“Hah,” Jasmine says, but Shelby can tell from the look on her face, she’s begun to make a dent.
“I bet you a hundred bucks you get asked out the first day you’re in school there.”
Jasmine is eating in earnest now. Shelby fetches them two Diet Cokes. The apartment is so small a person sitting on the couch can see every inch of the place, including the kitchen and the sleeping alcove that’s entirely taken up by Shelby’s bed.
“We could go to Pier 1 and get some awesome stuff for your new room. Red silk curtains.”
“I like blue,” Jasmine says. “Aqua.”
Shelby tries not to smile. She’s hooked Jasmine with shop therapy. “There’s a huge mall near your house. Green Acres.”
Shelby hates shopping. Most of the things in her apartment are castoffs—the couch is from some ex-neighbors who skipped on their rent, the table and chairs belonged to Ben Mink’s great-aunt. True, she got the rug at Pier 1, but only because there was an eighty-percent-off sale and the rug was fluffy and white, the perfect accessory to go with dog hair.
“Would you go shopping with me?” Jasmine asks. “My mother likes everything to match.”
Shelby brings out an extra quilt and some sheets so they can make up the couch. This means tying Pablo to the dining room table with his leash so he won’t try to share the couch with Jasmine in the middle of the night.
“Thank you for understanding.” Jasmine hugs Shelby tight. She’s still a little girl even though she looks like a grown woman. She’s five foot seven with perfect coffee-colored skin and high cheekbones. Maybe she’s relieved to get away from her neighborhood and her jealous boyfriend.
Shelby goes to the bathroom and runs the water full blast so she can phone Maravelle without being overheard.
“What the hell took you so long?” Maravelle has had a pot of coffee, and her nerves are shot. “Put her on.” Now that Maravelle knows her daughter is safe, she can allow herself to be furious. “I’m going to punish the crap out of her.”
“I’ll get her there in the morning,” Shelby whispers.
“I can’t even hear you!”
“I don’t want her to know I’m talking to you. She’ll feel betrayed.”
“She’ll feel betrayed! She likes you better than she likes me.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not her mother. And I used to be bald, therefore I can’t be a full-fledged adult.” Shelby gazes at herself in the mirror. She thinks of what Ben said long ago, how Helene’s hair was still long, how it was still the color of roses.
Maravelle laughs. “Well, I love you anyway, bald or not. Just don’t lose my daughter.”
The funny thing is, Shelby can’t sleep. She keeps getting up and checking on Jasmine. Jasmine is curled up with Blinkie beside her, but Shelby still feels anxious. Someone could climb up the fire escape and grab Jasmine. Shelby stays up all night so she can save her if need be. At seven, she makes coffee and feeds the dogs.
Jasmine lifts her head. “Hey,” she says sleepily. “I dreamed I lived in a castle.”
“Was it in Valley Stream?”
Jasmine grins and throws a pillow at Shelby. “There was a white horse in my dream. See if you can find me one of those. Then I’ll be happy.”
They take the train out to the island, then grab a taxi to the mall, where they have the driver wait while they shop. When they arrive at the new house, they’re carrying two huge shopping bags. They have cornered the market on candles, velvet pillows, wall hangings.
Maravelle must have ESP because she’s waiting on the lawn when they arrive, no coat, no sweater, nothing, even though it’s chilly. There are empty boxes from the move stacked by the curb, ready for the trash pickup in the morning.
“You finally made it,” Maravelle says, her hand on her hip.
“We had to go shopping,” Shelby informs her.
“Why don’t you bring all that inside?” Maravelle tells Jasmine, and Jasmine, grateful not to be confronted, dashes into the house.
“You rewarded her for running away?”
“Yep. And now you owe me two hundred and twenty-four dollars.”
“Good luck collecting.” Maravelle hugs Shelby. “Thank God for you, crazy girl.”
“How do you do all this, Mimi? I was so worried I couldn’t sleep all night. Why does anyone become someone’s mother?”
“Sometimes I think I’m messing the whole thing up.” The shock of the evening has taken a toll.
“You’re not.” Shelby is very sure about this. “What Jasmine really wanted was a horse, so you should be thankful I just let her get pillows and vanilla candles. You could have a palomino in your backyard.”
“What would I ever do if something happened to her?” Maravelle says.
“Let’s order Chinese food,” Shelby suggests. It’s her answer to -everything. She doesn’t want to think about any what-ifs. She just wants hot and sour soup, and then she wants to get back on the train and get the hell out of Long Island. “You can treat.”