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Time slowed for me, and it landed in the sink with a clatter. Too loud for anyone in the house to ignore.
Sounding a lot like it had broken.
My heart exploded in shock, sure that I’d damaged it. Would Carol be upset? What would she do?
“What happened in there?” she called from the laundry room. “Everything okay?”
Jimmy reached in before I could, picking up the plate.
My heart pounded, afraid of even a crack.
Jimmy flipped it over in his hands and found one small chip along the edge. The piece fell into the sink.
My eyes widened. I shook my head reflexively. There was no way to hide it. It was pretty obvious.
Carol appeared in the door. Her makeup had been removed, but she still wore the clothes she had at dinner. She first looked at Jimmy. “I thought I said you should change once Sang...” She paused, and then her eyes went to the plate. She frowned, clearly displeased. “Did it break?”
My heart was a little too fast, and my breath caught in my throat. If Carol was controlling when she was normal, what happened when she was angry?
“Sorry,” Jimmy said before I even had a chance. He scooped the chip out and held it between his fingers. “I dropped it. There’s a chip, but I think I can fix it.”
I held my breath, unsure if I liked him taking the blame.
Carol came over, inspecting the plate. She shook her head. “No, this is broken.” She took it from his hands, taking it to the trash can.
“But I can fix it,” Jimmy said, his voice going a pitch higher than before. “It just needs a little super glue.”
“It will never be the same. We get rid of broken things in this house.” She tossed it into the trash can hard enough that the plate shattered even more.
The suddenness had me push my back into the sink. I stilled, afraid to move. The intensity, the severity in which she dealt with it rattled me.
She glanced at Jimmy and at me. “Once a thing is broken, cracked, the structure becomes unstable. It’s only a matter of time before it will completely crumble. Best to get rid of it quickly and find something new.”
“Not everything is like that,” Jimmy said.
“It’s a good lesson to learn early on.” She looked right at me then. “I know you probably had a crush on your Sean Green, but I believe you can do better for yourself. Unstable foundations make for disappointment later.”
Jimmy shot a quick glance at me and then looked down at the tiles, lips tight.
I didn’t know what to say. What about Sean did she disapprove of?
Who could possibly be better?
And what did that say about me? Did she believe me unstable? Did she look for ways to throw me away?
When nothing was said, she waved her hands at the dishes in the sink. “Take care of the rest. I may be able to get a replacement. If not, we’ll get a new set.” She left the room, going into the laundry room again.
I stood still, my heart beating so frantically that I heard my pulse in my ears.
It didn’t hit me until that moment that she was scarier than I’d realized. She made you comfortable, made you feel like you were on her side, but only if you did what she said. She didn’t ask you what you wanted. She told people what to do. That was how she operated.
Should I have been surprised that she was odd? She moved into a complete stranger’s house, where she could direct Marie and myself to do what she wanted.
Jimmy’s face was red around his cheeks. He turned to the sink, staring at the dishes.
He had taken the blame for me.
He made an effort to be nice. To protect me from his mother, so she wouldn’t disapprove.
It wasn’t the first time he had come to my aid.
He knew something I didn’t about her. He was protecting me.
I turned the running water back on, quietly standing beside him.
He looked up at me, his eyes dark.
I tried to smile. I had no idea what growing up with Carol was like. However, he’d been uprooted to come here. Alone and uncomfortable. He was trying to make the best of it. Maybe Jimmy needed as much help as I did.
There was Marie as well. I couldn’t forget. Sean Green wasn’t good enough for me, but for her? Did Carol find Marie to be broken and in need of removal?
Also, my stepmother. As much as she was ill and didn’t like me, Carol might see her as broken and be ready to throw her away at the first opportunity.
She saw this broken house as standing in the way of what she wanted.
She had come to get rid of it.
Slowly, Jimmy started to reanimate. He moved a little slower, securing each plate in my hand before letting go.
I held on as best as I could. I held my breath often to prevent myself from shaking again. I listened carefully for Carol to come back, in case she wanted to inspect how we were doing.
I took each plate, rinsed it, and bent over to put it in the dishwasher.
And then I took a bundle of silverware, bending over a little longer to make sure they were secure and to arrange them.
I don’t remember standing up again.
Down
DR. GREEN
The condo smelled like fried vegetables as he entered, but it was heavy with cleaning solution as well. The heated oil and soap combination was a little off-putting.
Sean entered quickly, throwing down the jacket and his shoes in a lump near the door. He took out his wallet and keys and dropped them into the pile as well. He undid the tie and let it slip to the floor.
His mother would find it, but at the moment, he didn’t really care.
Everything was wrong. The heavy emotion leaving the Sorenson house followed him all the way back.
He had pushed himself on Carol and hadn’t been careful with what he’d said. He replayed the evening in his head, but was there anything he could have done differently? Any moment where he could have said something better?
Lied about who his parents were? Who would have thought she’d have an issue?
Maybe he should have said he was an actual doctor. He should have been honest about being a teacher, perhaps. He’d taken a huge risk, given that Jimmy could have gone to the school and might have found out the truth. Or Marie, who did know he was a teacher, could have ratted him out. Danielle or Derrick might have caught on eventually and could have said something to Jimmy.
He was taking that risk even now if he took Marie out. It only took one of them to say something, and he’d mess things up ever going back.
However, now it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t about taking Marie out. He would have helped her if Sang wanted it.
To Carol, he wasn’t good enough for Sang. That just ticked him off.
The condo was dark except for an odd glow of light in the kitchen. It wasn’t an overhead light, which he thought was the only light in the kitchen. It was a little late for his mother to be up, as she often went to bed very early.
Sean slipped quietly over the floor in his socks. The kitchen door was stuck open wide enough for a hand to slip through. He angled himself to look in without opening it further.
Owen sat at the counter of the kitchen island, a laptop in front of him. His glasses were
sitting on the counter next to the laptop. Nearby was one of the small bowls Sean’s mother had purchased, filled with a few almonds.
If Owen had almonds in a bowl, he planned to stay up all night. It was how he kept himself awake, crunching on a few here and there.
Sean also knew Owen hadn’t slept.
Owen stared at the screen, squinting, frowning.
He held the edge of the kitchen counter, leaning in and staring at the screen.
Sean frowned. He figured he’d witnessed the entire catastrophe. These last couple of days had been a disaster.
The last week...
The last few months...
One after another. Always Sang. Always mistakes they made. Things they’d never anticipated. Her stepmother. McCoy. Volto. Carol.
Falling in love with her. That wasn’t so bad, but it was never like what any of them had pictured, he was sure.
Sending her back felt like another mistake. Twelve steps backward.
With the way Owen squinted at the screen, Sean could see it. Frustration etched on his face. Disapproval.
Was he finally understanding?
Sean opened the door enough to be able to pass through, and just so they weren’t disturbed, he closed and locked the door behind him.
Owen’s eyes never fell away from the screen. Sean stood in front of him across the counter, leaning his stomach against the cool of the granite countertop. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Go ahead and say it,” he said, his voice low. “I messed up.”
Owen glanced up at him, squinting, but said nothing, continuing to frown.
“You’re going to ruin your eyes like that,” Sean said.
“You were never going to convince her,” Owen said in a low voice. “I doubt any of us could have.” He redirected his attention to the screen. “I warned you about pushing it.”
“I was too honest,” Sean continued. He rolled his eyes. “Carol... I should have figured. She was already trying to get her to quit her job. She wanted to redo her schedule, and from the last anyone looked at it, she crossed out most of her activities.” He shook his head. “If she had to stay there, I hoped...”
