Page 55 of Good and Gone

“Reese,” I say, trying again. “What is it?”

“She’s sad about her hair,” Lily says, folding her arms across her chest. My daughter has never been one to beat around the bush.

“What about her hair?”

I look at Reese. “What about your hair?”

“Nothing,” she tells me, which is obviously a lie. I’ve known this child since she was born, but even if I hadn’t, it’s clear Lily is telling the truth. “The kids make fun of her,” Lily says. “Because her hair looks funny.”

“Her hair doesn’t look funny.” A horn behind me sounds, and I look up to see the line has moved. “Your hair doesn’t look funny,” I say.

Mason’s eyes meet mine. He calls me a liar without actually having to say it. “Why couldn’t Grammy just drive us?”

“Because I’m feeling better and I wanted to.”

“I like it better when Gram drives,” he tells me. I ignore him. There’s a rift in our relationship, that much is obvious, but he’s too young to understand why and I’m not strong enough yet to explain the half of it. “Reese,” I say. “Your hair is fine, honey.”

Lily pipes up, “It’s not fine. It’s dirty, because her dad doesn’t help her wash it the way her mom used to. And she doesn’t know how.”

I glare at my daughter. “Lily,” I warn, wishing sometimes my daughter had a filter I could help her turn on. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It is true!” She nudges Reese with her elbow. “Tell her.”

Reese looks up from the floorboard then. She’s too kind to get Lily in trouble, not realizing it’s not her fault. “The girls laugh at me sometimes,” she tells me with a shrug. “But it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine.”They’re six,I almost say. But then I remember how cruel kids can be. “Would you like some help?” I ask. “With your ponytail.”

Reese’s face shifts. She doesn’t say yes, but she doesn’t say no, and I swear there’s a glimmer of something behind her eyes. Not hope, exactly, but it’s more than I’ve seen in the past few months.

“Lily, Mason,” I say. “I’m going to let you out here. Reese—we’re going to park and I’ll walk you in.”

“Can you walk me in?” Lily asks.

I glance at the clock. I think about the SUV and who might be watching. I don’t think they’d try anything here, but you never know. “I’ll walk all of you in.”

I park the car. Then I fish the dry shampoo out of my bag, along with the other things I need, and order Reese into the front seat.

I use the dry shampoo and then a round brush to style a ponytail and we have a chat, woman to woman. I explain how to handle the girls laughing at her. The same way I handled Billy Peckham way back when. I tell her the story, repeating the steps she needs to take. We practice her right hook, and then her left, just in case.

“It’ll be our secret,” I say, and I make her promise.

She isn’t so sure. “My mom would never let me do that.”

Mason and Lily look at me like I have lost my mind. I can see the wheels turning in their heads. They’re wondering what I would do if they were to punch someone, most likely each other. They’re wondering if I’d let it slide. We’ve always taken a firm stance against violence in our house.

“I know.”

“It’s all right, though,” Lily says. “Your mom’s dead.”

39

Hailey

Isit up, gasping for air. I’d been dreaming about the baby. I sit there, trying to catch my breath, while replaying the dream in my mind, and suddenly it hits me about Tyler's plan. I throw a robe over my tank top and workout pants, slip into a pair of boots, and race out of bed. I hurry down the stairs and out the front door, and then I trek across the yard to Kenneth's house. Whatever it takes to quell my husband's homicidal fantasies. I want this situation gone as much as anyone, but what I don’t want is Tyler in prison, or worse.

Last night, I considered emailing Rose and giving it one last-ditch effort. But I decided against it. I doubt she's going to give me anything else, and besides, I was too exhausted by the time we got home.

That makes this option all the more important.

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