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Lauren paused. Anger rippled through her, made her bunch her fists. If shed been a boy, she might have punched the wall. She hadnt found a job, she was late for her date, and now this. Her mother was drunk and communing with the stars again.
Lauren climbed through the window and up the rickety fire escape.
On the rooftop, she found her mother sitting on the ledge of the building, wearing a soaking wet cotton dress. Her feet were bare.
Lauren came up behind her, taking care not to get too close to the edge. "Mom?"
Mom twisted slightly and smiled at her. "Hey. "
"Youre too close to the edge, Mom. Move back. "
"Sometimes you gotta remember youre alive. Cmere. " She patted the ledge beside her.
Lauren hated times like this, moments where her need ran alongside fear. Her mother loved to live dangerously; she always said so. Lauren moved cautiously forward. Very slowly, she sat beside her mother.
The street below them was almost empty. A single car drove past, its headlights blinking through the rain, looking insubstantial, unre
al.
Lauren could feel her mother trembling with the cold. "Wheres your coat, Mom?"
"I lost it. No. I gave it to Phoebe. Traded it for a carton of smokes. The rain makes everything look beautiful, doesnt it?"
"You traded your coat for cigarettes," she said dully, knowing it was useless to be angry. "Theyre predicting a cold winter this year. "
Mom shrugged. "I was broke. "
Lauren put her arm around her mother. "Come on. You need to get warmed up. A bath would be good. "
Mom looked at her. "Franco said hed call today. Did you hear the phone ring?"
"No. "
"They never come back. Not to me. "
Even though Lauren had heard it a thousand times, she still felt her mothers pain. "I know. Cmon. " She helped her to her feet and guided her to the fire escape. Lauren followed her mother down the iron-grate stairs and into the apartment. Once there, she convinced her mother to take a hot bath, then went into her own room and changed her clothes. By the time she was ready to leave, her mother was in bed.
Lauren went to her, sat on the edge of the bed beside her. "Youll be okay while Im gone?"
Moms eyes were already getting heavy. "Did the phone ring while I was in the bath?"
"No. "
Slowly, Mom looked at her. "How come no one loves me, Lauren?"
The question, asked softly and with such utter despair, hurt Lauren so deeply that she gasped. I love you, she thought. Why didnt that count?
Mom turned her head into the pillow and closed her eyes.
Slowly, Lauren got to her feet and backed away from the bed. All she could think about as she made her way through the apartment and down the stairs and across town was: David.
David.
He would fill this emptiness in her heart.
THE STAID, ULTRARICH ENCLAVE CALLED MOUNTAINAIRE inhabited only a few city blocks on the easternmost edge of West End, but there, behind the guarded gates and ironwork fences, another world existed. This oasis of wealth dominated a hillside overlooking the ocean. Here in Davids world, the driveways were made of stone or patterned brick; the cars pulled up beneath fancy porticoes and parked in cavernous garages; dinners were eaten off china as thin and translucent as a babys skin. On an evening like this one, streetlamps lit every corner and turned the falling rain into tiny diamonds.
Lauren felt acutely out of place as she walked up to the guardhouse at the entrance gate, a girl who didnt belong. She imagined that a notation was made on some chart that would be presented to Mr. and Mrs. Haynes on their return: Bad Element Visits Home.
