The woman in the bun walked up to Pinky, Gloria, and Dolores and handed them all neon green T-shirts. “Here,” she said. “This is for you guys. My dad’s company made these for us based on your design, Gloria. Hope you don’t mind; we just ran with it. There was no time to ask if it was okay.”
“Hey, I’m all for people running with things.” Gloria grinned, slipping her T-shirt on over her clothes. “The habitat belongs to all of us.”
Pinky slipped her T-shirt on too. “Wow, thank you. But who’s your dad? I mean, you brought so many people, too.…”
The woman laughed. “My dad’s Hector Fernandez; he runs Hector’s Ellingsworth Print Shop in town. See?” She pointed to an older Hispanic man Pinky remembered from the town hall meeting. “After the town hall meeting, he began to reach out to all our family and friends and, well… The older generations of my family have lived in this town for over sixty years. We know a lot of people.”
Pinky looked around at the people swarming around her, adding their own supplies to the supplies already on the bench so they were spilling off and onto the ground. Crates of water and signs and poster boards and markers and fruit.
Gloria laughed. “I’d say so.”
“So.” Gabriella rubbed her hands together just as a little girl came running up, her hair in pigtails. Gabriella put her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “This is my daughter, Paloma. How can we help you all set up?”
Paloma squealed and pointed at DQ, who was lounging near Pinky, watching all the people. “Oh my gosh! Is that your pet rat?”
Pinky laughed. “She’s a possum. Actually, Paloma, it would be such a great help if you could be in charge of her this morning. What do you think? Does that sound good to you?”
Paloma looked as if all her dreams were coming true. Taking DQ’s leash from Pinky, she said solemnly, “It would be my pleasure to be your possum assistant.”
Pinky, Gloria, and Gabriella grinned at one another over Paloma’s head.
* * *
Pinky was running around between the various groups, spreading instructions or advice from Gloria, giving the little kids who’d come (there were at least a dozen) markers and positive feedback, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Dolly grinning at her in a Save Our Habitat! T-shirt.
“Ho-ly crap!” she said, her hazel eyes wide.
“You’re back!” Pinky wrapped her cousin in a hug and closed her eyes, a lump in her throat. She hadn’t realized until now how alone she felt in this crowd of people. They were nice and funny and kind, but they weren’t her people. None of her people had shown up. Until now.
Pinky pulled back and smiled at Dolly. “How was the retreat?”
Dolly appeared to think about it. “Actually, not horrible. I think my parents and I did some really important, powerful work.”
Pinky rolled her eyes. “You are such a therapist’s kid.”
Dolly laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think there’s any escaping it. But seriously, what is going on here?” She looked around at the bustling crowd, a big smile on her face.
“I see you got the T-shirt,” Pinky said, gesturing to what Dolly wore over her leggings.
“It was foisted on me by a little girl with the cutest pigtails the minute I stepped out of the car. Oh, and she had DQ on her leash too.”
Pinky chuckled, though she could feel somewhere that it wasn’t her usual, full-hearted chuckle. Everything felt a little bit… flat right now. She was ridiculously happy that Gloria’s campaign had been a success—there must be more than a hundred people here—but still. Some big part of her felt empty. “Yeah, that’s Paloma. She’s sort of become my unofficial right-hand woman like I’ve become Gloria’s. To answer your question, I think what you’re seeing is the power of networking and a whole bunch of people who really, really care what happens to their town and their habitat. Thankfully. It was looking really rough for a while there; I think even Gloria was beginning to lose hope.”
“Right… well, that’s great!” Dolly studied Pinky’s expression hesitantly. “It is great, right?”
Pinky nodded and forced a smile. “Yeah. It’s great.”
Dolly obviously wasn’t buying it. “Something happen?”
Pinky looked at her, her smile fading. “Have you been to the house?”
Dolly shook her head. “Well, I mean, kind of? I dropped my parents off, but I came straight here without going inside.” She looked around. “Where’s Samir? And your parents?”
“They’re not coming,” Pinky said, fiddling with the pen she was holding. A swarm of monarchs flew by them and she watched them swoop and glide for a moment. “We had a big fight last night.”
“You and your mom?” Dolly asked in concern.
Pinky wanted to laugh. “Um, yeah. That’s how it started. But then we got home and…”
“And?” Dolly asked, leaning in.
“Samir and I broke up.” Pinky said it in a rush.
Dolly’s mouth popped open. “What happened?”
“It’s a long story.” Pinky sighed and looked at her watch. “And we have only about twenty minutes until the crew gets here.”
“Twenty minutes is enough.” Dolly grabbed her wrist and led her to a spot under a chestnut tree, away from the chaos. “Tell me what happened.”
And so, looking into her cousin’s worried eyes, Pinky did just that.
Dolly shook her head when Pinky was finished. The sounds of a few protesters laughing washed over them, but she didn’t turn away. “He made a list?” she asked finally. “I can’t believe he made a list. What a jerk thing to do. When did he make it?”
Pinky swallowed, feeling the hurt like a fresh wound again. “He said it was a while ago, before he began to like me. But I don’t know. It just felt so… personal. You know? All the things I’m most insecure about, all the things I know my mom wishes were different about me, he just put those down on a sheet of paper and went to town. It was awful.”
Dolly scooped her up in a hug. “Oh, Pinky, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Pinky pulled back. “Actually, I said some pretty horrible things about him too. I called him a boring coward and a tedious drudge.”
Dolly’s eyes widened. “Wow.”
“Yeah. And my mom… she just doesn’t give a damn about this habitat. I thought it would be just as important to her, you know. We have so many memories here.…” To Pinky’s horror, her eyes were beginning to fill with tears again. She blinked them away. “These past thirteen hours or so have been pretty crappy, to be honest.”
Dolly slung her arm around Pinky’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry,” she said again, as if she couldn’t think of what else to say. Her voice was high and wobbly, as if she were trying not to cry too. “You know, maybe later we could—”
“Hey,” a familiar voice said, and Pinky and Dolly both spun around.
CHAPTER 21 Pinky
Pinky blinked. Was this a weird mirage her broken heart had come up with? What she was seeing was Samir, standing tall in front of her, heartbreakingly handsome in a rumpled shirt and a pair of shorts. His hair was mussed, still damp from the shower.