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“I’m sorry I haven’t called sooner,” Calista said. Her voice sounded soft and shy. A far cry from the drunken slur I had gotten used to in years past.
“Where are you?” I asked, ignoring the apology. That was another thing I’d gotten used to. Empty apologies. My sister was never sorry for the bad decisions that she made, and she was never sorry for the impact that her actions had on the people around her. If anything, she was sorry she got caught, sorry she had to spend a night in the drunk tank instead of downing shots at the club, sorry she had to look after a screaming infant instead of jetting off for a five day bender in the Virgin Islands with her famous friends.
“I’m in the hospital,” she sniffled in a small voice. “Caleb, I think I really fucked up this time.”
“You say that every time.”.
“God, I know.” Her voice cracked and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“Emmy is ok,” I said. That should have been the first thing she asked. How was her daughter? Was Emmy ok? Was she safe? Was she happy? Was she asking any questions? Was she asking why her mother hadn’t come home yet?
“I knew she would be,” Calista said sadly. I wanted to slam down the phone, because I was disgusted with how selfish my sister is.
“No,” I said, “You assumed that she was ok. You assumed I would take care of things for you, just like I always do.”
“Caleb…”
“Calista,” I cut her off sternly. “This isn’t about you and me. If you want to let your life go up in smoke, that’s your prerogative. But you can’t take that sweet little girl down with you.”
“I know, I… I…”
“No,” I stopped her. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. I don’t. There’s nothing you can say that would justify the way you abandoned your daughter.”
“I’m trying to get better,” she sniffled. “I swear, Caleb. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I checked myself into treatment, because I knew I couldn’t do this anymore.”
“Good,” I said, shaking my head. I’d heard this a dozen times before. I have heard the tears, the emotional appeals. I did not believe it anymore. Until my sister came home, sober and ready to behave like a decent human being, I would not believe it. “I hope, for Emmy’s sake, that you can get your life together.”
I was tempted to hang up the phone.
“Calista, just to be clear, I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for Emmy.”
Then I slammed down the phone and sunk back into my chair. My head was throbbing and I needed to get out of this office. I reached for my cell phone and I pulled the thread of text messages that I’ve exchanged with Daisy.
“Join Emmy and I for dinner tonight?”
I hit ‘send,’ and then I second-guessed myself. This wasn’t exactly a sexy follow-up to our last date, but before I could think too much about it, her response showed onto the screen:
“As long as it’s our little secret :)”
I smiled, sliding my phone back into my pocket, and despite the phone call from Calista, everything somehow felt brighter.
15
| DAISY
“God, look at you,” Raven rolled her eyes as she watched me grin into the screen of my phone. “You’re so smitten with this guy that literally it’s disgusting.”
“Shut up,” I said, even though her comment made my smile grow wider.
“I know that look,” Raven eyed me up and down knowingly. “You got the D.”
My entire face burned bright red and I slapped her arm, glancing around the schoolyard to make sure nobody overheard.
“You did!” Raven insisted. “Don’t deny it.”
“That’s none of your business,” I snapped. “And besides, I shouldn’t be talking about this at school anyway. Not after what Mr. Richmond said--”
“Ok, Mr. Strict-mond needs to loosen the hell up,” Raven said, rolling her eyes again. “And you, missy, need to give me all the dirty details.”
