“So, you can check yourself out, right?” Sophie asked.
“When the therapist and Mother decide it’s for the best. I can sign myself out at any time, but you know Mother. She’ll be angry with me if I do.” Emma’s tone was flat, as if she’d given up hope.
“I never have lived by Victoria’s rules. Let’s get your things packed up and ready to go. You’re going to check yourself out and come with me,” Sophie said.
Emma almost smiled. “Mother will have a fit. She says if I even talk to you, she’ll put me in one of these places permanently.”
“Well—” Sophie opened the closet door, found a small suitcase, and set it on the twin bed. She returned to the closet to find a pair of jeans, a shirt, sandals, and a makeup kit. Hanging on the rack inside were several sets of scrubs, all pure white like the ones Emma was wearing. “Then I guess you’ll just have to live with me from now on, and, honey, I would never put you in a place like this.”
“It’s not as bad as some of the others,” Emma said.
“Is this all you brought with you?” Sophie stared at the suitcase.
“That’s what I wore when I checked into this place.” Emma glanced down at the white outfit she was wearing and flicked a piece of dust away from the top. “The last center I was in had pink scrubs. I liked them better than these.”
Sophie threw the clothing out of the closet. “Put these on and toss what you are wearing on the bed.”
“Where are we going? Shouldn’t I call Mother?” Emma asked.
“Every summer I spend a while down near Big Bend National Park in southern Texas. I want to do a couple of landscapes down there for my next showing, and you’re coming with me.” Sophie hoped that she hadn’t left room for arguments. “And no, don’t call Victoria. You are over thirty years old, for God’s sake. You can make up your own mind and color lizards purple or orange or even red if you want to.”
Emma pulled the top over her head and tossed it on the bed. “Sophie, we’ll have to go by my house. I don’t have anything else to wear.”
They couldn’t go by Victoria’s huge mansion of a house or Sophie would never get out of town with Emma. “We’re about the same size. You can wear my things, or else we’ll buy you something on the way or order you some new things online. I lived in your hand-me-downs when we were kids, so I’ll be glad to share my things with you now. Have courage, Emma. Believe me when I say we have to leave this place, and we can’t go get anything from Victoria’s house. You need to go with me, so your job is to check yourself out. We can talk about the next step on the way to south Texas. If you want to go home after a couple of days, I’ll bring you back, I promise.”
Is this the right thing to do? You need to get a lot of work done in the next few weeks for the European showing. Do you have time to worry with Emma? the annoying voice in her head asked.
She was my best friend, and I should have been here for her before now, Sophie argued.
“I’m a mess, Sophie. This isn’t the first place like this I’ve been since I saw you last. Are you sure about this?” Emma asked.
Like when they were kids, it seemed like Emma could always read her mind. “I’m very sure. I’ve been renting a trailer in a small park in south Texas for the past three years at this time of year. The snowbirds have all gone home, and it’s peaceful and quiet.” Sophie handed her the shirt. “Put this on now.”
“Snowbirds?” Emma pulled the shirt over her head and then removed the scrub bottoms.
“People who don’t like the snow and cold in the northern states, so they come south for the winter.” Sophie handed her the jeans.
Emma jerked them up over her slim hips. They hung on her like a tow sack on a broom handle. There was a time when she had been a size bigger than Sophie. That’s why Victoria had given all Emma’s outgrown things to Rebel.
“I hate snow and cold weather,” Emma said.
“That’s a good sign, because where we’re going, it’s hot and dry.” Sophie put the suitcase back into the closet. She took Emma’s purse from the shelf and handed it to her. She noticed that it was a Chanel—but then, Victoria would be embarrassed if she or her daughter had anything but the best.
This is getting real. What if you make her worse? The voice in her head increased in volume.
Nothing could be worse than this, Sophie answered.
“Let’s go,” Sophie said. “Do you have a cell phone in your purse?”
“No, it’s in the nightstand,” Emma answered. “Mother calls every night at nine o’clock. There’s no cameras in here”—Emma scanned the bare room—“or at least I hope there’s not any, so she doesn’t know what’s going on. I tell her that I’m feeling so much better when she calls.”
Sophie took the phone and the charger from the drawer, turned the phone off, and put it in Emma’s purse.
“You can’t do that—turn off the phone. Mother wouldn’t like it, and you know how she gets when she’s angry,” Emma whispered.
“I promise we’ll turn it back on as soon as we get to our destination, and that will be before nine o’clock tonight,” Sophie said.
“All right then.” Emma nodded.
She didn’t expect to get all the way to Hummingbird Trailer Park before the center called Victoria and told her that Emma had checked out, but they had no idea where she was going, so that would buy her some time.
Emma’s hands shook so badly when they stepped up to the front desk, but she crammed them down into her pockets and said in a fairly steady voice, “I’m checking myself out.”
The lady behind the computer looked up and asked, “What’s your name?”
“Emma Merrill,” she answered.
“For God’s sake, she’s been here all these weeks and you don’t even know her name?” Sophie said impatiently. She had to get Emma out of this place in a hurry. If Victoria walked through the doors or by chance happened to call, all hell would break loose.
“Don’t remember ever seeing her out of her room,” the woman shot back as she hit a few keys. “You only have one week left in the program. Are you sure you want to leave? There will be no reimbursement of funds.”
Nancy came from a room, noticed Emma, and ran all the way up the hallway. “Emma, what are you doing? I have strict orders to call your mother if you decide to check yourself out,” she said between bouts of catching her breath.
“Nancy, I’d like to introduce you to Sophie,” Emma said in a very formal tone. “This is my friend, and I’m leaving with her. We plan to spend a few weeks in southern Texas. Do you think I might see a purple lizard?”
Nancy gave a brief nod toward Sophie. “We met earlier.”
“Does she need to sign something?” Sophie asked.
“Just one paper,” Nancy answered. She nodded to the lady behind the computer and said, “Print it out.” Then she turned back to Emma. “And I’m very busy right now, so it might be a couple of hours before I have time to call your mother. I hope you find many happy places where you are going, Emma.”