Page 41 of Crashing Into Me
“Sure,” Lana replied, and was very chipper as she walked over to him. She slipped her arms around him and kissed him.
“Where are you guys headed?” she asked him.
“We’re gonna catch up a bit on the business stuff. I’m sure you could come with us if you wanted, right, Mom?” Kayden asked, looking at her.
Maureen looked at Lana, then her son.
“I was hoping we could discuss some personal family matters and get some time to bond again,” she spread that fake smile across her face like butter on toast. Lana turned to Kayden and smiled.
“It’s OK, honey. Spend some time with your mom. Besides, it’ll give me time to finally call my own.”
He bent and pecked her lips.
“You’re the best, you know that?”
He turned to Maureen. “You see why I want to marry her?”
The second smile Maureen forced looked like her whole face would snap off if she tried any harder. But Kayden couldn’t see it. He was finally getting his mother back—a second chance at a family, so it didn’t surprise her that he couldn’t see what she did.Eventually, he’ll see through it,she thought to herself. She gave him one more lingering kiss, and he slapped her butt on the way to the kitchen, where he picked up his keys. She couldn’t believe this was it, as she watched him walk towards the door with Maureen in tow.
He exited first, and before Maureen stepped outside, she turned around and winked at her and mouthed the words “So long” as she shut the door behind her.
Lana couldn’t breathe—that was it. It was really—it.She ran upstairs to their room and grabbed her bag. She wiped at her face, just wanting to get out of the house before she did something she’d regret. When she made it back downstairs, Kim was standing in the living room.
“What are you doing here?” Lana asked.
“I’m Maureen’s insurance policy. You’re gonna get back in your piece of shit car and leave, and I’m here to make sure that happens,” she said with too much pleasure.
Lana shook her head and grabbed Kayden’s jacket off the back of the dining room chair. She put it on and grabbed her keys off the counter.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” she replied as she started walking through the house, ensuring she didn’t leave anything behind. Nope, nothing. Just her heart. Kim followed behind her as she started towards the front door.
“Well, I’m just making sure the trash gets put out.”
Suddenly, Lana swung around and decked her in the nose; her fist tightened so hard her knuckles ached. Kim stumbled back on her high heels, and her ass slammed the hardwood floor. She was holding her nose, her face full of surprise and fear as she began to scramble backward away from Lana. Lana grabbed a tampon from her purse and threw it at her.
“Here, cut this in half and stick it up your nose, it’ll help stop the bleeding bitch.”
She turned and walked out of the house, angry and ashamed at how she let Kim get the best of her. She wasn’t sure whether leaving without something written and signed was smart. It was doubtful either one of them would sign it anyway. She stomped out the door and down the porch stairs, dragging her duffel bag like a rag doll. She jumped into the repaired truck, as Maureen had promised, and started the engine.
Kim appeared in the doorway of the house, the tampon string hanging from her nose and her cellphone to her ear, then came running down the porch towards the car. She tapped on the window, and Lana glared at her.What does she want now,she thought as she lowered the window.
“If you come back here, I’ll put him away.”
“What are you talking about?” Lana was thoroughly confused.
“Everything Kayden’s done over the last couple of years, his mother got him off. I have all the evidence I need to take it to court and bury him if I need to.”
“You wouldn’t,” Lana replied, in awe of Kim’s spiteful nature.
“To make sure I get everything I’ve been working for and to keep him away from you? Yes, I would. This is my personal insurance plan,” she smiled, standing back from the window.
Lana couldn’t believe her ears. She was every bit the monster Maureen was.
“You don’t love him at all if you’d do that to him.”
“What’s love got to do with anything? Kayden’s mine, and that’s all that you need to know. You come back here, and neither of us will have him.”
She stalked back to the porch and walked up the stairs to the house. Lana, her face fresh with new tears, backed out of the driveway, spun the car around, and careened away from the house. The sobs coming from her body were intense as she drove closer to the town center. Steering the Ford down Deleveaux Circle and around the roundabout, she applied pressure on the gas pedal and was on her way out of Hamby for good.
