Page 24 of Hale Yes (Highway to Hale #1)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The baby elephant story

Helix

Yeah, I just did that.

Was it a rash and stupid thing to do? Most likely. Am I sorry? Not one tiny fucking bit.

I walked up just about the time those women, who I assumed were Nicolette’s sister and mother, extended that insincere invitation.

I was about to retreat to give her privacy when the mother got that pissy look on her face and commented that the father insisted.

Like they wouldn’t have invited a member of their immediate family otherwise.

After that? I eavesdropped without an ounce of shame. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I could tell from Nicolette’s body language that she was shrinking into herself in the face of their verbal jabs.

And that was absolutely unacceptable. So I did the only thing I could do and inserted myself into the situation as Nicolette’s “boyfriend.”

And here we are.

I rest my chin on her shoulder as the two women on the screen flounder for at least twenty seconds before the mother finally answers, “The, um, party is on Saturday evening.”

The sister is scowling like someone pissed on her favorite blanket. “But you really don’t have to come. It’s a long way, and I know this isn’t much notice.”

That makes me wonder how long they’ve been planning this shindig and if they purposely waited until the last minute to invite Nicolette.

“No problem,” I answer with the fakest smile I can muster. “That’s what planes are for, and we wouldn’t miss it for the world. You’re Nicolette’s family , after all.” Emphasis on family for their benefit.

“Okay, well…” the mother says, seeming to be searching for what to say next. She’s not so fucking strong when the person she’s bullying has backup. “I guess that’s that. We’ll see you both next weekend.”

“Just send Nicolette whatever we need to know. Time, location, dress code. I look forward to meeting you all,” I say, and their faces disappear a second later without another word. Coming around the bench, I sit beside Nicolette. “Well, they seemed nice.”

She ignores my sarcasm, her wide-eyed face turning slowly toward me. “What the hell was that, Helix?”

One of my eyebrows arcs up. “That was your family acting like jerks, so I stepped in with a solution.”

“But…” Nicolette shakes her head in apparent confusion. “It’s not your job to deal with my family issues.”

“I made it my job,” I tell her calmly, spooning a bite of mango gelato into my mouth.

She stares at me like I’ve lost my ever-loving mind. “What’s going to happen when I show up by myself next weekend and have to tell them you were just joking around? I’m going to look stupid.”

“You’re not going to look stupid because I’m actually going to go with you.” I point at her bulging eyes with my spoon. “Stop doing that with your eyes. You’re freaking me out.”

“I’m freaking you out?” Nicolette questions. Then she closes her lids and dips her head, voice barely audible. “I don’t understand why in the world you would want to pretend to be my boyfriend, Helix.”

I hate seeing the pain on her face, and her vulnerability drives a stake straight through my chest. Placing my spoon inside my cup and setting it on the bench beside me, I gently lift her chin with my fingers until she’s looking at me.

I have the strangest urge to lay my lips against hers and breathe in her pain, take it all away. But that would be weird, right?

Yeah, definitely.

Instead, I go with the truth. “Nicolette, your family was bullying you. I don’t put up with that shit. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t stand up for someone…” I pause before I say my true thought—s omeone I care about —and finish with, “Someone who’s my friend?”

She opens her mouth and then closes it almost all the way, blowing out a stream of air. “I don’t know.”

“I wouldn’t be able to respect myself if I didn’t step in. If you truly don’t want me to go, I won’t, but I promise you, I don’t mind.”

Nicolette runs her bottom lip through her teeth. “I don’t know what I want.”

I release her chin and nod at her cup. “Eat your gelato and tell me why your mother and sister talk to you like that.”

When she doesn’t move, I nudge her hand until she takes a small bite. Then I pick up my own cup, cross an ankle over my knee, and gaze out at the pond, sensing she needs the mental space to open up to me. From my peripheral vision, I see her do the same.

After a minute of silence, she finally speaks. “My family prefers my sister. It’s kind of a golden child type situation.”

I’m shocked to my shoes. “With all your brains and accomplishments, your sister is the golden child of your family? Good god, what the fuck has she done? Found a cure for cancer? Brokered a peace deal in the Middle East?”

Nicolette lets out a bitter laugh. “Angelica is on her sixth career change right now, still lives with our parents, and has a substance abuse problem.”

I’m genuinely confused, my mind spinning to try and process why. “Do you think it’s because she’s… troubled or whatever? So they think she needs more attention?”

“No, I learned she was the favorite when I was five and she was seven. Long before any drug problems.”

My heart physically hurts, but I can’t stop myself from asking, “What happened when you were five?”

