“You never should have been out there, Starlee. You never should have been involved.” She stands and grabs her purse off the table. “Whatever you had with that boy is over. Completely over.” She shoots Leelee a glare. “I thought I could trust you to take care of her—that I could trust this place, but I was wrong.”
“Mom, this is extreme, even for you.”
She heads to the door that leads to the back of the house but pauses midway. “I’m sorry this is upsetting to you, Starlee, but you knew this was only for the summer. It was an experiment and you failed. Badly.”
She walks out of the room, leaving Leelee alone. My grandmother walks over and wraps me in her arms but it’s little consolation for the truth.
I’m leaving Lee Vines.
Tomorrow.
23
The suitcase is spread across my bed and I stuff my few belongings inside. I have my tie-dye from the Fourth and a Wayward Sun shirt that Charlie let me borrow when we went hiking one day. There are smooth, round rocks from the rivers and streams that roll through Yosemite and a dried, purple flower from the ghost town. I walk over to the closet with a stack of books, thinking my grandmother will take them to the Goodwill when she takes my mother’s clothes. I leave them in a pile on the floor and stand, coming face to face with the halter top and cotton pants I wore to the concert and fireworks. On a whim, I take them off the hanger and fold them carefully in my bag. I want to take anything that reminds me of here—of them.
It’s late afternoon when I finish and I’m contemplating what to do next. Run away? Cry? Go back out and fight my mother?
A knock on the door stops whatever plan I haven’t quite made.
It’s Leelee.
“Since it’s our last night, I thought maybe we could watch Supernatural together. Finish season five? Sierra tells me it’s a doozey.”
“Sure,” I say. “That’s a great idea.”
I pass my mother’s closed bedroom door while my grandmother grabs the snacks and I settle into the couch. She rests a pie on the table and hands me a plate.
“He brought it to the office,” she says quietly. “He’s worried about you. They all are.”
“Did you tell him?”
She shook her head. “I think you’re going to have to do that.”
“When?” I ask. “It’s not like she’ll let me out to go over there.”
She smiles and places a gooey piece of apple pie on my plate. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” She points to the TV. “Let’s watch.”
I switch on the DVD but I look at my grandmother, not the screen. She knew more about what was going on with me and the boys than I gave her credit for. She probably knew I got up every morning with Jake and all the other times I snuck away to be with them.
The season revolves around “The Cage” that keeps Lucifer trapped. The boys barter with the Four Horsemen, trading their lives, their souls to keep Lucifer under control. They acquire their rings and Leelee says, “Oh. I’ve seen those before.”
“Sierra uses them on some of her packaging.”
She shakes her head. “Such a clever girl, although if I’d known I was eating Pestilence’s Pecan Scone, I probably would have passed.”
I sense a figure in the back of the room and turn to find my mother standing in the doorway. “What in god’s name is this?”
“Supernatural,” Leelee answers. “Shhh…we’re almost at the season finale.”
“Supernatural? Since when do you watch TV?” Her eyes flick to the TV, where Dean is bartering with Death. He gets what he wants—the ring--and the show ends. “Trashy TV at that.”
I shrug, too tired to fight with her. “Since I moved here.”
“It looks ridiculous.”
Of all the things my mother has said since she arrived, this one hurts the most. I grab the TV remote and pause the show between episodes. “If you don’t like it, then you can leave. This is not your house. It’s Leelee’s house and this is something we do together.” I hear my voice rising. “What you don’t get is that it’s not some trashy, stupid show. It’s a show about family. Trust and loyalty. It’s about how family is more than the people you’re related to. It’s the people you pick, and when
you abandoned me here with a grandmother I didn’t know, I had to learn how to make my own family. One where you didn’t exist.”