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Kai pulled back up in front of the restaurant. I could see James waiting for me on the sidewalk, his hands stuffed into his pockets. “Kai, please take my mother home.” I turned to her. “If you leave us alone, I’ll give you almost all of it,” I said in a small voice. “Some of it has to go to Tommy, though.”
She nodded. She’d already stolen close to six thousand dollars from New Horizons this morning, so maybe that curbed her attitude. A little. “I’ll think about it.”
“You do that.” I looked at her, and suddenly I didn’t want to get out of the car. I wanted to go back to East Boston with her. Back to her desolate apartment where I’d been raised. That was where I belonged. When I was younger I couldn’t wait to leave that place, to be on my own. To try to do better. But I didn’t belong to better. The filth kept coming back up to claim me. I should just give in to it, let it drag me back down, where the people I cared for couldn’t be tainted by me.
“Your boyfriend’s waiting for you,” my mother said, motioning toward the car door. James was right outside, looking antsy.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I whispered, still sick.
“You might want to tell him that. You better go.”
James
“What did she say?” We were standing on the sidewalk near the restaurant, looking out at the view of the harbor. Audrey was tense beside me, her face pale and resigned. I rubbed her back, trying to make her feel better.
“She just wanted to… check in.”
“Is everything okay?”
“No. Nothing’s ever okay when it comes to my mother. But it will be fine.”
I pulled her against me. “She wants more money.” Audrey nodded stiffly. “How did she know we were here?”
“The Tribune.”
“How much does she want?”
Audrey shook her head again. “She wants whatever she can get her hands on. Don’t worry about it—I took care of it.”
“I was pretty generous with her yesterday,” I said, watching the boats go by. “That was probably a mistake. I didn’t take into consideration… how far she might go.” I laced my fingers through Audrey’s, feeling sad and angry on her behalf. Even though I should know better from personal experience, I was still surprised that a mother could be so indifferent to her child.
Or maybe it was just because it was Audrey, and I couldn't understand how anyone would want to treat her that way.
“You mean you didn’t take into consideration that she would throw me under a bus? That she would jeopardize my job? Then you underestimated her. Or maybe you overestimated her,” she said. “She doesn’t care about me. Look what she did to Tommy this morning. She doesn’t care about anybody but herself.”
I pulled her to me. “Your mother is almost making my mother look half-decent.”
We both laughed. “They’re quite a pair,” Audrey said. She sighed and looked up at me. “James… my mother might try to pull something. She threatened to.”
“What?” I asked, but I already knew.
“Tell your family about me. Expose us. Blackmail anybody and everybody she can.”
“She won’t do that,” I said. “I won’t let her get that far.”
“You can’t give her any more money,” she said. “She won’t ever stop. I’ll pay her—I already promised I would—but she has to understand that you’re a one-and-done. Otherwise, she’ll keep coming back.” She looked at me, anxiety and stubbornness playing out on her face. “Promise me.”
“Not yet—I can help you. We’ll figure it out.” I looked back at the restaurant and sighed. “We have to go in there. Dinner’s going to start, and I don’t want to call attention to us.”
“Don’t you want me to just go?” she asked. “If I leave now, she won’t be able to do anything else. Cause any more trouble. I’m worried, James. She’ll stoop as low as she can. I don’t want your family finding out about me, and I don’t want her near any of you… because she could do anything, and it would be horrible.”
“Of course I don’t want you to go. Don’t be ridiculous.” I kissed her on the forehead, careful not to mess up her makeup. She looked beautiful. She’d dressed so carefully for the occasion. I’d watched her pick out her jewelry, selecting the perfect earrings, scowling at her reflection in the mirror until she felt confident with her choices. When we’d walked through those church doors together, and I turned to look at her, my heart had just about stopped.
