Page 97 of Wicked Promises
“Oh, never mind that. You know Aunt Iris is always trying to save people.” She scoffs. “It’d serve her better at the gates of Heaven if she served her own family?—”
“Mother,” I snap. “Seriously?”
“Everything is gone,” she moans. “My jewelry, the money…”
“What, were you stockpiling cash or something?”
She’s quiet, and I feel my eyebrows lift almost of their own accord.
“You can’t be serious.”
“What? You can’t expect me to live like this forever. Like?—”
Like someone who works. Who earns their paycheck instead of just sitting behind a desk and letting the money pile into their bank account.
With sudden clarity, I realize that I don’t want to follow in my father’s footsteps. I don’t want to sit behind a desk and order people around, or push paper, or?—
“You’ve tuned out your poor mother again.”
I shake my head. “Listen, Mom. I’m seventeen. I can’t drive because of the concussion Uncle David gave me a week and a half ago. I don’t really know what you expect me to do before I have to be at school.”
“Forget it.”
Gladly.
“If you find my body tucked behind a dumpster, or beaten to death, or dismembered, or?—”
“Why the hell are you talking like someone is going to murder you?”
“Because,” she whispers, “someone isafter our family, Caleb. Someone will always try to take what we have. And, oh, I’m afraid we’ve made some terrible mistakes in our lives.”
My stomach twists.
“Mom…?”
“Margo found out about Amber, Caleb. She came into the diner, and I tried to get Amber to leave, but she knew it was Margo out there. She—” She sucks in a ragged breath. “God, what am I doing?”
“Calm down,” I order. “Do you live with Amber?”
“Yes, she came into town looking for a fix, and I couldn’t let that happen. It’s my fault she’s in this mess—my fault. I just wanted to get her clean.” Her voice cracks, and then her sobbing fills my ear.
I hate it.
Hate her.
And yet, I pity her.
“Mom… just breathe. What do you mean, it’s your fault?”
“She never should’ve got involved with my husband,” she says in a low voice, suddenly crystal clear.
“You’re obviously not in the right state, yourself,” I snap. “Stay put, okay? I’ll come get you.”
She tells me where she is, and I hang up.
Fuck.
No wonder she wouldn’t tell me where Amber was when I asked. For a while, I was no better than her supplier. Giving her money was the easiest way to get her out of town. If I didn’t,she’d wash up closer to Rose Hill, each and every time. And eventually, closer to Margo.