“She forgot to tell you that you’re working for the daughter of a drug addict that abandoned her kid at the ripe old age of too young.”
Raleigh winces.
“What is it that I could do to help?” I manage to say.
“You could take me to visit her.”
Raleigh shakes her head, interrupting.
“I spoke to Officer Bill Overson, a man very familiar with Mae’s story.” Raleigh directs her words at me. “He doesn’t think it’s a good idea for anyone to go, let alone Mae.”
“Please stop talking like I’m not in the room.” Mae breathes through desperation.
“Mae,” I start, “if she’s dangerous, maybe—”
Mae lights up, but not in the good way. “I have you now, Dalton.” She leaps forward and pauses in front of me before taking a pleading breath. “You and Trenton could take me. You’d both protect me.”
In this moment, Mae is nothing but a kid, a kid suffering the deep wounds of childhood and I ache for her.
“It’s about more than your safety,” Raleigh says, softly at first before growing stronger with more certainty. “It’s about your image and the safety of your mother and fans. Imagine if—”
Mae blows her off and turns to me with rage. “Dalton, take me to my mother’s.”
“Now?” I ask, trying not to get caught up and trying not to give away my position by looking at Raleigh. There’s a show in mere hours and all of this sounds too complicated to make a decision in five minutes of my being here.
“Now,” she says, stomping her foot. “I pay you. You work for me. Do as I ask.” There’s a flinch as she says it.
“You can’t talk to him like that, Mae! What the hell has gotten into you?” Raleigh stays planted where she’s been since I got here, but she’s nowhere near being finished with this argument. “This raises a larger issue we have, and that’s how you’ve been treating people.”
“Me?” Mae laughs. She looks her dead in the eye as she says, “At least I’m not sleeping with a coworker to get over my would-be husband marrying someone else.”
Dread instantly pools on Raleigh’s face before she goes pale.
“I’m going down to Trenton’s. Don’t bother stopping by before the show.” As Mae exits, Raleigh slams her hand on the back of the couch before collapsing down into it. There is no treading lightly in this situation. Walking into an argument is not ideal, but for Mae to say something so callous about Raleigh’s personality, her work ethic, it’s hard to swallow.
“Raleigh.”
“Dalton.” She looks up at me with puffy eyes.
“I will walk away today if it will fix the situation. Just say the word.”
Sniffing once, she stands. “I can’t ask anything like that of you. The situation with Mae’s mother is old and complicated, and has nothing to do with us. Any time we come to Louisiana, we argue about it.”
“Is it really so bad that she can’t visit?”
“Maggie is dangerous, Dalton. Like violent and out of her mind half the time. Mae does what she can, moneywise. But I haven’t let her see her since I started. I know that might be wrong, but someone has to be strong enough to do it, to be the bad guy.”
“You’re not the bad guy, Raleigh.” The silent beat between us goes on for too long. “What can I do?”
“Hug me.” I’d expected her to shove me off, to tell me we can’t have anything to do with each other now that Mae’s accused us, but she doesn’t. I set the food and drink down on the ottoman and then gather her to me. “She’s just overwhelmed, and homesick.”
“I’m sure,” I reciprocate. I truly hope so. Tiffs like this aren’t always so often overcome.
***
The fight doesn’t blow over. From the moment the lights went up and the stadium began to clear, Mae started her war path. Starting by marching off the stage, Mae gives Raleigh the cold shoulder and purposefully leaves plenty of space between the two of them as she makes for the green room.
“I’m going to the car,” Raleigh whispers beside me. She’s been fighting tears all day. I want to reach out to her and give her the same sort of bolstering hug as I did earlier, but there are too many eyes around and the last thing we need is for Mae to have more fodder to launch at Raleigh.