She releases a sad laugh. “Christmas happened. All I asked for was a Barbie Dreamhouse. I’d seen it on TV and wanted one so bad.

Angelica said it was stupid and asked for a bike and a bunch of craft stuff.

She was into bracelet making.” Nicolette takes another bite, her eyes going hazy with the memory as she swallows.

“So Christmas morning, there were several presents beneath the tree, but I instantly spotted a big, wrapped gift. I was so excited.”

“You thought it was the Barbie house?”

Her shoulders lift and fall in a shrug. “It was the Dreamhouse, but the tag had Angelica’s name on it.”

“But she didn’t even want it,” I very helpfully point out.

“She did once she realized she got something I wanted. Played with it all the time after that and wouldn’t let me touch it.

” Nicolette’s voice should sound bitter, but it simply sounds defeated, as if this kind of thing was commonplace in her life.

“My dad seemed surprised when Angelica opened it on Christmas morning, and then he and Ma went into the kitchen for a while. I could hear them arguing, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. ”

I lean into her, nudging her softly with my upper arm. “I’m sorry, Nicolette. That wasn’t fair and must have been really hard for a little kid to deal with.”

She nods. “Now that I’m older, I think I know what happened. I think my dad bought me the Dreamhouse, and my mother put Angelica’s name on it instead of mine.”

“On purpose?” I’m just in shock over this. How could anyone knowingly hurt a child like that? If they couldn’t afford the gift their kid wanted, I could understand that. But this story? It’s all kinds of fucked up.

“Yes, definitely on purpose. It’s like Ma was jealous of me or something.

My dad always tried to give me attention because Ma didn’t, but it only made her mad.

” I want to ask why but she answers before I can say it out loud.

“Angelica was a planned pregnancy, and I was the surprise baby she didn’t actually want. ”

My anger is at a fever pitch, and I want to fucking destroy that bitch of a mother. No, she doesn’t even deserve the title of mother. That bitch of a bitch.

“She said that to you?” I barely recognize the seething tone of my own voice. I haven’t been this pissed since… well, it was five years ago. The whole thing with Phoenix.

Nicolette’s lips roll in and out between her teeth a few times. “I overheard Ma talking to her friend about it one day. This was after that Christmas with the Barbie house. A few months maybe? Hell, I don’t know. I was a kid and not great with time, but that seems about right.”

“And your father?”

“Pop loves me,” she says simply, spooning another bite of pina colada gelato into her mouth. “I remember he tried to get me extra gifts and stuff for my birthday when he could afford it, but Ma would always make sure Angelica had twice as much.”

“For your birthday?” I snap.

Nicolette looks at me like I’m the one talking nonsense. “Yeah, Angelica would pitch a fit if she saw me getting anything, so Ma distracted her with her own gifts.” Her nose wrinkles. “It’s always been like that, so I’m used to it now.”

For her to be utterly resigned to being treated like that, I know there’s so much more to the story, but I’ve heard enough to know she needs someone at her back next weekend. And that someone is going to be me.

“Nicolette, have you ever heard the baby elephant story?”

Her mouth twitches. “Are you about to call me an elephant? Because I’m not sure that’s what I need to hear right now.”

Laughing, I take her empty cup and stack it with mine on the ground beside us. “Just hear me out. You might find it insightful.”

She swivels to face me, and I like that. I angle toward her as well as I begin to speak.

“When a baby elephant is kept in captivity, they tie it to a tree with a strong rope.”

Nicolette’s lips quirk. “My mother was bad, but she never tied me to a tree or locked me in a cupboard under the stairs.”

I give her a soft smile. “This story is more metaphorical, not literal.” When she nods, I continue.

“Since it’s in an elephant’s nature to roam, the baby pulls and tugs and tries to break the rope or pull the tree down, but he’s just not that strong yet.

After months and months of trying, he eventually gives up. ”

With her green eyes glistening, she shakes her head. “That’s so sad.”

“It is. And the elephant remembers that struggle as a baby, even when he’s all grown up.

So if he’s tied to a flimsy tree with a thin rope, he won’t even try to break free.

Though he now weighs several tons and is strong enough to easily break the rope or pull the tree out by the roots, he won’t do it.

Because he’s been programmed to expect that he can’t. ”

Her green eyes dart between mine, and I realize our fingers are intertwined. I’m not sure if I made that move or if she did, but I’m sure as hell not letting go now.

“So what are you saying?”

I squeeze her hand. “I’m saying, knock over the goddamn tree, queenie.”