Chapter 232
Her eyes were burning with tears that she was trying desperately not to let loose. She didn’t want a father and she didn’t want her stupid uncles who didn’t want her either. Mom was right, this place was stupidand horribleand she hated it
And even if she wanted to go back to Dockside now, it was too far away, because she didn’t think she could take one more step.
Billie choked back a sob and looked around. There was a short row of houses just ahead. They looked familiar. The second one had a fence around it that was painted with flowers all over it, and Billie definitely remembered that. She had come here with Uncle Scooter a couple of weeks ago because one of the waitresses had been sick—not Kat, but the one with hair almost as dark as Billie’s—and she and Uncle Scooter had brought some soup.
Billie couldn’t remember her name. It started with an E, though, she thought. Emma? No.
Uncle Scooter hadn’t let Billie come inside with him ‘cause he hadn’t wanted Billie to get sick, too, so she’d waited for him in the garden. Eliza? No. Anyway, the lady had a really nice garden, with lots of flowers even now that it was summer, and a little pond with a fountain of a frog spitting water into the air that made Billie giggle.
There weren’t a lot of trees—they didn’t grow so good here because of all the sand, Uncle Andy had told her, which was why there weren’t many trees in Sandbridge but lotsof them when you went up a ways from the beach. But there was a huge bush with these big drape-y branches and Billie had played under it and pretended it was a fairy house.
Erica? No, that wasn’t right either. She probably wouldn’t mind if Billie went and sat under the bush for a little while to rest. It was just so HOT and Billie’s feet hurt from the sand and the walking, and the bush hung right over the edge of the pond so Billie could take off her shoes and socks and put her feet in the water.
She looked around and didn’t see anyone, so she lifted the latch on the gate and went into the garden. There wasn’t any grass under the bush, but the ground was mossy and cool. It felt nice.
So much sandpoured out of her shoe when she took it off. Oh gosh, it was almost enough sand for a sandcastle. And even more sprayed everywhere when she peeled off her sock. She brushed it off her dress and looked at her foot. There were red spots along her heel and on the ball, and there was a blister on the side of one toe from the sand. Stupid sand.
She took off the other shoe, too. That foot didn’t hurt quite as much, but it was silly to have only one shoe on. She put her feet in the pond and that felt so good, she almost forgot she was mad and sad. She took the tiara off and hung it on one of the branches.
Her tummy made a funny rumbling noise and she realized she was hungry. Was it almost dinnertime yet? She looked up at the sky, but she really didn’t know. She wondered if there were any berries or fruit in the garden, but she couldn’t see any from where she was sitting.
Maybe she should’ve waited until after dinner to run away. Even if her uncles didn’t really want her, they always fed her. But that thought made her sad and mad again and the tears made her throat all tight and her eyes burned and there wasn’t anyone to see, so she just let them come, dripping down her face and making blotches on her dress and she was all aloneand no one wanted her except maybe someone she didn’t even know.
Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?Mom would have said, but Billie shook her head furiously. Mom was goneand she wasall alone and that wasn’t dramatic, that was just true and she wasn’t even going to see her friends from school for months and months and no one would know she’d run away. Besides, the nice lady that Uncle Andy had taken her to see to talk about her mom and how she was feeling about things said sometimes it felt good to cry, so Billie folded her arms over her knees and put her head down on them and cried.
It wasn’t dark, but the sky was all red by the time a pair of shoes appeared near her bush. “Well, looks like I found me a princess hiding in my castle,” a man said. He dropped to one knee near her. “Oh. Billie Stahl, as I live and breathe.” He smiled at her. There was a little gap between his teeth. It was Kendra’s uncle who sometimes washed dishes at Dockside, Mr. D’ante.