“I’m scared I’ll mess it up.”
Maura opened her mouth.
I saw the old rescue rising in her.
The automatic “You won’t, baby, I’ll help, I’ll fix, I’ll pay.”
But she stopped.
She looked at me.
Then at Elowen.
“You might mess up small things,” Maura said carefully. “Everyone does.”
Elowen looked startled.
“But you know who to call before it becomes a big thing,” Maura added. “Not for rescue. For honesty.”
Elowen cried then.
So did my mother.
I stood there awkwardly holding a lamp.
Then Wren ran in and announced that the bathroom had “a spider tenant.”
The crying stopped.
Mr. Gideon was summoned.
He relocated the spider using a paper cup and a lecture on unlawful occupancy.
By Christmas, the apartment had a crooked little tree in the corner and construction-paper snowflakes taped to the windows.
Elowen hosted dinner.
It was chaotic.
