Page 44 of Drawing Home
“I’m good,” she said.
“Oh my God, you’re a total pill-head but you won’t have a cigarette? Spare me,” Mindy said, lighting up.
A pill-head? She’d taken them a few times. It wasn’t like she was addicted or anything. And she wasn’t going to do it again. At least, not for a while. Especially not if Mindy was going to throw it in her face like that. But then Mateo told her she was too pretty to smoke, and that eased the sting of Mindy’s bitchiness.
That was the first and last thing Mateo said to her all day, but the comment stayed with her, as bright and hot as the sun.
Pretty.
The water receded, then rolled toward her again. She was at nine. Almost there! She could feel Mindy’s and Robin’s impatience, their negative energy as tangible as the wet sand under her feet. They were going to abandon her and go eat without her—she just knew it. But there was nothing she could do about it. The water missed her toes.
One…two…three…
So Mateo thought she was pretty. That was just because on the outside, wearing a borrowed bathing suit, hanging out with her former best friend, she looked like one of them. But she didn’t really fit in. If she forgot that for even one minute, her OCD was always there to remind her.
Four…five…six…
It was late in the afternoon, and the heat had settled around the back lawn like a blanket. Emma set down her bucket of water and knelt in front of her deep yellow Celebrity hybrid teas. They were her favorites. Sometimes, a lovely red blush would shade the yellow color. The flower had lush petals and the loveliest fruity aroma.
None of that was any comfort at the moment.
For the past few hours, she’d alternated between panic and fury. Jim DiMartino at the police station had assured her this was not the first time a teenager had gone “missing” on a beautiful day in the summer. “If she’s not back by dark, call me on my cell.” Dark? That would be after eight at night. She couldn’t wait that long.
Emma drove around to all the local beaches. The prime ones in East Hampton and Southampton were so crowded, it was a needle-in-a-haystack scenario. Penny’s hair usually stood out in a crowd, but today, Emma had no luck finding her. She checked the snack bars, then headed down to the water, knowing it was likely the minute she left the snack bar, Penny would walk in. Murphy’s Law.
Emma clipped a flower, dropped it in the bucket, and burst into tears. Then she heard a car door slam out front. She jumped up and rushed around the side of the house just in time to see a Jeep pulling out of the driveway and taking off down the street. Penny stood there blinking at her in surprise.
“Where on earth have you been?” Emma yelled. “Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
Penny walked past her without a word and went into the house. Unbelievable!
Emma grabbed her arm before she could run up the stairs to her room. “Sit on the couch, young lady.”
By this time, Angus had appeared, and Emma was thankful for the backup. She was shaking with anger. She shared a quick glance with Angus and they sat opposite Penny in armchairs.
No one said anything for a minute, and then Penny cracked under the silence. “Don’t freak out, okay? I was at the beach.”
“You just ran off? Without telling Angus? Without a text or call to me? What were you thinking?”
“What are you even doing here?”
“For your information, I left work early. I came to get you from the historical society to take you to the beach!” The more she thought about it, the more furious she became. This motherhood gig was so unbelievably thankless. And she hadn’t expected thanks. But she also hadn’t expected this.
Penny seemed unmoved by this declaration. “I need some water.” She jumped up and headed into the kitchen.
Emma looked helplessly at Angus. He waved toward the kitchen:Go.
Penny was searching through the refrigerator, and Emma was forced to talk to her back.
“You owe me an apology, Penny. And you’re going to be punished.”
Penny slammed the refrigerator door and turned around with tears in her eyes. “I hate you, I hate this town, I hate my life!”
She ran upstairs. Emma pressed her hand to her head and jumped at the loud slamming of Penny’s bedroom door. And then, despite her best efforts, she began to cry.
“It’s just the age,” Angus said, appearing in the doorway.
“I wish I could believe that,” Emma said. “I’m so sorry, Angus. This is more than you signed up for when you moved in here.”
