Page 16 of Lies Beneath Secrets
“Would you mind opening mine?” Now, she really looks at me strangely but doesn’t speak. Instead, she takes it from me, twists it open, then hands it back. “Thanks.” I give her a slight nod and take a drink, then place the bottle into one of the cupholders extending from the dash. I then place the cap back on it. She does the same after taking another drink.
“You said you were kind of new in town earlier,” she says, trying to start conversation.
“Ah, yeah. I used to live a bit out of town, past Knox’s place in that small trailer court. When Gabby came to live with me, I decided to get a place in town.” It’s not entirely a lie.
“When she came to live with you? Where is her mom?” she asks, then quickly follows up with, “I’m sorry, that’s too personal. You don’t have to answer that.”
“It’s fine. Her mom is no longer in the picture. Gabby has been with me for almost a month now.”
“Does she talk?”
“She does now and then but mostly, no. I have her in therapy for it.” She looks confused for a moment.
“Therapy? Like speech therapy?” I nod, not wanting to get into the reason my daughter is seeing a psychologist because she witnessed something no child should ever have to witness.
“Yeah. Another reason we live in town.” We fall into silence again and not for the first time, I wish this damn truck had a radio that worked. Lauren starts up with her hands again, and I reach over to grab my water. She watches me from the corner of her eye now. I take a long drink from the bottle and place it back into the holder. It isn’t much longer before she’s doing the same. Only this time, she keeps the bottle in her hands.
“What’s the address for your sister’s place?” I ask the further down the road we get, then pull my phone from my pocket. I’m sure she knows how to use the damn thing better than I could. I reach over and hand her the phone. “I have a GPS thing on here.”
“I don’t think we’ll need this.” She hands it back. “Just keep going until you hit Windbrook. I’ll tell you where to go from there. It’s super easy to find. Her husband is the mayor there. Very big house right in the middle of town.”
“Mayor, huh? What’s his name?”
“James Walters.” I nod, wondering where I’ve heard that name before.
“He wasn’t mayor when my sister married him, but he was still pretty well known. His family is large, and they’re all politicians or lawyers.”
“What does your sister do?”
“She’s a mother to their son,” she says so plainly as if she doesn’t know if she likes that answer.
“Nothing wrong with that. Being a mom is a very important job. Gotta raise a kid up right and not let them turn into an asshole. The world doesn’t need more of those,” I say. trying to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t work.
“I’m not sure how that will work with that guy as his father.” She doesn’t say it too loud, but I hear her. I gather the feelings toward her sister’s husband aren’t positive ones. I think back on the photo Knox showed me. From what I’ve learned about Lauren, the other two women in that picture are her mother and this sister we’re going to see. I also know where her mom is and that she’s now a small shell of the person in that picture.
“Is she the oldest or youngest?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“Oldest, by twelve years.” She glances over at me. “My mom was seventeen when she had Leah. She practically raised me.”
“You two must be close then.” She shrugs.
“I suppose we were once but since she moved away. I barely see her.” She seems a little sad about that but doesn’t stay on that for very long before she turns the tables on me. “What about your mom?”
“My mom?” I ask, wondering when the last time was that I spoke of the woman who gave birth to me. “Well, I was maybe fifteen or so when my dad came home one night and started his usual rant about dinner not being on the table. When he started to lay into her like he usually did, I decided enough was enough. So, I picked up one of the metal chairs in the kitchen and hit him with it until he was lying on the floor, cowering away from me.” I glance at her, then keep going. “My mom got in the middle of us and yelled at me to leave.”
“She told you to leave?” Lauren’s eyes are wide with shock that my own mother would do something like that.
“Yep. She told me to leave,” I repeat. “So, I did. A week later, I got picked up by the police for stealing a little pack of powdered donuts from a store. I refused to tell them my name or where I lived. They couldn’t find me anywhere in the system. So, they put me into foster care. I did that for a bit until I said fuck it and ran away. I’d rather be starving and on the streets than living in places with shitty people who only have me there to collect a paycheck.”
“Gosh, that’s…. rough.”
“It was a long time ago. I barely think about it anymore.”
“How old are you?” she asks.
“Forty,” I answer, wondering how she’ll respond to that. Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit how someone feels about my age. For some reason, I find myself not wanting her to think I’mold. I blame Knox for that.
“Huh.” She doesn’t say anything else. Just… huh.
