Page 11 of Tear Me Apart
“Ouch.”
“No kidding.”
Juliet snipped some more. She hadn’t been close to her mother. Kathleen Ryder had raised two girls on her own with no help from their biological father, who Kathleen divorced when Juliet was a baby. Juliet had looked him up once. He lived in Oregon, was married to a dental hygienist who’d produced three strapping sons, and seemed to have conveniently forgotten his first family existed.
When Juliet was two and Lauren thirteen, Kathleen remarried, but their stepfather was killed in a mugging a couple of years later. From then on, Kathleen remained a staunch, strict, outspoken single mother, always on the edge of bitter. Juliet always felt like Kathleen blamed her for their life, somehow.
Juliet didn’t remember either father figure, and her mother told her time and again that she hadn’t missed anything. Juliet didn’t fully believe that. Having a father would have been nice.
Lauren, though, had always been their mother’s favorite. The two were thick as thieves, and Juliet had always felt left out. It was Lauren who complied with their mother’s wishes, kept her heart tethered to home. Juliet, the outsider, always dreamed of more and got out the first chance she had.
When a stroke took Kathleen, Juliet was filled with grief, but a part of her, the dark part she didn’t like to acknowledge, was relieved. She would never live down to her mother’s expectations. Her mom wanted her to have a small life. Like hers ended up being.
No reason to share all that with Mindy, though.
Besides, the CBI has been good to her. She is a star in her field. She’s been developing new DNA sequencing methods that are changing how the CBI investigates crimes and increasing their success rates, and that is good enough for her, for the time being. Not that she doesn’t stand on her deck at night with a glass of wine and her telescope, staring at what might have been... But on the bright side, she has the forever bonus of being able to cut her own hair, saving her money in the lean times.
And she’s just whacked off a foot of her niece’s hair on a whim. Mindy is sliding her hands over her head, utterly delighted. Even Juliet has to admit, it looks cute. She pulls one last strand into place, then hands Mindy the mirror from her purse.
“Oh, Aunt J, it’s perfect!”
And of course, at that moment, Lauren comes back to the room.
“What in the name of God are you doing?”
Juliet tries not to tuck her imaginary tail between her legs at Lauren’s disapproving voice. It’s hard; the shock and outrage have slipped past her sister’s perfectly cool veneer, making her sound almost exactly like their mother.
Instead, Juliet squares her shoulders. “Styling your daughter’s new haircut.”
Lauren looks exactly like hell. She hasn’t properly bathed, her eyeliner is smudged and her lipstick chewed off. Her clothes are rumpled and her cheekbones stand out like she’s been starving herself. Juliet hasn’t seen her in a few months, but she’s lost weight before the events of the past day. Lauren is as focused on Mindy winning as Mindy is, to the detriment of all those around her. Juliet almost feels sorry for her. She pushes herself to smile, to open her arms for a hug.
“Hi, Lauren.”
Lauren casts her one last vicious glance and makes a beeline for the bed. “Melinda Eliza Wright. What on earth have you let her do to you?”
Mindy is grinning, puts a hand behind her head to show it off. “Don’t you like it, Mom?”
“No, I do not like it one bit. What in the world were you thinking?” She rounds on Juliet. “What wereyouthinking? You’re the adult here. Or so we’re supposed to believe. I leave you alone for five minutes and—”
“Relax, sis. This is what aunties are for, totally corrupting our nieces.”
“You...you...”
Mindy sputters out a laugh. The sound makes Lauren whirl back to the bed, a finger raised, getting ready to scold. But the sight of her newly shorn daughter giggling her head off is enough to defuse things.
“What’s so damn funny?”
“I told Aunt J you’d be furious.” She holds out a hand, the smile on her wan face warm. “Thank you for losing it.”
“What? What do you mean?”
But Juliet knows exactly what is going on. Mindy, clever girl, didn’t give a hang about her hair. She’d wanted to get her mother to treat her like a human being again, like her little girl, instead of like a possibly dying patient.
Mindy offers an olive branch. She swipes the hair off her face.
“Aunt J could cut the bangs so it isn’t so punk rock.”
Lauren brushes the hair back down over Mindy’s right eye. “No. It’s cute. You look cute.”
