VIOLET’S PHONE WAS dead, so we had to walk around searching for a pay phone. We eventually found one at the Walmart, but of course there was no phone book—just the little curly cord that was supposed to stop people stealing it but that obviously hadn’t worked.
Violet swore loudly and kicked the wall, and Saffron started repeating what Violet had just said, over and over.
“Nice going, Vi,” I said. “I’m sure her grandmother will be just thrilled with her new vocabulary.”
“Shut up,” Violet snapped. She kicked the wall again. “Can’t one thing just be EASY? Just for once, could everything not go wrong? And Saffron? CUT IT OUT!”
Saffron giggled and kept right on repeating her precious new word.
Ty shifted Whisper’s weight on his back—she was looking really tired and resting her head on his shoulder—and touched Vi’s arm. “Hey. Let’s all just chill out, okay? Saffron… enough.”
She cast him a mutinous look. She didn’t stop, but she lowered her voice to a whisper, which was better than nothing.
“Okay. I’m going to go over to the customer-service desk and borrow a phone book,” Ty said. “Violet, what’s your grandmother’s last name? Same as you, I guess?”
She nodded. “Yeah, Brooks. Diane Brooks.”
I held on to Saffron’s hand and watched Ty head off, Whisper clinging to his back like a little monkey. She and Saffron were called Brooks too. Mom and I were the only Everetts. Diane Brooks sounded like an old-fashioned movie-star name.
“I’m tired,” Saffron said. “I’m hungry.”
I looked at Violet. “Any snacks left?”
“Want an apple, Saffy?” Violet rummaged in the bag. “Or…um, a carrot?”
“I want ice cream.”
“Yeah, right. Would you like a pony too?” Violet held the apple out toward her.
Saffron whacked Violet’s arm angrily, and the apple fell to the floor.
“Saffron! Smarten up!”
She burst into noisy tears. “I hate you! I want to go home!”
“Right,” Violet said. “Too bad we don’t have one.”
“Violet!” I glared at her and raised my voice over Saffron’s angry sobs. “Like that’s going to help. She’s five, all right? Give her a break.”
Violet looked like she might start crying too. “You think it’s easy being the oldest, Wolf? Because guess what. It isn’t. Actually, it sucks.”
“But at least you—”
“No, listen. You think I don’t feel like I’m abandoning you all? That I don’t feel totally guilty about it?”
“So don’t do it,” I said. “You do have a choice, you know.”
We stared at each other for a moment, Saffron screaming her head off, half the Walmart shoppers of Nelson staring at us. Violet ran her hands through her hair. “God, I hate my life,” she said.
Ty was practically sprinting back toward us, Whisper bouncing up and down on his back with each stride. “Got it!” He waved a piece of paper at us. “Okay, so call your grandmother already. Let’s get out of here before we get kicked out.”
Violet took the paper from him, stuck some coins in the phone and dialed. Ty and I watched, holding our breath. Even Saffron seemed to realize that this phone call was important and switched off the waterworks. Thank god, because that noise in the background would hardly endear us to our grandmother. Their grandmother, I reminded myself. Not mine.
“Hello,” Violet said. “Um. Is this Diane Brooks? Um. This is Violet. Your granddaughter.” She looked at me and mouthed, It’s her. “Well, actually, we’re right here in Nelson…Well, me and the twins, and Wolf. Jade’s son… No, my dad isn’t with us.” She bit her lip, listening. “Right. He’s in Chilliwack, actually. Yeah, with Jade…On the Greyhound. We just arrived…”
She met my eyes and held up crossed fingers.
I crossed mine too.
“It’s kind of a long story,” Violet said. “But we’re at the Walmart, and we were kind of hoping we could come and stay with you. Just for a few days.”
My heart was racing. What were we going to do if she said no? We didn’t have much money left, and we had nowhere else to go. Saffron looked at me and held up her crossed fingers, and I wondered how much she and Whisper understood about what was going on.
This whole idea had been completely crazy. Irresponsible. A thousand times worse than what my mom had done—at least she’d always made sure we had enough to eat and a tent to sleep in and a van that sort of worked. At least she’d had a plan.
“We’re really tired,” Violet said. “And the twins are hungry. Could you come and get us? And we can explain it all when we see you?” Her voice wobbled. “Please?”
She listened for a few seconds, nodding to us while she did. “Okay. We’ll be right out in front of the Walmart. See you soon. Thank you…um, thank you, Grandma.”
She hung up the phone. “She’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“Did she sound mad?” I asked.
Violet made a face. “She didn’t exactly sound thrilled.”
“I guess it’s probably a bit of a shock,” I said. “Us just showing up like this. Without our parents and everything.”
“Well, she’s coming to get us,” Violet said. “So that’s something anyway.”
“I hope she has ice cream,” Saffron said.
“Me too,” I said. “Me too.”