I didn’t hate my life. It wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t hate our situation. Aria and I had our freedom and that was priceless. Living at the junkyard was better than where we’d been.
Still, listening to normal girls was painfully hard. Because if our parents hadn’t died, that would have been Aria and me. We would have been the girls at a coffee shop who’d never wondered where their next meal would come from. Who didn’t fear police cars that might drag them back to hell.
“I’m going to go get my new book and then find a park or something,” I told Karson.
“Stay in public where people can hear you, okay?”
“I will.” Other than the junkyard, I didn’t go to places where someone couldn’t hear me scream.
“Have fun working.”
“Oh, yeah. Washing cars is my dream,” he deadpanned.
I giggled and it made him smile.
He smiled so wide and bright, I refused to blink. I had to memorize that smile in the next forty-six days so that when we left California, I could take it with me.
Standing on the sidewalk, I waved and watched as he walked away. About ten feet away, he spun and grinned, giving me a mock salute. I laughed, watching his long strides and the way he walked with such grace.
Then he was gone and I left for the thrift store, taking my time over the ten-block route. There were no new additions to their very limited book supply, so next was an extra thirteen blocks to the closest library.
Not that I checked out books. I’d need a library card for that and requesting a fake one had seemed like an unnecessary risk. But I came to the library often, never speaking to the librarians, simply walking through the stacks.
There was adventure here. There was hope. There were imaginary worlds behind each dust jacket and hard spine, ready to swallow the reader whole. The smell of paper and books infused the air. The quiet whispers of patrons reminded me of fall leaves rustling on the grass.
Finally, after I’d killed another hour, I began the slow journey to Aria’s restaurant. She wouldn’t be ready to leave yet, but I didn’t want to risk not catching her. And I hoped I could beg a lemonade with extra ice from the waitress.
She gave me two while I waited for my sister.
Aria laughed after I explained to her what was happening. “Don’t you think Karson’s gotten more protective lately? Do you think all big brothers are like that?”
Eww. Karson was not my big brother. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Overprotective or not, I liked that Karson cared about our well-being. It was the one gesture that set him apart from most of the people in our lives.
“We still have an hour before he’s ready,” Aria said, checking the clock in the restaurant as she slung her backpack on. “Want to go somewhere?”
“Not really. I’ve been walking all afternoon. What if we just went and hung out at the car wash?”
“Fine by me.” She said her goodbyes to her coworkers, then we made the trek to Karson’s work.
There was a concrete ledge behind the row of vacuums, and Aria and I made ourselves comfortable under the shade of a tree.
I had the perfect view of Karson standing inside the metal shed with a pressure spray wand in his grip. Some days, he washed the cars. Others, he was outside, polishing the wax or running a vacuum.
It was difficult to stop myself from staring. His jeans were wet, like usual. So was his gray T-shirt. It stuck to his flat stomach. Every time he moved, the fabric seemed to stretch tighter over his shoulders and arms.
Stop staring. I had to force my eyes away, locking them on Aria, even though in my head all I could picture was Karson shirtless, wearing that towel.
Aria was telling me about her day while I fantasized about Karson. I hadn’t heard a word she’d said because I was an awful sister. But then a familiar voice barked and jerked me out of my stupor.
“Stay away from me.” Karson’s voice filled the air.
“What the hell?” Aria muttered, twisting. Then we were both on our feet.
“That’s her.” I reached for my sister’s arm. “Aria, that’s her, isn’t it?”
She took my hand, her eyes narrowing. “I don’t know. Is it?”
“Yes.” It was her.
The jogger from yesterday was inside the car wash, clearly ignoring the Employees Only sign. She was talking to Karson, waving her hands wildly as he lifted an arm and pointed toward the exit.
“Go. Away.” Another shout that carried our way.
The woman didn’t budge. She crossed her arms over her chest, planting her legs wide.
Karson clenched his jaw, then stormed into the office and slammed the door behind him.
The woman didn’t notice us watching. She scowled and marched to her car. With a snap of her fingers, she ordered away the guy drying it with a towel. Then she was behind the wheel and on the road, her tires squealing as she raced onto the street.
I didn’t wait for my sister as I rushed to the office, almost at the door when it flew open and Karson stalked outside.
He spotted me and changed direction. “Hey.”
“Karson, that was her. The jogger.”
“What?”
“Yes, that was her. I’m sure.”
“Fuck.”
“Who is that woman?” I asked as Aria joined us.
Karson gritted his teeth and stared at the road where she’d disappeared. “My mother.”
Chapter Five
Clara
“Hey.” I smiled at Karson as he came striding my way. I was outside the van, shaking the remainder of the cat food from the bag into a bowl for the stray.
The bag that I’d bought over a month and a half ago, the day we’d seen Karson’s mother jogging down our road, had lasted a long time. Too long. Katherine’s cat hadn’t been coming around much, probably because Katherine wasn’t here.
“Hey,” he said. “Where’s Aria?”
“Shower.” I crumpled the bag into a ball for Lou’s metal trash can. “She’s been working on her plants all day, getting them ready for when we go. She wants to stage them around Lou’s place as a goodbye present.”
Karson nodded and sank onto an old car hood. It rested on top of a heap of large metal scraps and a rusted wheel well. The hood was our equivalent of a living room chair.
“How was work?” I asked. While Aria and I hadn’t had to work today, he’d gone in for an eight-hour shift at the car wash.
“Work.” He shrugged, but the lines on his forehead spoke volumes about his day.
And who’d paid him a visit.
“She was there again, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “Came right before I clocked out.”
In the time since Karson’s mother had made her first appearance at the car wash, she’d continued to confront him at least once a week.
“What did she want?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Didn’t let her catch me. The second I saw her car, I shut myself in the office.”
“Does your boss care?”
“I mean, he doesn’t like it. But he gets it.”
I gave him a sad smile. “Sorry.”
“Yeah. Whatever. She can fuck off.”