Page 92 of Ask Your Mom If I'm Real

I felt my stomach sink.

My mom had met my father when she was eighteen and he was twenty-four. They’d gotten married about six months after meeting because Mom had found herself pregnant with me.

That was the beginning of the horror show that my mother would live with for the next fifteen years.

It was only when I was fourteen, Noel was twelve, Ginger was eleven, and Christopher was eight that my mother left my father. She’d been gone a whole forty-eight hours when my father had caught up with her and murdered her on the side of the road for all of us kids to see.

Then, with his gaze on mine, he’d taken his own life.

That’d been the deciding factor in my life for me—the reason that I’d tried so hard to crawl out of the hell that my father had put us in and give my family the best life that they could get.

Noel and Ginger were now very married. Christopher had a kid on the way, and Noel had three youngsters. Ginger was married, but only newly so, and had no immediate plans for a kid.

I, on the other hand, was the only one left that wasn’t happily married.

I’d been so focused on making sure that my family had what they needed that I hadn’t focused on my own life.

I’d just decided that I needed to do that between chicken wings.

I’d thought I’d gotten a second chance at that today when I’d seen her at the candy shop.

Then again when I’d watched her walk into my grandmother’s bathroom.

But her solid resolve in having nothing to do with me was enough for me to realize that Merriam had to fix her own life first before I could bring her into mine.

She had to make the decision to…

A knock sounded on my door.

“Hey, Gram,” I said. “My building manager is here.”

At least, that was the only person I’d been expecting.

Josh was the manager that kept all the units in order, and today he’d told me he had a new rental agreement he wanted me to go over.

I’d told him to bring it by any time but hadn’t really expected him so fast since he had to drive to get the information to me.

Hanging up with my grams, I put the phone in my pocket and walked to the door.

I opened it without looking, which was why I appeared so shocked when I saw who was on the other side of the door.

“Merriam!” I breathed.

She swallowed hard, her eyes filled with tears, and said, “I need help.”

I reached for her, pulling her inside.

“Did he hurt you again?” I demanded. “Anleigh?”

The little girl in her arms wasn’t moving. Her head rested on her mother’s chest, and she was so lethargic that her mom had to clutch the bear for her instead of doing it herself.

“What had happened?”

“I…” She looked away.

And just that short amount of movement allowed me to see a red mark on her throat.

Almost on autopilot, I reached for her daughter, pulling her into my arms.

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