“You told me you were staying with Joelle,” she says.
“Mom. I’m a grown woman.”
“Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to call to speak to my daughter and realize that her friend is lying? Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to resort to followinga phone tracker to find my own daughter, hiding out on some God-forsaken ranch?”
Mason moves beside me, slowly shifting his weight in a way that tells me he’s holding himself back by a thread.
I step toward the bottom porch step but don’t climb it yet. Janey is above us, framed in the doorway, looking down at her parents standing in the yard between the sedan and the porch.
Our queen.
“You tracked me? You have a tracker on my phone?”
“Of course. I’m your mother.”
“Oh my God.” Janey’s hand covers her mouth as though this is the realization that has shocked her above all others. “I’m a grown woman. Not a child.”
Her mother’s gaze drops again to the shirt. “Is that yours?” she demands, looking at me and dismissing Janey’s dismay without concern.
My hands curl at my sides, but I won’t intervene unless this gets out of control. This is Janey’s family and we haven’t even exchanged names and pleasantries yet.
Janey lifts her chin. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It absolutely matters.” Her mother’s laugh is brittle. “Look at you. Dressed like this. Shacked up in the middle of nowhere with two men I’ve never met. Have you lost all sense?”
“Eleanor,” Janey’s father says quietly. “Maybe we should go inside and sit down. Talk over a cup of coffee.”
“No.” Her mother doesn’t even glance at him. “I'm not going inside and pretending this is normal.”
Janey’s mouth trembles, but she holds her ground. “You shouldn’t have come here without calling.”
“I'm your mother.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to stalk me and ambush me. It doesn’t mean you get to invite yourself to someone else's home.”
The words seem to shock all of them.
Her father’s eyes widen. For one second, I hope he might step in and stand beside his daughter the way she deserves, but he only looks down at the dirt.
Eleanor stares at Janey as if she no longer recognizes her. “Ambush you? After you lied to us?”
“I didn’t lie to hurt you.”
“Oh, don’t try to dress this up.” Her mother’s gaze slides to Mason, then to me. “What exactly did they tell you? What promises did they make that they won’t keep? Men like this don’t stick around when the going gets tough.”
I step onto the first porch step and Mason follows. “Careful,” I say.
Eleanor turns her cold eyes on me. “Excuse me?”
“This is our home. You're standing on our land. You don’t even know our names and you’re making assumptions about us. Janey is welcome here. She’ll always be welcome here.” I keep my voice low, because if I raise it, I’m sure I won’t be able to stop. “You can be angry. You can be scared. But you won't disrespect her or us.”
Her nostrils flare. “And who are you, exactly? Her protector? Her latest mistake?”
Janey flinches and Mason steps up beside me.
“Mom,” Janey says, “I need you to listen to me.”
“I've listened to your lies. And you’re making no sense. We have to drive all this way to find you dressed in another person’s clothing, looking like—”
