Worse Than Enemies

For the first time in a long time, I’m able to fall asleep right away.

35

“Morgan. Wake up. How come you’re in my bed with me?”

It’s morning. Sunlight streams into the room through the gauzy pink curtains. “I guess I fell asleep. I just wanted to give you a hug.”

She rolls onto her side to face me and gives me an impish little smile. “You want to pretend we’re in a cave?” She pulls the blanket over her head before I answer, so I have no choice but to follow along, right? She sort of owns me.

“Do you want to tell secrets?” she whispers.

“You know something? I want to tell you something important, instead. It’s real serious, so I need you to listen.”

“Okay.”

“If anybody ever hurts you, I want you to know you can come to me and tell me. If they ever make you feel uncomfortable or if they tell you to never tell anybody, don’t listen to them. You come to me. I will always believe you.”

“I knew that already.”

“Yeah, but it’s easy to forget.” I kiss her forehead before pulling the blanket back down to my shoulder. “You know what, I really want to play, but I need to check something first.”

She gasps. “Morgan, you’re not at school! It’s Friday!”

“Oh, gosh. I forgot.” I actually did, too. When you find out your mother is a sexual predator, you forget about school. “I think it’ll be okay. Let’s get up and figure out breakfast.”

She scrambles out of bed and goes to the bathroom. I open the bedroom door to find Bridget on her way up the stairs.

“I was just about to come in and get her,” she says.

“I sort of fell asleep in her bed. She’s up, taking care of business.” I try to smile, but it’s shaky.

“Mr. Ambrose is down in the kitchen with Hayes.” She slides me a look I can only interpret as sympathy before heading to Lucy’s room, where I hear her enthusiastically warn my sister to hurry or there won’t be any pancakes left. I guess Mr. Ambrose had to give her at least a tiny heads-up that Mom won’t be around.

I hurry down to the kitchen so I can beat Lucy there. Obviously, nobody is going to want to talk about this in front of her, and I’m dying from curiosity. I hear the men talking as I trot down the stairs and into the sunny room.

They look like two men who haven’t slept, both of whom need a shave. But they’re talking, actually sitting down together and talking. There’s none of that stiffness I’ve seen in them before.

They turn when they hear me come in.

“I didn’t want to interrupt,” I offer, even if that’s not technically true. I didn’t know they would be sitting here like friends though. Mr. Ambrose looks over my shoulder, and I shake my head. “Lucy’s upstairs.”

“I’m happy to follow your lead when it comes to what she does and doesn’t need to know,” he begins. “Obviously, certain things she never needs to hear. But Mommy can be on vacation or on a long trip. Whatever you think she’ll accept.”

“Okay.” I bite my lip, glancing at Hayes. “So, she’s not coming back.”

“They’re holding her on $250,000 bail, and I sure as hell don’t plan on paying a cent of that. She can figure it out for herself.”

“I gave a statement,” Hayes explains. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It actually felt kind of good to get it off my chest. The cops were nicer than I thought they would be.”

“It’s probably not the first time they’ve seen something like this,” his father reminds him. “You don’t have to be alone.”

“If you’re happy, I’m happy, too.” I say, pouring myself a cup of coffee, even though I don’t really like the plain kind. I need the caffeine. “Not to change the subject, but what about school? I forgot today was even a school day.”

“I already made the phone call when we got home. You’re both excused for the day.” Mr. Ambrose gets up and walks slowly around the island before coming to a stop in front of me. “I can’t thank you enough. I know what a difficult decision you faced last night. I’m getting a better idea of the person you really are, and how much you’ve carried on your shoulders. I want you to know you don’t have to worry about that again.”

“Thank you. I just want to make sure Lucy is taken care of. I’m glad she will be.”

He heaves a sigh. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to instruct the housekeepers to clear out half of my bedroom.” My heart still hurts for him a little bit. She had him completely fooled. If I didn’t think it would be insulting, I would remind him he’s not the first man she’s tricked into thinking she’s better than she is.