“Not likely. Razor never forgets.” A little twist of dread filled me. I was about to voice my concerns but then she added, “And those Wraiths keep harassing me. Telling me I owe Razor.”
I hadn’t forgotten about that. I thought about it all the time. “I don’t like any of it.” I took a deep breath and started, “I wish that—”
My words were cut short by a groan from Suzie’s father, who shot up from the back seat. His head popped in between us, looking at her, looking at me, and then back again.
“Suzie?” He seemed confused. Understandably.
His breath could curdle milk. I cracked the back windows just enough to suck some air out.
“Yeah, it’s me.” She turned in her seat and I caught her frowning at him. “Daddy, what in the hell were you doin’ at the Dragon Bar? You know we aren’t welcome there.”
“I’ve run up my tabs at the others.” In the rearview mirror, he shrugged.
“Don’t go to a bar at all. How’d you get there?” she asked then held up her hands. “No. I don’t want to know. What about the forty dollars I gave you two days ago?” Her temper ratcheted up with each word. Then she glanced at me sheepishly. “Take the next exit. Head toward the trailer park.”
I nodded.
Her father squinted with one eye closed out the window. “Hey, can we stop at the Piggly Wiggly on the way?”
“No,” Suzie snapped. “They don’t sell Jameson.”
“Get me a six-pack then.”
“No. You’re having some tea and going straight to bed.”
He grumbled and sat back.
Suzie crossed her arms and sat stewing in silence for a whole minute before she spoke again, “You can’t ever go back there.” She had turned all the way around in the seat. “You look at me and promise me.”
“Fine, fine. Don’t get all worked up. Just like your mother with that temper.”
I gripped the steering wheel.
“Did they hurt you?” she asked with a softened voice.
“Why would they? They don’t care we’re kin. Their beef is with you and not me. It was your temper that ruined things.”
Suzie positioned herself forward facing again. “It doesn’t matter. You don’t have the money and it’s not safe. Just don’t go there.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do? You left me all alone to fend for myself.”
“That’s not true. I come and bring you food every week.”
“Yeah, but when you aren’t there…” he seemed to think better of whatever he’d been about to say.
“Then you can’t steal my extra cash? Yeah, I know.”
I was seething at this exchange but it wasn’t my place, wasn’t my family.
We drove the rest of the way in silence except the quiet instructions Suzie gave me to find their home. “The one up here on the left.”
The trailer park was familiar in its depression. It was like the last home I lived in with my parents. I put the car in park and moved to help her. The faster we moved her father, the faster we could get out of here.
She put a hand on my arm to stop me. “I’ll get him. He’s sober enough to walk back.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” If she didn’t want me to go into her house, I wasn’t going to force her.
Her dad began his bumbling process of leaving the car and heading for the steps. I realized belatedly that he and I hadn’t shared any words and that unsettled me for a reason I couldn’t define. Maybe it was that she kept this whole part of her life so closed off to me. He was this mysterious figure I’d heard about but never met. I still didn’t feel like I’d met him. I’d met a drunk alter-ego of a man. I was getting itchy being here. I wanted to leave and take her with me.
