me I’d been late to school and worried about Pip, so I hadn’t stopped by her house Hadn’t even thought to check on her
“CPS was conducting their hoency services”
“Oh my God”
“Juliet, you’re seventeen, correct?”
“Yes Alhteen”
“Your aunt and uncle are your legal guardians?”
I frowned at the question Why did he care? “Yes, why?”
He flipped open a folder on his desk and took out a stapled stack of papers “Save for a few personal ite she owned to you”
It took a few minutes for his words to sink in
“She did what?”
“The house and its contents Her car Some investh college In the event that she passed while you were underage, she appointed me as trustee until your twentieth birthday I’ll handle all the bills, taxes, and other matters for you”
“What about her daughter?”
He shook his head “Kimmy was left some Christmas decorations and a jewelry box that contains ite else is yours” He gave me a sympathetic smile “She said you were the only person orried about her or checked up on her She knew you had a rough life and she wanted to s easier on you”
Tears freely streamed down my cheeks
Because of Mrs Shields, I’d be able to attend college without worrying about how to pay for it