Re: Queens: Evie/Wren/Luke
[Wren took the baby when Luke handed her over, and it was an unthinking stretch of arms. Old habit, and she'd carried Lia everywhere for months, as if it would make up for the mess she'd made of things with Gus. Lia squirmed, and Wren gave the baby the same vacant smile she'd given Gus when she handed him the bread, but Lia wasn't very good at being ignored. She tugged on her maman's ear, and she tucked her fingers in her maman's mouth, and Wren relented and placed a kiss on the tousled curls on the baby girl's head. She even bounced her on her hip a little bit, thoughtless, habit, and she listened as Luke tried to make everything okay with words.
Evie wasn't as good as pretending, and her agreement sounded really, really hollow, and Wren sat with the baby on her lap as Luke went to retrieve the lemonade. She looked at Evie.] You're not a very good liar.
[Lia tried to steal her brother's piece of bread, and Wren gave the little girl a small piece of her own to gum at, and then Wren sighed. She knew Luke wanted her to just pretend that she believed everything was okay, and maybe she should do that. She could pretend, and they would eat, and it would be okay. But she knew Evie. She knew Evie really, really well, and she had since Evie'd helped her on a cold Seattle street all those years ago.
And, when it came right down to it, Evie had ended up in that bad door to help her, and Wren knew that. She couldn't pretend. She could pretend the kids were mostly alive for Luke, but she couldn't pretend about this; she didn't think it would help anyone at all.] Evie, you don't have to say it was okay. You can say it was really terrible. We're you're friends. You don't need to pretend with us, not ever.
[She looked at Luke for reinforcement.] Right, Luke?