Page 17 of Desert Sky (RB MC #4)

SKYE

M alik never asks me to sit down unless something’s wrong.

He stood on the porch, arms folded tight across his chest, the sun dipping low behind the pines. The cicadas were singing, the air heavy with summer and silence. I stepped out with my coffee, already knowing from the look on his face that this wouldn’t be about dinner plans.

“Skye,” he said softly. “I need you to sit for this.”

I sank down onto the creaky porch swing, my stomach already tying into knots. “Just tell me.”

“There was a fire back in Santa Fe,” he started, slow and careful. “Trailer park on the south end.”

I didn’t breathe.

Malik crouched down beside me, his hand brushing lightly over mine. “Your mother’s trailer was one of the ones that caught. She’s alive. But… she’s in the burn unit. It’s bad.”

The cup slipped slightly from my hands. I clutched it tighter.

“You sure it’s her? ”

He nodded once. “Social worker at the hospital is trying to track down. Your name search hit all the databases and sent me an alert. They need a next of kin to make some decisions.”

“But we haven’t spoken in years,” I whispered, more to myself than to him. “We haven’t… she was never instructed in my life. And I couldn’t risk telling her about Jackson’s.”

“I know,” he said. “But they don’t have anyone else listed. You’re all that’s left.”

The porch boards groaned under my shifting weight. My breath caught. All the years I’d spent trying to build a safe, quiet life in North Carolina… all the boundaries I’d drawn. I couldn’t just undo them. Not without risking everything.

“Malik,” I said, “I can’t go back. You know that. If JD finds out I’m in Santa Fe?—”

“He hasn’t been back,” Malik interrupted. “Not since his father’s funeral months ago. I’ve kept tabs, just in case. His family’s in shambles. Cal’s running the ranch, and the rest scattered.”

I stared at the trees swaying in the distance, trying to think, trying to breathe. I could still smell the smoke from childhood, even now. I could hear the screaming from that old trailer park, the fights, the slammed doors.

She hadn’t been a good mother.

But she was still my mother.

And now I was a mother too.

“I won’t take Jackson,” I said suddenly. “He stays here. Safe. If I have to go, he doesn’t.”

Malik nodded. “I figured you’d say that. Shaniqua’s already got him set up with Gram. She’ll keep him close and quiet. He won’t even miss school.”

“And you’ll go with me?”

His hand tightened on mine. “Every damn mile. ”

The swing creaked. A bird cawed overhead. My heart felt like it was pounding through dust and ash.

I’d run for years.

And now I had to go back.

Not for her. Not really.

But for me. To face it. To finish what never really ended.

I stood slowly, my fingers trembling.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go home.”