“Someday you will.”
I shook my head. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“I miss her you know.”
“Who?”
“Sonnet.”
“Me too, little one. Me too.”
“Mom gets angry if I even mention her name and she took all her pictures down and boxed them up.”
“I think she’s just too sad to deal with it.”
“But she gave up on her. We all did. No one’s looking for her, Susan. Doesn’t that bother you?”
I sighed and lowered my voice. “I’m still looking.”
Her eyes widened. “But how? You’re always here working. When do you even have time for that?”
“You can’t tell anyone, Sage. Especially not Mom.”
I wasn’t sure I could trust her with this. I had tried to confide in Sapphire and all it did was hurt her more when I hit a dead end. I could see Sage was already hurting though.
“I won’t. I swear it, Susan.”
“Do you know what I was going to college for?”
“Some geeky computer stuff?”
“Computer Programming.”
“Yeah that. So?”
“I’m really good at it. I’ve tracked down a group I think took her. I don’t have the proof yet, but I’m getting closer. If she’s still out there, I’m going to find her.”
Her eyes teared up and she threw her arms around me. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Michelle was watching us closely. I didn’t even have to look up to know it with certainty.
I sniffed and cleared my throat. “I have to get back to work.”
“Can I help?” she asked.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
She rolled her eyes. “I just want to, that’s all.”
“Uh, okay. But seriously, who are you and what did you do with my sister?”
Sage laughed, but true to her word she grabbed a rag and spray bottle and got to work cleaning tables. With her help and the fact that the place was dead anyway I went ahead and closed up an hour early.
We walked home arm and arm. I was so distracted that I didn’t even notice the car in the driveway.
“And what do you think you’re doing home so early? Shouldn’t you be working in my café?”
I jumped. “Sh..., uh, Mom, what are you doing home?”
“I had a bad feeling and so we came back early. I can see why now. You ungrateful little wretch. You closed early? You’re slacking on your duties and costing me money?”
“It wasn’t like that, Mom.” Sage tried to jump to my defense.
“You have better things to do than waste your time and everyone else’s over there,” Shay told Sage.
“Actually, she was quite helpful today. I appreciated the extra hands. We finished up closing early and since no one was in I let the staff go home. We had a great day today. There was no need for everyone to sit around any longer.”
She backhanded me across the face. I heard the slap before I felt the sting on my cheek.
Sage started to cry and ran to her room. I heard the door slam.
The fox inside me began to stir and I had to take several breaths to gain control enough to keep her at bay.
Shay had been a terrible mother and had been verbally abusive to me my entire life, but she had never actually laid a hand on me before now.
“You don’t make those sort of decisions, Susan. And you will not disrespect me in my own house again. Are we clear now?”
I was too much in shock to even answer so all I did was nod.
She thought I was weak. I wasn’t. I wanted to love my mother and I wanted her to love me. I had never understood why she hated me so much.
Sapphire walked in wearing shorts and a tank top with a towel wrapped around her hair. I knew she had been in the shower and missed all of the action.
“What’s going on here?” she asked.
“Susan seems to have forgotten her place in this family while we were away. Sadly, she needed a good reminder.”
My hand flew to my cheek. It was still throbbing and felt warm to the touch.
“What’s wrong with you face, Susan?” my sister asked.
“Ask her,” I said.
As Sapphire turned worried, questioning eyes toward Shay, I turned and ran to my room locking the door behind me. I wasn’t going to stand there a second longer waiting for her to freak out over something else and take it out on me again.
I laid down on my bed and cried.
Throughout the night Sage and Sapphire both tried to check on me, but I ignored their soft knocks. They could never understand what it was like to be me. She didn’t treat them this way. It was only me she truly hated.
I tried to remember this was my life and the only life I would ever have. I tried to remember the good parts of it. I tried to be positive, but as I laid there, the darkness consumed me as I realized this was all my life would ever be.
Tarron
Chapter 7
“Woo wee!” Nonna yelled as she rolled down the window and stuck her hand out to feel the wind against her arm.
“Nonna, put your arm back in here.”
“Can we detour to the beach on our way home?”
“Not likely.”
“Oh look, there’s a casino coming up. I’m feeling lucky today. Let’s stop and play.”
“Nonna, we’re on a mission and we only have a week to get this done. We have a long drive ahead of us.”
“Don’t be a party pooper, Caleb. The world is our oyster. How many opportunities like this come up in a lifetime?”
“Weekly,” I said dryly. “I literally go on missions like this every week.”
“Well not for me, and not with me. You need to lighten up some and live a little before you’re too old to enjoy it.”
“You certainly don’t seem to be having any trouble,” I muttered.
“I heard that. Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh what this time?”
“We’re going to need to find a restroom soon.”
“Nonna we just stopped an hour ago.”
“Oh look, twenty-three miles to the next rest stop. They always have the nicest bathrooms. I think I can hold it until then.”
“Seriously? Again? Are we going to have to stop at every rest stop from California to Idaho?”
“When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.”
“And I’m sure you’ll still be around to remind me just how right you were.”
“Don’t you sass me, boy.”
“Sorry.”
We drove in peace for several hours as Nonna stared out the window watching the scenery as it passed or reading a book on some device she’d brought with her. The only time she spoke was to use the bathroom again, and again, and again.
“I’m sorry, Nonna,” I finally said, hating the awkward silence that had set in between us. “If you want to go to the casino we can, but on the way back, okay? I only have a week so the faster we get there and get this over with the more time we’ll have to play on the way home. Okay?”