Page 174 of Her Wicked Plan

Even if it was something you don’t particularly want to hear. He withdrew from the room, leaving me to ponder his words in the silence of my office.

Taking out my phone, I search for Chloe’s name.

How are you doing?

I stay in my chair, gazing out the window to my left, only to see a few trees outside the window. I haven’t been out by the lake in a while. The reason is I haven’t had the time.

Then there is the real reason: Scarlet sits out there, and I don’t want to run into her. She hasn’t visited this ward as much as she used to. I’m thankful for that because her kissing me made things awkward, and I can’t deal with that now.

My phone dings.

I’m doing all right. We managed to get Mom out of the house!

She sends an attachment, and when I open the image, it’s a picture of a dinosaur skeleton. A laugh erupts in my chest before swiping over to the next one.

A picture of Carter, cheesing so hard in front of the skeleton. Then another one comes through of Carter and my mother, who is in a wheelchair, smiling like they are having the time of their lives.

Carter begged for about an hour to come here. He wanted all of us to come, and I kept telling him no, but Mom insisted she was all right to go.

Better hope he doesn’t get into a phase with prisons or something. What will your excuse be when he asks to take a tour of a jail cell?

With the rate his father is going, he could probably go visit him in said prison.

What did he do now?

Hit his new girlfriend. As sorry as I feel for her, I’m glad that the asshole never wants to spend time with Carter. If he laid a hand on him, I’d be the one going to jail.

You and I both. How’s Mom doing with the outing?

Good. She is tired of all the sightseeing and noise but is hanging in there.

I’ll try to come again this weekend.

She doesn’t respond for a few minutes. When I thought she wouldn’t, she sends a picture of Carter attempting to climb over the railings of an exhibit to get closer to a Brachiosaurus. I toss my head back with a laugh and have to wipe away the tears from my eyes, and then another text rolls through.

This child, I swear! He might as well be coming to jail with us if he keeps up this breaking and entering.

We would love for you to come back this weekend. Just let us know!

I call him as my cellmate. You don’t pick up after yourself, and you snore while you sleep.

She sends the middle finger emoji.

I’ll let you know if I’m able to visit. Have fun, and keep sending me pictures!

Chloe sends me many pictures. Some were taken from my mother's phone, which captured Carter scaling the railing of another exhibit.

The rest were normal photos of my sister, my parents, and Carter. Carter sticking his tongue out or making some other silly face in every photo.

Fuck, I wish I was there.

Maybe I could take her and Carter to do something fun this weekend. If Mom is up to it, she could come along, too. Mom always wanted to travel.

She and Dad tried their best to take us places when we were growing up. We never went outside of the country, but we went to many states.

They had taken us to Disneyland when I was ten and Chloe was seven. Our parents made sure we were old enough so that when they took us, we would remember it. It was a blast. Dad was one to get sick on rides that go too fast or spin wildly, so it was our mom who took us on the rides.

The rollercoasters that Chloe couldn’t go on since she didn’t reach the height requirement, she would stay with Dad, who would buy her cotton candy and lemonade while Mom and I rode the coaster.