Page 11 of Entangled

“Nope. Never too busy for this.” Cara slipped into the office, closed the door behind her, and took a seat beside the seventeen-year-old Tiffany. “Mikey is working hard on his train station, by the way.”

At the mention of her son, Tiffany beamed. “I’m trying to save up enough to get him the big Lego set he wants for his birthday. It’s a whole train. He saw it at the store. Killed me to tell him no.”

Cara held back her frown. She had so much, when others had very little.

“When is his birthday?” Cara asked.

“Two months.”

“You’ll get it.”

Cara would make sure of it.

The teenaged mother hadn’t been given an easy life, and Mikey had been one of the final things to send her running from her abusive father. She had hopped from couch to couch with her son, never staying in school, and barely being able to hold down a job. Child Services had eventually caught up to the teen, and sent her home to live with her father.

Tiffany ran away with her son again. The second time, she came to Carolina’s House. So far, Tiffany had gotten a job, and her GED testing was a month away, which Cara had no doubt the girl would ace. Tiffany’s court appearance to be legally emancipated from her father and keep him from trying to take her son away, was in just two weeks.

“So, what’s happening?” Cara asked Jenny.

Jenny nodded to Tiffany. “She had something she wanted to ask, and while I could have done it over the phone, I felt it better she ask directly.”

Cara turned to the teen. “You have my cell number. You know you can call me anytime, right?”

Tiffany nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

“What do you need?”

“I know the House set up a volunteer to take me to and from court, but I was hoping … well, that you might do it, Cara. I know you’re busy, and you start back at university next week, too. But—”

“Absolutely,” Cara interjected quickly.

She was honored that Tiffany felt better having Cara there than anyone else.

“You won’t have to miss anything?” Tiffany asked.

“It doesn’t matter if I do,” Cara replied. “Lots of stuff can be worked around. This, for you, is one thing that can’t be. No problem at all.”

Tiffany’s hesitance left her eyes. “Thank you, Cara.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

They fully suspected that Tiffany’s father likely wouldn’t even show up to court, but either way, they still had to go.

“I’m going to go find Mikey,” Tiffany said.

Cara said goodbye, and once the girl was gone, turned to Jenny. “That’s all? Did you want me to stick around and help with dinner or anything?”

“Extra hands for dinner would be great, but there is one more thing.”

“Oh?”

Jenny shrugged. “Tiffany did mention something important. Your classes are starting up next week.”

“So?”

“Your co-op term actually ended last week, Cara. You’ve already gotten your grade for this, sweetheart.”

Cara just stared at the woman. “I’m here because I want to be, because this place is amazing and so are the women and the people who run it, not because of a grade.”