Page 81 of Home Tears

“I gave my two cents. That’s all I did—”

“Words have power! I never felt a part of that house. You were a mother who told her dying daughter what to do. She listened to you. You did that! Not my mother! You tore my home apart, and you did it because that’s where you came from.”

“I didn’t…”

The evidence was right in front of her. “You—”

“No.” Sandra bunched up her blanket on her lap and began shaking her head. Her eyes grew wet, and her lips started to tremble, but she wasn’t looking at her granddaughter anymore. She reached for a button clipped to the bed. Her hand curled around it. She held it tight, like it was a weapon. “Leave. This is my room. This is my home, and I get to say who comes to judge me. I say leave and don’t come back.”

Dani couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She looked around in exasperation, and she caught sight of a single clove on her grandmother’s nightstand. One clove, tucked underneath the Bible, and Dani knew it had been kept for a purpose.

“I always found a clove under my pillow. I never knew who put those there, but I guess it was your mother. She was always worried about me.”

“The cloves were for…” Dani scrunched up her face, trying to remember.

“The cloves were to attract my guardian angels. My mother told me one night, and I’m telling you that, too.” Dani’s mom smiled down at her, tucking a stray hair strand behind her ear. Her fingers lingered over her cheek, feeling how smooth they were. “You remember that, my little Dani. You see a clove, you remember that I put it there.” She lowered her head, resting her forehead to her daughter’s, and whispered, “Because I’ll be your guardian angel if we’re ever separated. I’ll be looking out for you.”

A clove. That was all it took.

Anything else she’d been about to say died in her throat. Dani couldn’t explain it. She stopped. Everything. She stopped pushing for answers. She stopped interrogating her grandmother. She let it all go, and she knew that she was done. Sandra O’Hara was done with her, too. There’d be no more visits. Dani left. Sandra’s stubborn face never looked back at her, not after she left the door open, not as she trailed past her window, and when Dani got outside, she turned around and peered up.

The window to her grandmother’s room was blank. No one stood there watching.

Dani knew Sandra was locked within herself, and in that moment, she pitied her, but she also pitied herself, too. Her grandmother couldn’t physically run, but that was what she was doing.

Dani would never be that person. She was done running.

She’d stay.

She’d stand.

Phylllis watched from the second floor window. She mused, her arms wrapped around herself like she was chilled, “That’s a shame. I don’t think that one will be back.” Then she went back to her desk and didn’t give Dani another thought.

Henrietta was in the corner, wrapped in a blanket and rocking back and forth. She looked up, and saw dancing lilies and daisies in the sky. She whispered to herself, “No one will be back. It’s going to break.”

She saw the rain coming.

Dani parked at Aiden’s house, and sat in Jonah’s car for twenty minutes.

She couldn’t bring herself to go in there. Sandra. Mae. The secrets. The lies. Boone. Even Jake. And now Jonah, as she sat in his car, smelling him, remembering the taste of him, the feel of him on top of her.

She needed to get up. She needed to go. She needed to find him. If he cared about her, he could tell her. She wasn’t running. She wasn’t going to be another Sandra O’Hara.

But she still sat.

Another car’s headlights swept over her and the rest of the cars, driving into the driveway before parking. Two figures stepped out from the car. Boone had come after all, and he wasn’t alone. He was holding hands with Jenny as they crossed behind where she sat.

They went inside. The door opened, highlighting the far side of the porch, and Dani saw Kate there. She had a drink in hand, and a koala attached to her arm.

She said once she stood at the bottom of the porch, “For a cop, you’re oblivious tonight.”

Kate jumped, laughing as she turned around.

Dani saw the darkened spots on her friend’s outfit. “Sorry about that.”

“No, no.” Kate dabbed where her drink had spilled. “It’s my fault. You’re right. I’m not real alert tonight.”

Dani pointed to Kate’s arm. “What’s with the dude bear?”

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