" I can't send Dennis to my sister's place," my mother explained,"she's a single parent with three young daughters, and she wouldn'twant to take in a ...16 year old boy. Let alone someone as violent asyour brother."I heard that remark and felt it was totally unfair. I've neverbeen violent with friends or family. Beating up a few shit-heads whodeserved it didn't make me violent.My sister continued to argue, but my mother stood her ground.Eventually the force of Karen's resistance started to weaken. "I tried to get hold of Lindy, but she's not in her room." That's because she' in mine," I told him."Oh. Right. Anyway, I wasn't sure if you were registered under your name or Helena's or Nick's, or if you were in some other hotel even, since we arrived after you've been in Europe for a while. I was about to try Nickolas Postumus when you called." We're all here and it's under my name. We're all about to head to the Louvre. Want to come?" Of course." Meet us in the lobby. Eva will probably be. “Wait until we have a whole fleet! Although this is a prime location, I’m not sure we can expect them all to do this well.”The next week the take increased by over fifteen percent, as the weather was good and more people discovered them. Some people inquired if they could buy the Chiligumbo, chili or gumbo in bulk so soon Lorna was taking orders for premade containers.Three weeks later their second cart was delivered. Alex had it painted with their new ‘Redbone’s Chiligumbo’ logo in bright red. .” she began uneasily, turning towards me. “I’m so sorry she had her way with you. That’s not okay at all.”“It’s fine.” I brushed it off with a fake smile. “Shit happens, right?”She gave me a disapproving look. “Shut the fuck up, squirt.” she said in a low, dry, serious voice, bringing me in for a hug. I accepted thankfully, not even registering how long the hug was. It was a long one, and a few seconds in, I started shaking. Not crying, I wasn’t sad. I was just ... shaken. I didn’t like.