Page 24 of Ruin

After I walk out of her embrace, I stop and look back at her. “I know I don’t call you Mom, but I think of you as my mother. You know that, right?”

Her expression goes tender. “I know.”

The doorbell rings again.

“Christ. Impatient much? Coming!” I yell.

I walk out of the kitchen, heading for the front door, and I pass the stairs. “Gigi, you got those ballet shoes yet? We’re leaving in a few minutes.”

“I’m getting them now!” Her voice sounds high-pitched and squeaky, and it only gets that way when she’s doing something she shouldn’t be.

I pause at the foot of the stairs. “Gigi?”

The bell rings again.

I look over my shoulder at the door and yell, “I’m coming!” Then, my eyes go back to the stairs. “Giselle Grace Reed, get your cute little butt down here right now.”

She appears at the top of the stairs, stepping out from behind the wall.

“Oh, for the love of all that is holy. Gigi!”

I’m guessing what was my new red lipstick is now smeared all over her face. She looks like a clown.

“What were you thinking?”

She shrugs. “I’m sorry, Mommy. But it was just there, and it was so pwetty. I’m weally sorry.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Go in the bathroom. I’m gonna answer the door, and then I’ll be there to help you wash it off.”

She hightails it off to the bathroom. I mutter a few choice words under my breath and head for the front door.

I bend down and pick up the mail. Then, I unlock the door and swing it open, and my heart stops. “Jesus!” The mail drops from my hand, scattering to the floor.

His lip lifts at the corner, giving me his trademark half-smile. “Well, I still go by Zeus, but you can call me Jesus if you like.”

“How about I call you nothing and you get the hell off my porch? How does that sound?”

His hands lift in surrender. “I just want to talk, Cam.”

“We have nothing to talk about. Except maybe how the hell you know where I live.”

“Mommy!”

Gigi.

Fuck.

“I’ll be there in a minute, baby,” I call back. I can hear the tremor in my voice. I just hope he can’t.

I quickly step out onto the porch and pull the door closed behind me.

I look back to Zeus. He’s looking beyond me, at the door. But I recognize the expression in his eyes.

Pain.

And that just makes me angrier.

“You need to leave, Zeus. Now.”