“There’s a war –”
“NO!” she roars, pushing me away. “You don’t leave. You tell whomever you need to that you can’t go on this deployment. You tell them that you don’t trust them.” Ryley wipes angrily at her tears, smudging her make-up. “You tell them that your family comes first and you’re staying here to find out what happened to your brother.”
“Ryley?” her head turns at the sound of both Carole and Evan saying her name.
“You’re leaving?” this time the question is directed at me from Livvie.
“It’s my job,” I tell her and anyone else listening.
“It was Evan’s job and look at what happened to him. Who’s to say that the same won’t happen to you?”
“Tink, don’t,” Evan says to her. I’m not sure if he’s defending me right now or not.
Livvie stands next to Ryley, both women in my life staring me down with their arms crossed over their chests. In a normal situation I’d look to Evan for guidance, but with me out of the picture he has a clear shot at Ryley. Right now it feels like I’m facing a firing squad and it’s not going to matter what I say or do.
“Mom, can’t you do something?”
“Ryley,” I say, getting her attention. “Your mom has no say in the orders we get, you know that. Short of breaking my leg, you know there’s nothing that can be done.”
“I could break your leg. Oddly enough, I’d get a perverse satisfaction by doing so.” I wish to hell I could say Evan is joking, but he’s not.
“Thanks, Evan, but I think I’m okay.” He shrugs, as if it’s no big deal that he just offered to break my leg.
We’re all in a standoff. Ryley and Livvie are on one side of the kitchen with Carole and Jensen on the other. Jenson hasn’t said much, not that I thought he would, but it would be nice for some support. Evan and I are in the middle of this. We’re the tug-of-war. Both of us are being pushed and pu
lled in every direction but the one we both want to be heading in.
The sound of an abrupt knock on the door startles us, even causes me to jump. Deefur barks and EJ’s thundering footsteps are heard coming down the stairs.
“I get it,” he yells, just as Evan and I make a move for the door.
“I’ll get it,” Jensen says loudly as he brushes by me. Ryley uses the break to her advantage and starts pulling food out of the refrigerator. Livvie and her mom start to help while Evan and I stand in the kitchen like statues. It’s a face off - or a childish stare off - like EJ and I sometimes have over a bowl of ice cream.
EJ comes running into the kitchen and tackles me. I pick him up, and ignore the disgruntled sounds that Evan is making.
“I didn’t know yous was here.” At what point in a parent’s life do you start to correct your child’s speech? I know that when he gets to school everything will change. Those days are something I’m not looking forward to.
“I just got here. I was about to go on a secret mission to find you.”
“I’ll go hide,” he says as he squirms out of my arms and runs off, barely missing Jensen who is standing in the doorway. His face is white as can be.
“What’s wrong?” Evan has the foresight to ask before I can utter the same question.
Jensen looks at us and down at the paper he’s holding. His steps into the kitchen are cautious and he holds the paper as if it’s fragile. Setting it down on the kitchen island, he stands there shaking his head.
“I don’t know what you guys are doing, but you need to stop,” his words are monotone and they send chills down my spine. Evan, Carole and I all step forward and look at what he set down.
STOP
OR
SHE DIES
The words are cut out from a magazine and arranged like a ransom note. Ryley steps forward and I wish I could’ve caught her before she saw the paper. The bowl she’s holding slips from her hands and crashes to the ground. The sound of shattering porcelain echoes throughout the room. Her hand covers her mouth and somewhere from within a scream emerges.
It’s Evan who catches her before she falls. I’m grateful, but also jealous. She’s mine and I should be the one to comfort her.
“What did you do?” Jensen asks as he looks from me, to Carole and then Evan. “Why is someone leaving death threats for my daughter on her porch?”