“Who?”
“The Hell’s Dominion. After Dad did what he did.”
“Jesus, Ruthie. I’m so sorry.”
“She hates you because of them, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.”
“I’m sorry, baby. You need to calm down. You need me?”
“I don’t know what I need,” I answer with a shaky laugh.
“Come home.”
“I don’t want to go home. He knows where I live.”
“I’m going to be there waiting for you. Then you and I are going to disappear for the rest of the day.”
“Is that okay?”
‘It’ll be fine. Relax, and let me take
care of you for once.”
“Okay?”
“Good, Mama. I’ll meet you there.”
Just like that, he talks me down off a ledge with his gruff voice and one sentence. We’re settling in and finding our way. Some days it seems everything is rocky, but us. I think of the things my parents went through and the way his ended. Secrets and lies, even to ourselves only prolongs the break down and leads to dysfunction. Thinking of his nightmares, I dial the woman who kept me from going down the wrong path.
***
Skull
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Ruthie asks as she cranes her neck to see out the window. She perked up after I’d stuffed her full of cheesecake pancakes and milk.
We hit a red light and I take a moment to study her. Sadness lingers in her eyes. It makes me want to rip her parents apart. Even if they didn’t agree with her choice in baby daddy’s, they had no right to react like this. She’s a thirty something successful, independent, intelligent, and beautiful woman. What more could a parent ask for? I knew my Grandma and Grandpa would’ve loved her.
She tucks her legs under her and rises up, all but pressing her face to the glass.
“You’re like a little kid right now. I’ve never seen you like this.”
She turns toward me and lowers her sunglasses. Her green eyes are dancing with mirth. “You never surprised me before.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I’ve surprised you a time or two, remember that time at the party?”
“With something not related to sex,” she says.
I chuckle. “If you want it, ask for it ‘cause I’m clueless otherwise.”
“I never figured you for the type to care,” she counters.
“About?”
“What I wanted, outside of the bedroom.”
I clench my jaw. I deserve that. The old me didn’t care. “Now, you know better.”
“Yeah, I guess I do.”