“Shut it,” I scowled as I glanced in the rearview mirror, but she was all smiles. Her soft, curly, blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her pale blue eyes were filled with mischief.
That was the thing about Ash. No matter what I said or did to her, it always rolled off her back. Like she understood, on some weird level, I never reallywantedto hurt her feelings.
I just did.
This time I hit the gas pedal a lot easier and I could see the difference. But as we approached where the parking lot ended I immediately went from the gas to the brake and we were lurching to a stop again.
“That’s okay. You’ve got to learn that when you take your foot off the gas, the car slows down,” George said. “So ease off the gas first, then worry about braking to a stop.”
I put the car in reverse. Figured out how to make a K turn, then drove forward, this time easing off the gas first before slowly braking so that the car stopped without a lurch.
“That was awesome!” Ash clapped. “I knew you were going to be a good driver. You can do anything, Marc.”
A freaking cheerleader along for a driving lesson. Who did that?
“You just want me to learn how to drive so I can take you places off the estate,” I muttered, even as I put the car in reverse to turn around and try again.
That made her smile. “Wait. You’ll take me places when you get your license?”
I shrugged. “I guess.”
“Then yes, I absolutely want you to learn how to drive. Then I can be free! Also, are we going to get ice cream after this?”
George nodded. “Successful driving lesson number one in the books, yes, I think we should get ice cream.”
“Fine, but we need to go to a burger joint to get it,” I said. “I’m not a little girl who wants ice cream. I want a burger and fries.”
George laughed. “Yes, sorry for doubting your manliness with ice cream.”
“But you love ice cream,” Ash said, clearly confused.
She didn’t get it. I was getting older. I was learning how to drive. I was getting closer and closer to the day when I wouldn’t need anyone or anything because I could take care of myself.
Closer to the day when I would be legal. A man.
And men didn’t eat ice cream with little girls.
* * *
One year later
End of summer
Ashleigh
I was never exactly sure when I fell in love with Marc. I just knew for sure I was. Like I’d always been. Like maybe it was love at first sight even though I was only ten. It should have been weird. But I decided it wasn’t.
It was just us. I understood he didn’t love me back, not the way I wanted, not yet. Sometimes it seemed he barely tolerated me, but I knew that was an act. Like when I was super annoying, and he called me princess with this sneer. Or when he told me I was a spoiled brat.
I used to think the reason he was always so mean to me was because he associated me with being separated from his mom. Like saying goodbye to her in the rehab place, then meeting me for the first time were ultimately linked in his mind.
Which made me a sad thing to him. Because his mom never got better.
After she’d left the halfway house that first time, she’d been found by the cops. On the streets selling drugs, which led to her doing time in jail. Then another in-patient stay at a rehab facility, another halfway house. For a while there, it looked like she might make it. She wasn’t in a position where George would consider letting Marc live with her, but for the first time everyone had hoped she might stay clean.
That hope didn’t last long after Marc learned she’d left the halfway house again. And it appeared she’d even left the state.
Florida, George thought, because he knew she had friends down there. But he wasn’t certain. George had asked Marc if he wanted him to hire a private investigator to track her down, but Marc had said no.
