Page 11 of Four Times Forever

Pausing with the box of photos in my arms, I searched her eyes. "You're leaving, remember?"

"Of course I remember." She hissed. "I'm not daft. All I have is my damn fucking memory. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to them!" She gestured toward Ethan and Eric.

I rolled my eyes. "They're carrying your stuff to the car. Don't be so dramatic."

"I don't want them touching my stuff," she grumbled.

Eric strolled back in, the sun was against his back and he smiled at me. My heart flipped with gratitude for his patience. He shouldn't have had to put up with this and I could see in the darkness of his eyes directed at my mother, that it was weighing on him. Yet, he kept it together. He was better than me and Ryan. Him, Matt and Ethan.

"Ready to go, Mrs. Thornbread?" He even smiled at her as Ethan walked past him to pick up the remaining luggage.

"Go where? With who?" my mother gasped.

I furrowed my brows. When we all stopped to look at her, concern lining our faces, she sucked her teeth.

"Can you all stop looking at me like that? Memory is still intact." She knocked on the side of her head, and I imagined it echoed.

Stop, Lily. I reprimanded myself.

"Oh." Eric cleared his throat, and Ethan's shoulders dropped. "We'll be driving you home."

"Oh no, you won't! So you can kill me on the way? Silence me?!" my mother shouted.

I swore beneath my breath. "Not this again. Mom! Do you want to leave or not? Durham is three hours away, so you've got to make up your mind."

"Why can't the nurse carry me?" She glared in my direction.

"She doesn't have great eyesight..." Ethan began.

"I'm not talking to you!" she yelled at him.

"Well, he's right, Mom. What do you want to do? Walk there?" I asked.

"Don't be funny with me, girl! I'll take a taxi. I don't want them anywhere near me! Because as soon as I step foot in Durham, I'm going straight to the police with what I know!" she yelled.

"And what do you know?" Eric folded his arms and pressed his lips together, his cheeks reddening, his eyes popping.

Ethan stepped up. "What are you going to do? Throw false accusations at us? Frame us? That's illegal."

"You can't do that, Mom!" I gasped. "They're good men. You know that. Better men have gone to prison because of false accusations. Please tell me you're not serious about this."

"They wouldn't be false accusations! I'd gather up evidence. Prove what I know." She doubled down.

Damn, even I started doubting myself. Did she know something I didn't know? I repeated Eric's question. "And what's that?"

Both he and Ethan balked at me, and the hurt in their eyes made me regret saying anything.

"I have a gut feeling. And my gut is never wrong." My mother narrowed her eyes.

"That's all you have? A gut feeling? Great. Well, don't worry guys. The cops will laugh her out of the station just like they did to you when you went to report my kidnapping, by the man who was supposed to be MY FATHER." I yelled, glaring back at her.

Her washed-out cheeks gained color at that, and it at least silenced her.

Chapter 8

Lily

Now, where the fuck was Ryan? Trembling from the aftermath of watching my mother be wheeled away and out of my life, I marched back into the house. Despite my mother's protests, Ethan had decided he'd be the one to drive her at least to the airport. Eric got in his car and drove off too, without saying he was leaving. And I didn't know where the hell Matt was. I'd searched the guest house and hadn't seen him on my way over to the main house. His car was still in the garage. So was Ryan's, thank fuck, because I'd almost had a heart attack at the thought of him getting into a car and driving off with the state he was in.

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