I opened the bathroom door with the towel still in my hand. His water bottle sat on the hall floor where he left it.
Delia: There you are. Put the towel down. We have twenty minutes.
She walked me to the front room without looking back. My lip was still fat from her slap.
Delia: Hair down. Twist it in front. Cover that neck.
Two women in heels looked up from a clipboard. One of them saw my jaw and looked away fast.
Delia: This is my daughter. She's not to be photographed from the left. Understand?
Men were setting up lights in the big front room. Reporters sat in a row of chairs with little recorders in their hands.
My stomach turned. Everybody in that room was going to look at me.
Then Warrick came in, tall and tan and silver at the temples, smiling like we were old friends.
Warrick: There she is. My Sienna. Come stand by me, honey.
His arm came down heavy across my shoulders. He smelled like cologne and clean money.
Warrick: This is the girl I've been telling you about. Hurt bad, and now healed. She's family now.
Cameras clicked. His hand squeezed my shoulder, and it felt like Grady's hand. My body went still and small without asking me.
I flinched before I could stop it.
Delia was beside me in one step. Her nails dug into my upper arm and twisted.
Delia: Smile, you stupid little bitch. Right now.
The pain was hot and fast. My eyes watered.
Delia: Cry and I swear to God I'll put you back on that county bus tonight.
Then a shadow came over us. Cato. His dark T-shirt was rolled at the sleeves and his face was flat and cold.
Cato: Take your hand off her.
Delia: She's my daughter. Stay out of it.
Cato: Not in front of their cameras, she isn't. And I won't ask twice.
Delia let go. Her face changed so fast it was like a light switch, a big warm smile for the reporters.
Delia: Just a family thing. Sienna's shy, that's all.
Cato stood half in front of me. Not touching. Just there, between me and her.
Cato: You okay?
Nobody had ever asked me that like the answer mattered.
He was close enough that I could feel the heat of him. My face got hot. I hated that my body did that.
Warrick pulled the reporters back with a joke. The room moved on like nothing had happened.
Cato: Keep behind me for the rest of this. If she touches you again, you say my name.
Sienna: You don't know me. You don't have to do this.
Cato: I know what I saw. That's enough for tonight.
I stood by him while the cameras clicked. My arm still burned, but my shoulders came down for the first time all day.
I told myself not to trust it. Kindness had never cost me nothing. But my body leaned toward him anyway, small and stupid and warm.