Page 69 of Keepsake

I said I was doing this myself and I was. It was just a bad day and there will be no bad days if I plan enough.

Taking a breath, I wrote pages upon pages and then kept them on my bed, watching them, adding to them.

Still shaking, still feeling weak.

But I had a plan.

And all a woman needs is a plan.

“Tellmeagain.”

“We are not telling Tita how many times we ordered in food.”

I nodded. “What else?”

“Not telling what her house looks like.”

“Right, and the most important?”

Vienna took a breath, and for a second I thought she had it. I really thought she did. But her mouth closed in a line, and she refused to talk.

“Can’t tell Tita I got suspended, dumbass.” Dash shook his head, exasperated. I couldn’t even complain about his impatience with his sister. I had been hammering that point since we left Logan’s. We were close to my mother’s and the information wouldn’t stick in Vienna’s brain.

“Language, Dash.” I sighed. “Vi, this is very important,” I tried again.

Vienna shrugged and looked away. I breathed in while holding the steering wheel.

“Vienna.” Dash turned on the seat. “I’m in trouble with Tío, already. And the school. But if you tell Tita she’ll blame Logan, you get that?”

“Why would she blame Logan? It was all your fault.”

I took over before a fight started. “Because it is Logan’s job to take care of the three of you. Tita is going to assume Logan is not doing a good job.”

“Well, we tell her Logan is doing good.” Her nose went up.

I opened my mouth, but Dash beat me to it. “Risk it then. If we end up back with Tita, I’m sure blaming you.”

A switch flipped. Vienna found me through the mirror, her eyes full of tears. “Logan won’t let that happen, right?”

I blew out a breath. “Of course not, kid. Logan won’t let anyone take you from her. She’s scrappy.”

“Tita is mean,” Dash grumbled under his breath.

“Excuse me?” I turned.

He shrugged. “To Logan. I like her. She’s nice to me.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“It’s better if they don’t fight, Vi,” I told my niece. “Just don’t tell anyone Dash is suspended. It’s a secret, ok?”

This time, she nodded. “I like having secrets.”

Odd, but I nodded and kept going, closer and closer to my destination.

Logan needed a break. That much was obvious. She kept going with rare fierce determination, but she needed a minute to remember the world would keep on turning even if she relaxed a little. This morning she said she wasn’t feeling good, a headache. I brought Vienna to school and took Dash and Lachlan to the office with me.

The office was just the small room I had under my apartment, but I needed admin work done for the company and I wasn’t letting Dashiell stay at home playing video games the whole day after getting himself suspended.

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