AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She brushed a strand of hair off of her forehead as she looked up at me. “What was your dad like?”
I wondered where these questions were coming from. I’d noticed an uptick in interest in our family tree since she started pre-K.
“He was…” I didn’t really know what to say. Harper wasn’t old enough to hear the truth, that he was an alcoholic womanizer.
My dad passed away from liver failure a year and a half before Harper was born. He’d basically drank himself to death. His death was one of the main reasons I didn’t reenlist. I wanted to be close to my grandad since I was the only family he had left.
Grandad had pretty much singlehandedly raised me. My parents had me when they were eighteen. They got married, but from what I’d heard, it wasn’t a very happy relationship. My dad was a roughneck and would spend months out on oil rigs. I lived with my mom for the first three years of my life, but one day, when my dad was out on a job, she dropped me off at my grandad’s and never came back. I never saw her again. Then one day, when I was sixteen, I got notified that she’d passed away. She’d OD’d, and they weren’t sure if it was accidental or deliberate.
Grandad had been the only constant in my life because even when my dad was home, he was always out partying or bringing women back home with him. He wasn’t really interested in being a father.
He hadn’t taught me how to ride a bike, throw a ball, drive a stick, change a tire, or shave. Grandad had been the one to teach me all those things and more. I owed him everything.
“My dad was funny, and he loved horses.” Those were the nicest things I could say about him.
Harper’s face lit up. “I love horses!”
I nodded, and when we walked inside, Harper dropped my hand and ran to the front desk, where Judy Haines handed her a butterscotch candy.
“How are you today, Miss Harper?”
“Good, I’m going to a sleepover on Friday!” she relayed.
“Oh, that’s exciting!” Judy looked appropriately impressed before her eyes lifted to mine. Her voice lowered, and her tone turned serious. “He’s refusing PT. He won’t leave his room.”
“Right.” I knew he wouldn’t be happy about the news that he wouldn’t be going home today.
“Oh, and there’s an art class in the music room. It’s a life drawing class, and the model is in his birthday suit, so it’s not appropriate for little eyes.”
“Thanks for the heads-up.” Since Grandad’s room was next door to the music room, I figured I’d let Harper hang out in the rec room while I went to talk to him.
I found some crayons and coloring books in the activity bin and set them on the table. “Hey, Peanut, why don’t you hang out here and color while I go talk to Grandad.”
“Okay,” she easily agreed, and hopped up on a chair.
As I walked back to his room, my mind wandered to the same place it had every second I wasn’t actively thinking of something else for the last twenty-four hours: Ruby Rhodes. I kept playing the day before over and over again in my mind. I’d never been so consumed by an encounter with a person. And she was Remi’s little sister, which meant she was off-limits.
All I had to do was get through the next five days, and she would be gone. Then, everything would go back to normal, which should make me happy. Relieved.
It didn’t.
5
RUBY
“When nothin’ goes right, go left.” ~ Miss Dottie
“Come on,” I murmured beneath my breath as I turned the key in the ignition one more time.
I just needed Sally to keep running until I reached the dock in Galveston. Once I got back onto dry land from my summer at sea, I would have enough money saved to get a new car. I’d also, hopefully, have a plan for where I was going to live and what I was going to do. But until then, I needed Sally to hang in there for a few more days.
“Come on, Sally. I know you got this.”
After my third attempt, the engine roared to life, and I felt a rush of relief wash through me.
It wasn’t that I’d be completely screwed if I didn’t have transportation. Wishing Well was not that big. I could easily walk anywhere I needed to go. The problem was, the more I walked, the greater the chance of running into people I had no desire to see.
So far, the only people I’d run into were Velma and, unfortunately, Kane. But my lack of unwanted social encounters was not evidence that my luck was changing. The only reason I hadn’t seen anyone was because I hadn’t left the trailer in over twenty-four hours. I’d slept for fourteen hours, woke up, gone to the bathroom, ate a peanut butter and banana sandwich, drank a gallon of red Gatorade, and gone back to sleep for another eight hours.
