Hindsight was almost always 20/20. It was the cruel benefit of reassessing choices you'd already made. Blue assumed that Cece had spent the last two hours self-chastising. No wonder the woman needed an anti-anxiety toke.
"You didn't do anything wrong," assured Blue. "Lila should've been as safe as the other kids who walk to the stop."
"But she wasn't." Cece swallowed hard, swiping at her wet cheeks. "A lot of the kids around here are teens—they take an earlier bus to the high school or get rides. Right now, only two other elementary school children use that bus stop. Ginnie Vern and Billy Flood. Ginnie's nice, but she's real quiet. Billy's older. A sixth grader. He's…um, what's that word? Gregarious. Yeah. Always grinning. Talks your ear off if you let him. Anyway, he helps a lot of folks around here with yard work and such. Lives on Peony Place with his dad, but he spends a lot of time alone. Mike Flood has two jobs and when he's not at work, he's at the Main Street Saloon."
