Page 85 of Two Wrongs

“Call when you stop tonight?” Bess asks.

Nodding, I stand up from the table. “I promise. I’m going to drive as far as I can tonight.”

Dolores rises to her minuscule height and gives me a hug. “Now, whether there’s a tenant in my cottage or not. This is your home. Whenever you’re ready you come straight back here, I’ve got plenty of rooms in this big ole house that I don’t use.”

Her hand cups my cheek, and I can’t fight the new waves of tears that spill down my face. “Hush now,” she whispers. “This is only a bump in the road. There’s still amazing things ahead of you. Times like these are meant to show you how special the good days really are.”

“I’m going to miss you,” I choke out.

“Worry not little one. Don’t you know how much we old people love Florida? If you stay down there I might just be heading straight for you,” she jokes.

Bess hops in place. “Ooh! Road trip. I get to pick the music.”

“Only if you are going to play some Black Sabbath. I’m not down with that pop garbage my grandkids listen to,” Dolores grumbles.

Bess looks at me to see if Dolores is joking. I shake my head. “She’s a total metal head.”

She blinks. “I really freaking love you granny D.”

“I’ll teach you all my ways, Rainbow Brite,” Dolores responds.

I shake my head at both of them. I really should have introduced them sooner. Now I won’t get to see the damage they’re going to unleash on this sleepy town.

There’s solace in knowing neither of them will be alone. Unlike me, but some things can’t be helped.

* * *

It’stwo hours before Griffin starts calling my phone. Two hours he spent looking for and possibly dealing with Liam without a thought about me. I feel bad for thinking about it like that. Liam is his son, and of course he has to be his priority. That doesn’t mean I have to choose to be in a relationship where my needs always come after the person who hurt me the most.

My gas light comes on around the state line, so I pull off and fill up. Griffin wouldn’t let me give him the money from the sale of Liam’s car, which Charlie finally managed to unload a few days ago. The bank is in the process of disputing the charges Liam took out in my name. But, to be safe, I made sure to put that amount away so I wouldn’t be tempted to spend it.

That leaves me with a little less than ten grand to get set up somewhere new. Bess said she’d deposit my last check for me, so perhaps a bit more once that happens. Calling Hattie was awkward. We really don’t know each other well. She’s a lot younger than my mom, only about ten years older than me. But, we’re the only family the other has, and she immediately offered me her spare room until I could get back on my feet.

I hang up the gas pump, and my phone starts ringing for the fifth time in the last hour. By now Griffin has found my letter, and knows I’m gone. He could have even checked in with Dolores and Bess and heard from them I’d left as well.

Not a single missed call is from Liam. I don’t want to hear from him, but it confirms what I believed for a while now. He was with me because I was convenient. Liam doesn’t like to be alone. And, he won’t be. Audrey will overlook all of his faults, his callous words, and innate selfishness. She’ll have the family she’s longed for. I wonder when it will occur to Liam that she tampered with her birth control.

A memory from the past bubbled to the surface during the long boring stretch of highway through the southern Midwest. It was from when we were still in high school, and I was staying over at Audrey’s house. This was before my life changed with the death of my parents. Audrey’s mom, Mona, was lecturing her about a boy she was dating.

I remember how uncomfortable I was because I thought I was about to overhear the same talk my mother gave me every time Liam came to pick me up. “I’d rather you wait to have sex, but if you choose to do it, make sure and use protection every time,” she’d tell me.

That was not the advice Mona gave to Audrey. “Aud, that boy comes from money. If you don’t get a ring on your finger by graduation, you’re going to have to go off to college and find a boy with a future. But that can cost a lot of money, darling, so if you need to miss a pill or two, make sure that boy stays with you.”

I never asked her about it. I knew her mother was a social climber, and really wanted nothing outside of our hometown, but I never dreamed that Audrey would stoop to such tactics. I guess she’s a lot more like her mother than she ever wanted to be. Now Liam will pay the price for his stupidity, and so will an innocent child. I don’t envy it with the two of them for parents.

The miles, memories, and events of the day start to wear on me. My eyes are drooping, and I know it’s time to stop for the night. It’s close to midnight, and my cell phone died around the fifteenth call from Griffin. I find aMotolodge, and pull into the sketchy parking lot.

The rooms, thankfully, turn out to be cleaner than I expected, and the price won’t hurt my bank account too much. If I hadn’t promised to let Bess and Dolores know when I stopped for the night I wouldn’t bother turning my phone back on.

Text after text from Griffin pops up on my phone.

Where are you?

We need to talk.

Bess said you left town. Why didn’t you wait to talk to me?

I can explain.

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