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Sienna is jumping up and down, clutching the paper in one hand and rubbing herstill-flatbelly with the other. “You got in! Oh my God, you got in!” When I don’t respond, she looks down at her belly and says, “Did you hear that? Your brilliant auntie got herself a scholarship!”
“I can’t accept it. I can’t leave.”
Garth comes up behind her and places both hands on her belly while resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Why?” the ask in unison.
Their cluelessness knows no bounds. I look around, waving my hands at the stacks that clutter every surface, the folders and papers that lay on the floor. “There’s too much to do.”
“School doesn’t start for two months.” Sierra smiles at me and nods. “We’ll get this all sorted out before then.”
“Sienna…”
I don’t want to tell her. I don’t want to wipe that sunny, hopeful look off her face. It’s the first time I’ve seen the girl happy in days. But no, I can’t keep this from her.
I walk over to the stack of bills, the ones with the mounting finance fees and penalties, and fish out the two with her name on them. “Don’t freak out,” I tell her. “I think we can get this cleared up because the accounts were opened without your consent, and the charges…Well, I don’t think it will be hard to prove that Dad wasn’t looking to better your life since just about all of the charges are for on-line betting sites.”
Her mouth hangs open as she skims each page and then hands them to Garth.
“I read up on it last night. If the charges were for tuition or clothing or something else that could be looked upon as supporting you, then it would be a different story. But this looks like a clear case of identity theft.”
“Daddy?”
I can’t do anything but nod my head. I hold back from calling him every bad word I’ve learned over the course of my life because what good would it do?
I’m too tired to be mad. And I’m too sad. This is the same person who perched me up high up on his shoulders so I could see the world, who taught me to line dance and taught me how to drive.
How can you hate and love and miss someone, all at the same time? I want to scream at my mother and father, and at the same time I want to press my face into the fabric of that ratty old couch where they’d sit watchingWheel of Fortuneevery night just for the scent, for the memory of them.
I have no parents. No grandparents still walking this earth. No aunts or uncles I’d refer to as family. But I do have Sienna. And I have Garth. I feel so alone yet so grateful for them.
“I can’t leave. You’ll need help with the baby.”
“Skylar, now more than ever I’m convinced that you need to do this. You don’t need to take care of me.” She looks over her shoulder and smiles softly at her man. “And Garth’s mother is here to help us with the baby.”
“Yeah, she can’t wait to be a granny.” He moves in closer, puts his hand on my shoulder. “And you need to get away from here.”
“Away from him, you mean?”
“I love that kid like a brother but he’s still acting like he’s seventeen and he’s got all the time in the world to figure it out.” When I crack a smile, he frowns. “I know what you think of me. I know you think I’m nothing but a fuck up—”
“No, Garth!”
He silences me with one hand. “I know you think I’m a dreamer. Is that better?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer. “But we’ve got this. Me and Sienna? We’ll be the best parents any kid could ask for. I can take care of this family.”
I feel like crap on a cracker. I know in that moment that the advice I dish out on a regular basis and my well-intentioned offers to “help” have probably come off as condescending. Like I’m superior. Like I’ve got it all figured out. Yeah, right.
“I love you, Garth. Youaremy brother, and I know you’ll take good care of Sienna.”
“Then trust in this.” He tussles my hair as my sister wipes at her eyes. “Go and do all those great things you’ve always dreamed about.”
Chapter Three
Skylar
Six weeks later, legally bankrupt and basically homeless, I’m standing on the steps in front of Tyler’s place. His mother and father still pay the bills but spend most weekends out at his grandparents’ old fishing cabin just over the state line.
I knock a second time, thinking back to how convenient it was, the way Tyler’s parents were always taking off for the weekends. We shared a lot of memorable nights here. He threw the biggest parties, some of them lasting from Friday night well into Sunday afternoon, and we had some great times here alone, too. Cooking together, watching movies on the couch side by side,notwatching movies. We played house, played at being adults.
