“Probably.”
“I could help her out with money.”
“Mom offered to help out financially, but Aunt Evelyn turned her down.”
Heather stood.“I’ve got to go. I’m going to track down Mom.”
She watched her cousin thread her way through the tables and disappear. She sat and finished her coffee, wondering how all this was going to work out. Aunt Evelyn living with Mom and working at the cafe. Would Heather stick around for a while now? And would Aunt Evelyn adjust to a working life?
So many questions. But one thing was certain. Uncle Darrenwasa scalawagish scoundrel. And if that wasn’t a real term, itshouldbe.
Heather rangthe doorbell at her mother’s house, but no one answered. She walked around back to see if her mother was out on the patio, but no sign of her. She peeked through the windows. Nothing. Too bad she didn’t still have her key to the house. But then she knew her father had changed the locks to the house the day she’d told him she was moving out all those years ago…so there was that.
She remembered the days leading up to her escape in excruciating detail. He’d lit into her as soon as she came home one evening. Her scores on the entrance exam for college were not acceptable even though they were in the top three percent. He moved on to the fact that her outfit was unacceptable—simple shorts that weren’t even that short and a t-shirt from Lighthouse Point. She and her friends had been at the beach and she thought her clothes were perfectly fine for that.
Her mother had tried to change the subject and he told her to be quiet. He did that a lot. Dismissed anything her mother said.
He started listing off new rules for her. Curfew. What friends she could see. What colleges she would be applying to. What classes she’d be taking. And then said he’d have to approve any outfit she wore out of the house.
She’d gone upstairs without even arguing back. That should have given him a clue. She’d stayed for exactly one more month. Luckily she’d saved up money from various jobs and stashed it in an account he didn’t know she had. She squirreled away some of her personal things she wanted like her art supplies and books and some of those exact same clothes he disapproved of. Olivia had taken boxes of things for her.
Then one night she’d come home, and her father started yelling at her when he found out she’d dropped out of the debate club. She’d had to so she could work more hours after school to earn money, but he didn’t know that.
Her mother tried to change the subject once again, and he turned and screamed at her, her mother’s face draining of all color. That’s when she knew she had to move out. She was just causing more trouble for her mother. She’d gone upstairs, packed a duffle of belongings, and traipsed back downstairs and into the living room where her father was reading and her mother was writing on some endless list.
She told them she was leaving and her mother begged her to stay. But her father? He’d said goodbye and he was tired of dealing with such an ungrateful and totally unacceptable child. She still remembered the words…totally unacceptable.
She’d moved in with Aunt Donna and Olivia for the rest of her senior year of high school, then moved from Moonbeam the day after she and Olivia graduated.
“Heather?”The French door opened, and her mother’s voice drew her away from the haunting memories.
“Mom. There you are.”
“I just got home and saw your car in the driveway.”
She threw her arms around her mother and hugged her tight. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d had a real hug. She clung to her for a moment, then stepped back.“You should have told me.”
“So you heard. Come in.”Her mother closed the door behind them.
“The Jenkins twins know.”
Her mother let out a long sigh.“Well then. Everyone one will very soon, won’t they?”
“They will. But we don’t care.”
“I guess I should try to track down my own mother and tell her before she finds out from someone else. Though, I think she’s still off on her world travels.”
“So, it can probably wait until she’s back home, right?”
“You’re right. I don’t think I’m ready to hear her opinion on this. I’m fairly certain she’ll think it’s all my fault.”
“Probably.”Her grandmother totally approved of her mother’s marriage. Thought that Darren Carlson was the ultimate marriage material. But then, he’d been so like her grandfather. Domineering and demanding. Maybe grandmother just thought that was how powerful men were and everyone had to take it.
“There’s nothing I can do about that. I’ll tell her soon.”
“So, what’s this I hear about Father taking everything? Leaving you with nothing? We’ll fight it.”
“I’ve already talked to two different lawyers.”
