Page 16 of Wrong Side of the Tracks

Sissy pulled her Jaguar up in front of the service station where Corey worked, got out, and went to the open garage door to look for Corey. She spotted him sitting in the office, a telephone to his ear and headed that way. When she reached the doorway, he held up a finger in her direction, indicating he’d seen her but was busy. She nodded and waited quietly while he finished his conversation, which seemed to be talking to a customer about the repair on their car.

“I’m sorry about that, ma’am. Can I help you?” he asked once he’d hung up the phone.

“I’m not sure.” She hesitated now that he sat in front of her. She kept her face turned away despite the oversized glasses she used to hide the black eye she hadn’t been able to completely hide with make-up or the cut on her cheek.

“Tell me what’s wrong with your car and I’ll do my best to steer you in the right direction.”

“It’s not my car.” She turned to look directly at him and slid the oversized sunglasses off her face, half hoping he wouldn’t recognize her but knowing he had to, or he might not give her what she needed.

“I—” The word died in his throat as his eyes went wide. Corey blinked once. “Holy shit! I’m sorry. Pardon my language. Sissy, is that you? Sissy Metcalf? What happened to you?” He stood and approached her. He reached out as of to pull her into his arms but looked down at his grease smeared hands and stopped.

Sissy nodded. “It’s me. I need your help.”

“What can I do? Who do I need to kill over this?”

“That’s sweet, but nobody. It would only make things harder for you here. What I need is a way out, and I only know one person who can do that. But I haven’t talked to him since he left.”

Understanding dawned on Corey’s face. “Did your father do this to you?”

Sissy shook her head again. “Do you have Cole’s number?”

A half smile quirked one side of Corey’s mouth. “I forgot you always called him that.” He turned and went back to the desk. “I don’t know if the number I have still works. I don’t talk to him often, and he doesn’t always answer right away.” He took a cell phone from the desk and swiped across the screen a few times, then bent and wrote the number on a sticky note.

“Here. If you’re serious about getting away, don’t call from your phone. I can help you hide out if you’d like but you’ve got to be serious about staying gone. I have to live here when it’s over so getting you out can’t be traced to me.”

“Thanks.” Sissy’s hand shook as she reached out to get the number.

“I recommend a burner phone, but don’t use one of your credit cards to buy it. Cash only. And you’re going to need cash, as much as you can get, before you leave.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that. I shouldn’t have come. But thank you for this.” She held up the slip of paper for a moment before she turned and walked out, not bothering to wipe away the tears that streaked down her cheeks. Could she really do this? Could she leave her entire life and Daddy behind? Could she stay and let happen to her what had happened to Becky Lynn?

* * *

Sissy left the mechanic shop and drove aimlessly for a while, she didn’t know what to do. She pulled into a random parking lot and checked her wallet to see how much cash she had. Just shy of two hundred dollars.

She could use an ATM, but her daily limit was only three hundred. That wouldn’t last very long if she couldn’t use her cards. There was no way she could go into her bank. They’d recognize her and gossip would start over her face.

She sat in that lot for a long time trying to figure out what to do. First, a phone she could try to call Cole from. She looked around, taking note of where she was for the first time since she’d pulled into the lot. Not an area of town she was familiar with other than to pass through occasionally.

After Corey’s warning she was afraid to use her phone for anything, so she drove around until she found what she was looking for, a small convenience store where she bought an inexpensive phone, it looked like something her mom had carried when she was a girl, but it would make calls and send texts and that was what she needed right now. She’d gotten a card with minutes while she was there, then sat in her car and figured out how to use it.

The paper Corey and given her had two numbers one labeled Bubba, which was what everyone else called Cole, and another number that just had one word beside it — ‘me’. She tried the number for Cole. No answer. Panic raced through her. She’d been counting on Cole to help. What if she couldn’t get a hold of him? What if this wasn’t even his number? Looking around, she tried to decide what to do next. She didn’t want to go home. Troy might show up and finish what he’d started the night before.

Down the street she spotted a familiar sign. The bank she used, but a branch she’d never been in. A glance in the mirror told her that her face hadn’t gotten any better since the last time she’d looked. They would still talk about her, and word might get back to Daddy.

A voice Sissy hadn’t heard in almost ten years echoed through her mind.

“Even if he does hear, he won’t be able to stop you. If he got word while you were still in that bank, it would take him time to get there, and you’ll be long gone by then.”

She didn’t know why Cole’s voice was there, but it was telling her things he would have. While not the exact words, at least the same sentiments he’d told her in the past. He’d always encouraged her to break away from the hold Daddy had on her emotions. Now she saw why.

Sissy pushed her doubts and hesitations away, went into the bank and withdrew as much cash as she dared. With just shy of five thousand dollars to her name, she found a grocery store parking lot to try to call Cole again. To her relief, someone answered on the second ring.

“Hello?” The voice was a little older, a little deeper than the last time she’d heard him, but she was almost sure it was him.

“Cole? Is that you?” She couldn’t keep the waver from her voice, nor stop the wave of fear that he would refuse to help her from seizing her chest.

“Celia, is that you?”

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