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“Marissa—”
“One night. It’s all I ask. You owe me that. At the very least to give me closure. I’m a victim in this too. Help me just like you help Ember.” The tears are flowing down her face now, and no amount of dabbing is preventing the running of mascara. “If after tonight you still want to be with Ember, then I’ll walk away gracefully.”
My phone rings just as I get ready to respond. I glance down and see it’s my mother calling. “I need to get this,” I say, answering the phone before Marissa can object. “Mom? Everything okay? How’s the party?”
“Come home now,” she says firmly.
“What? Why?”
“It’s Ember. She’s lost her mind completely. You need to come home and deal with this immediately.”
“Is she okay? Is she there with you? Let me talk to her.”
“Christopher! I’m telling you to come home.”
17
Christopher
“Where is she?” I demand as I storm into the house.
The flight across the country I managed to book the minute my mother called demanding I return home had me nearly exploding. Hours of feeling helpless, knowing Ember needed me and there was absolutely nothing I could do until I got back to New York. But now I’m home, and I need to find Ember and be with her immediately.
Ms. Evans is standing on the bottom stair with a tray in her hand. “I was just going to bring her up some food and drink.”
My mother walks in from the living room, which still has signs of her party hours ago that the catering company hasn’t collected. “She’s hiding in the closet upstairs. She’s completely lost her mind. I’ve never been so embarrassed in all my life. Veronica, Michelle, and Diana all witnessed it and left here simply mortified. It was awful, Christopher. Awful!”
“Why the fuck is she in the closet?”
My words appear to slap my mother, because she gasps before screeching, “How would I know? When she didn’t come down for the party, my friends and I went upstairs to check on her. We entered her room to find Ember locked in her closet. After calling out several times, she finally opened the door with her hair wild, her eyes bulging— Frankly, she looked as if she were on drugs. Then she started rambling about how Papa Rich was in the house and going to get her. She locked herself inside to hide from him. She told my friends they were in danger. I swear, Christopher, I may never live this down. I can’t imagine what those women are saying about me now. Ember purposely scared them.”
“Why would she think that Richard was in the house? Did something happen to spook her?”
“I went to check on her and if she needed anything,” Ms. Evans chimes in. “And she spoke about there being straw in her bed and closet. But I didn’t see any straw. I searched everywhere, but there wasn’t any.”
“Of course there was no straw!” Louisa snapped. “Ramblings of a madwoman. I can’t have this going on in my house. She’s unstable!”
“Mom, calm down. Ember’s just going through a lot right now. Assimilating into this world, with the media, all the attention, and just…. Cut the girl some slack, will ya? She’s not doing anything intentionally to upset you or your friends. She’s scared.”
“She needs help! Serious, professional help.”
I nod in agreement. “And I’ll get her some. You’re right. Getting an expert to try to help her make sense of all this could be a good thing.” I pause and then ask, “What about security? Did they see anything out of the ordinary?”
“Of course they didn’t,” my mother snaps. “There was nothing to see. You don’t honestly think a one-legged man hobbled into my house, followed by one of the most wanted men on the FBI list right now, undetected? The girl has lost her mind. She’s mental. I don’t blame her for being mental, but the fact is that we are not equipped to deal with her. You can’t make this woman your problem anymore. You deserve better.”
“Mother,” I warn, trying to be patient, considering Ember did frazzle the hell out of her. “I know you’re upset. I’m sorry, and I’ll handle it.”
Ms. Evans holds up the tray. “She hasn’t eaten or had anything to drink, and I was going to see if I could get something in her.”
I take hold of the tray and start walking upstairs. “I’ll do it, thank you.”
I don’t know what to think about everything. I shouldn’t have left her. It was too soon. She snapped, because she wasn’t ready for me to be away. I should have known better than to suggest she attend a party and then leave as if she’s ready to deal with normal life so casually. This is my fault.
“Ember?” I call out as I enter the room, placing the tray on the desk. “It’s Christopher.”
