The tears were coming faster now. “I never done anything like this before!” Ava blurted. “I swear!”

“That much I can believe. She was just hanging out in the square when I found her,” Bree said.

Nana turned away from both of them and headed toward the kitchen.

“Come on, Ava. I’m going to make some tea with milk. And from the look of you, I don’t suppose you’d mind a sandwich.”

Ava didn’t move, but Bree noticed she wasn’t angling for the front door anymore, either.

“I don’t drink tea,” she said sullenly.

“You do if I make it!” Nana said, and she disappeared on the other side of the swinging kitchen door.

IF BREE HADN’T called to give me the lowdown, I would have been caught completely off guard. Apparently, Nana had taken in a stray that afternoon, and the girl was still there when I got home after a long day of bureaucratic nonsense.

I could hear everyone talking — and laughing — as I came onto the back porch, but they all went still when I stepped into the kitchen. It was like something out of an old Wild West movie.

Jannie and Ali were at the table with the other girl, whose name was Ava. The kids all had plates of lasagna in front of them, but Ava was the only one eating right now. In the silence, I could hear the dryer running downstairs, and I recognized the old Bob Marley T-shirt she was wearing. It was something Damon had left behind when he went away to boarding school.

“Alex, this is Ava,” Nana told me. Despite the bandages, my grandmother didn’t look too much the worse for wear and tear. In fact, she looked a little smug.

“Hi, Ava,” I said.

“Hello.”

Ava didn’t look up and kept eating with her elbows jutted out on either side, like she expected someone to take her plate away at any second.

Jannie and Ali both sat up tall like a couple of meerkats, watching to see what I’d do next. I wasn’t quite sure myself.

“Nana, could I speak with you in the living room?” I finally said.

“I’m an old woman, Alex.”

“Now, please?”

I held the door for her and we walked to the far end of the house before either of us spoke. Then she jumped in first.

“The girl’s got nowhere to go,” she said. “She just needs a place to sleep where she doesn’t have to keep one eye open all the time.”

I ran my hand over my head, trying to gather some patience at the end of this very long day. “That’s what Child and Family Services is for,” I said.

“Why? So they can put her in the warehouse?” Nana said, and pointed up at me. “That’s right, I know what they call it down at the police department, so don’t even try that on me, mister.”