After finishing up Jesse’s bridge piercing with a barbell that sat right between his eyes, I sent him off to pay and cleaned my station from top to bottom. He was my last client and I was looking forward to picking Etta up and grabbing some dinner. I loved what I did, but my back ached like crazy from leaning over people all day.
I said good-bye and left the shop with a little bounce in my step. Sure, I was still debating what to do about Trevor, and I’d been fielding texts and calls from his mom all week, but life was still looking up. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about Etta’s visiting her grandparents, but so far Ellie seemed to be giving me a little space to figure it out. Most of the contact we’d had revolved around how Etta and I were doing. She didn’t pressure me to choose a time when we could see them again, but the question was always there, right beneath the surface conversation. No matter how kind Ellie was to me now, I couldn’t get past the way she’d looked at me and the comments she’d made to Trevor when they’d come to visit. I wasn’t sure when I’d be ready to spend any real time with her again. Thankfully, I didn’t have to make any decisions about that tonight.
As I debated between the sushi place near our house and delivery pizza, my phone rang in my purse.
I almost ignored it. If Etta had been with me, I would have.
Thank God I didn’t.
When I answered, my sister’s voice came through the line and my stomach twisted.
“Morgan,” she rasped, hiccupping like she couldn’t catch her breath. “I think I did something stupid.”
“Are you okay?” I asked in alarm. “Ranna? Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, her voice wobbling.
I gritted my teeth as I quickly opened my door and climbed inside.
“Are you hurt? Where are you?” Throwing my car into reverse, I held my phone with my shoulder and backed out of my parking space.
“I’m not hurt,” she said, sniffling. “I don’t think I’m hurt.”
“What do you mean, you don’t think you’re hurt?” I snapped frantically as I raced toward my aunt and uncle’s house.
“Can you come to Bend?” she asked, not clarifying. “I’m sorry. I know you just started that new job and—”
“Of course,” I said, not thinking it through. “I’m on my way.”
She started to cry and my eyes filled with tears. I’d never been able to stay calm when my sister was upset. Ever since we were little kids, I’d felt her pain almost as acutely as my own.
I had no idea what was going on and no idea why she needed me, but it didn’t matter. She’d never asked me to come to her before. Sure, there had been times when her homesickness had made it almost impossible for her to stay in Oregon at college, and two years before, she’d broken up with her boyfriend and had called every night because she was so lonesome, but she’d never asked me to come to Oregon. Not once.
“I’m on my way home from work,” I said soothingly as she cried. “I just have to get Etta and pack and then we’ll be on our way.”
“Don’t tell Dad,” she said frantically, her words garbled and nasally.
“Ranna, I have to tell him we’re leaving,” I argued as I pulled onto my aunt’s street. “We live with him.”
“Don’t tell him why. Please, Mor.”
The sick feeling in my belly turned into something else as I pulled to a stop and stared out the windshield. Whatever had happened to Ranna must have been ugly if she didn’t want our dad to know. We told him almost everything. When Miranda had called to tell me that she was having a bad high from some weed she’d scored off a friend, I’d called my dad to pick her up. When I’d found out I was pregnant from a guy I knew I didn’t have a future with, I’d called my dad as soon as I’d hung up with Miranda. We kept personal things to ourselves, but we didn’t keep secrets in our family. Not without reason. And the only reason I could think of that Miranda would refuse to tell our dad that she was upset was if she thought he’d do something that would land him back in prison.
“Okay,” I said finally. “I won’t tell him why.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
I glanced at the house and saw Etta waving excitedly in the front window.
“I’m at Danny and Lorraine’s,” I told Miranda. “I’m going to go in and get Etta. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m on the road.”
“Okay.”
As I climbed out of the car, I realized that she’d never answered one of my questions.