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“I just… That doesn’t seem safe. To visit, maybe, but they have to have a lot of tropical storms, and I… No. No thank you.”
“But to visit…” I grin at her.
She takes another bite of the chicken sandwich. “I’ll consider it.”
“Good. It’ll be good for us both I think.”
Her eyes widen. “Are you nervous about going to college?”
“You know what I’m most nervous about?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”
“This is the God’s honest truth, okay? I’m most nervous about leaving you and going to college. I’m afraid about what Father might do for you if I’m not there. That’s why I mentioned Europe. That’s why I want to go on the cruise. I want to know you can still have fun despite everything, and I want you to be safe, and I want… You deserve a second chance, Mom. You really do.”
My mom offers me a small smile, but it’s the first one in a long time that reaches her eyes, and I’ll take all the wins I can get right now.
CHAPTER6
Once we finish eating, we return to the hotel. It's not like we've been doing much at all since shit hit the fan, and the thought of going on a cruise has me so amped up right now. I might even be more excited about it than I am for the start of college, and I never thought that would happen because I've been so thrilled about college for years.
As soon as Mom shuts the door, I grab our suitcases. We still have a lot of stuff back at the house. We didn’t move out entirely, and we can maybe go shopping for what we need, or else I’ll sneak over to the house tonight.
"Go on my computer," I tell my mom. "Look around for which cruise you want to go on. I have different cruise lines up. I'll start packing."
“Honey, this is so crazy,” she protests.
“Honestly, it would be crazy not to.” I grin at her.
“You really know how to twist my arm,” she says.
I burst out laughing. “Come on. It was Kyle who had you wrapped around his finger. He could get you to agree to anything.”
My mom makes a face, her smile very strained.
I laugh it off. “Mom, I was teasing. Kyle’s everyone’s favorite.”
“No, honey, it wasn’t… That’s not true.”
“When Kyle got a C, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but if I did…”
"Maybe… Maybe even before everything came to light with the Thunder Crows… maybe there were a few other warning signs with your father, and I just wanted… I was trying to make sure that Kyle wouldn't end up like him. Your father… his parents were…"
“They’re dead, right?” I ask, hating how terrible that sounds, but my father never mentioned them growing up, and we never saw that, at least not as far as I can remember.
“They are, but your father’s mother was verbally abusive to both him and to me. She thought I wasn’t good enough for her only baby boy.” My mom’s face couldn’t declare her distaste at all. “I liked her at first, but then she showed her true colors… Your father’s father was even worse. He wasn’t just verbally abusive to your father but also physically. One time, I called the cops on him because I really thought he was going to kill… Shortly after I became pregnant with Kyle, we received word that they had been in a car accident. Your grandfather had been driving drunk. A witness saw him swerving all over the road before the car went over a tailing into a river. The authorities came, but they were too late.”
“Oh, wow. I had no idea.”
“We’ve tried to shield you from so much. There are so many stories I could share with you, but what’s the point in rehashing the past? We’re going to go on a cruise at the very least.”
“And then onto Europe for you,” I say sweetly.
Mom glares at me. “I didn’t agree to that.”
“Yet.”
“Katie…”
