Page 116 of Unwrapping Love

“They won’t believe you.”

“Who do you think the public is going to believe? A single mother with three different fathers who lives with her parents who threw her kids in the car to shake her sister and her boyfriend down or a guy who is loved in this community, and his family is well known for the people they employ, the businesses they grow, and the money they donate?”

“Just a few days,” Sandy said. “That’s it. Let us stay a few days.”

“No.”

“How about in a hotel with a pool so I can get some sun and the kids can swim? I’ve got a few hundred dollars on me to pay for food.”

She pressed her lips together and crossed her arms. “No. You’re getting one night so you can sleep before you hit the road. I’ll give you money for food tonight and gas and that is it. I don’t care whether or not you need it, but it’s all you’re getting.”

“I can’t believe you can be this cold to your own flesh and blood.”

“Cold?” she said, throwing her hands up. “Do you know what cold is? Cold is telling your sister who is sick in the hospital and not sure if she’s going to die that no one would ever want her because of her illness. Cold is saying that you don’t care that I should eat healthy because you want ice cream and chips and donuts and Mom is too damn tired to fight you and you get your way, leaving me to eat it too because nothing else was available, knowing I shouldn’t have it.”

“You’re making a big deal about words,” Sandy said. “What you’re doing is actions.”

“Words have consequences,” she yelled. “You made my life hell. I left to get away from you. I don’t even want to be around you when I visit, but I bite my tongue and do it to see Mom and Dad. They know.”

“You never wanted to come home. Don’t give me that shit.”

“Where would I stay?” she asked. “You took my room for your kids. You talk about being on the streets. There you go. If I want to visit, it’s Grandma’s or a hotel.”

“You want everyone to feel sorry for you. If you had died one of those times you were in the hospital, life would be simpler. Then I wouldn’t have had to hear all the time that I should be more like you.”

She was going to vomit over those words.

Being selfish and mean was one thing.

Sandy was just cruel.

“I don’t know who tells you that, but it sure the hell isn’t me.”

“Mom,” Sandy snapped. “Ever since you learned how to cook and exercised, then went to college and graduated, Mom has been throwing it in my face that it’s not too late to change. It’s all about how well your life turned out and now I have to hear it all the time.You’ll never be as good as Saylor.Do you know what it’s like to hear that?”

It was news to her. “It’s the first I’m hearing it and it’s not my problem. I’m not changing my stance. This is it. End of the road. Call me all the names you want, but I’m done. Nothing you can say or do to me is going to hurt.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Sandy said, stomping her foot. Her voice was rising. She could see the screaming fit coming on soon that would sound like someone was being murdered in the house.

That was all she needed the neighbors to hear.

Her phone vibrated at the same time another was ringing.

Sandy pulled hers out of her back pocket and silenced it. Saylor picked hers up and saw her grandmother calling and answered.

“Is it bad?” her grandmother asked.

“Like a cyclone ready to hit.”

“Your father is here. Your sister just sent him to voicemail. He said tell her to answer it now. Then take cover.”

“What?”

“Do as I said,” her grandmother said.

Sandy’s phone rang again. “Dad is trying to call you. You need to answer it.”

Sandy rolled her eyes. “What, Dad?” her sister snapped into the phone.