Page 91 of Ask Your Mom If I'm Real

“Hello?” I called.

“Hey,” Grams said. “So guess what I’m doing?”

I frowned. “I’m hoping you’re staying inside and out of trouble.”

I wouldn’t put it past her to walk her happy ass down to Noel’s place.

“I’m inside,” she quickly assured me. “But I’m also watching Merriam throw clothes out the window.”

“Really?” I asked. “Why?”

“I think she’s packing her car,” she admitted. “I’ve watched her make about a hundred back-and-forth trips.”

“Where’s her daughter?” I wondered.

“In the car bundled up,” she answered. “Now she’s taking her pillows.”

“Whoa,” I said. “That’s good, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, “but I’m scared that she’s about to wake the asshole in his recliner.”

“Maybe she won’t,” I replied hopefully.

“I think this must be her last trip, because her back hatch is full, and the only thing she had in her hands this trip through her window was the cutest little snow boots,” she answered.

Snow boots that I’d picked out with my own two hands.

That made me happy that she was leaving.

Though, as soon as that thought hit my head, it made me freeze.

I studied the roads.

They were really bad.

The snow had been falling all night, and there was a good six inches of it all over everything.

“She’s already made it out and back once,” she said, reading my thoughts. “Where do you think she’s going to go?”

“Maybe her friend’s place,” I replied hopefully.

I was hard pressed to believe, though, that Gisela knew about Merriam’s circumstances and didn’t fight to do something about it.

The way Gisela came off to me, if she’d known about Merriam’s troubles, Gisela would’ve already had her ass in her place.

“She’s gone,” Grams said. “I can’t tell you how much better I feel that she left that disgusting man.”

“You knew?” I asked.

“I knew.” She sighed. “There’s only so much hiding of bruises you can do, just like you saw yesterday. This has been going on for the entirety of my living here.” She started to laugh. “The little minx left her bedroom window open.”

“Good,” I said. “Maybe he won’t notice that she’s gone and it’ll ruin his house.”

“Nobody is that lucky,” she grumbled. “That man is disgusting.”

“Thanks for calling me, Grams,” I said. “That makes me feel better that she got out of there.”

“I just hope that she stays gone,” she sighed. “It reminds me of your mother’s situation.”

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