Page 80 of The Breakdown

“Yes. I give you the cash I brought with me. Thankfully, I thought to withdraw a big amount before I took off. I’ve been doing that for a while now because I don’t like him knowing what all I spend my money on. Just in case he has someone checking.”

“What an awful way to live.”

She sighed. “You get used to it.”

“I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I think you should go back to the police.”

“I know you feel that way, June. And I hear you, I do. I’m considering all my options.”

“That’s good.”

“And as for how I’m feeling…” She shrugged. “I’m a little better after having apologized to Vaughn. But I’m still not my usual self.”

“Why do you think that is?” June grabbed a carrot and began slicing it.

“My childhood.”

June glanced at her. “Oh?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the past and I didn’t exactly have what you would call a standard childhood.” She paused as if gathering her strength. “My father died suddenly when I was thirteen and I was put into foster care.”

June stopped chopping. “Oh, child, I’m so sorry.”

Natalie reached for a carrot. But she didn’t start slicing. “It was rough.”

“Do you mind if I ask where your mother was?”

Natalie laughed. “Mother? As far as I’m concerned I never had one. She left us when I was two, ran off with some druggie. I haven’t seen her since.”

June touched her arm. Natalie continued. “It doesn’t matter though. It never did. My father was all I ever needed. And then he got sick and it happened quick. He was gone within six weeks of diagnosis.”

“And you had no one else to take you in?”

“I did not.” She finally began chopping the carrot. “So I was carted off to foster care where I suffered some more. At least at first.” She stopped and stared off into space. “I just couldn’t seem to do anything right. Not a thing. I was never good enough. Ever. And they let me know it.” She started chopping again. “But the second house wasn’t so bad. They were decent people. Unfortunately, the damage had been done and it was hard for me to overcome. I had trouble settling in, with trusting people, with school. It wasn’t a fun time.”

“How long were you at the second house?”

“About a year. They let me go because I kept getting suspended from school. They didn’t know what to do with me.”

“That’s awful.”

“I can’t really blame them. I was lost and damaged goods and I wouldn’t stop fighting at school. Wouldn’t allow the bullies to get their way.”

“Good for you.”

She laughed. “It wasn’t so good, trust me.”

“And house number three?”

“House number three was not good. The man, he liked me a little too much and I wouldn’t have it. So I hit him one night when he came in my room. I broke his nose and that was the end of house number three.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yeah,” she nodded and scooped up the bit of carrots to place in the bowl.

The kitchen began to smell of barbecue and June carried the pan of yeast rolls to the oven where she slid them in on the lower rack. Natalie opened the beeping microwave and checked the potatoes, turning them over before cooking them for another five minutes.

“I managed to stay in house number four until I graduated high school and turned eighteen. But then I was out and that meant I had nowhere to go so I really struggled for a while and I…met the wrong people and got mixed up in drugs.”

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