They were still sitting on the sidewalk but at least Billie was clinging to Andy now and not fighting frantically to get away. Much less likely that someone would call the cops on him now. He patted her back and rocked, and didn’t try to talk, because she wasn’t going to be able to really hear him or respond to anything until she stopped anyway.
When the sobbing finally subsided into miserable hiccupping, Andy took a breath. “Feeling a little calmer now?”
Billie nodded.
“That’s good. I know…I know things are hard right now,” he said, picking his way through the words like a minefield. “They’re probably going to keep being hard for a while until we get to know you better and you get to know us. I’m sorry about that. I wish there was an easier way to do that.”
She didn’t respond to that,
