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“Ignore it, like I did,” he replies.
Her face falls. “We both know what happens when I do that.” She repeatedly shakes her head while moving out of the room and heading back down the hallway.
“What happens?” I ask Trey when she’s gone.
He scrubs his hand over his chin, debating on whether to tell me. “Mom shows up here with her boyfriend of the week, and it ends up turning into some big drama-fest.”
“Ah. No one likes drama-fests.”
He uneasily glances around. “I hate her.”
I wince.Damn. “Now, that’s harsh.”
He shrugs. “Maybe it is, but I do.”
“I understand, but parents make mistakes, and eventually, maybe she’ll learn from them.”
“No, she won’t.” His voice is tense.
The little guy hates his mother. Even though my relationship with my father is strained, I love my parents. I have a good fucking mother who’d do anything for her children, whose world is wrapped around her children. It saddens me that he doesn’t.
“Sorry, guys, but your mom wants you to come home,” Chloe says, coming back into the room.
“Seriously?” Trey groans. “We just got here, and it’s not a school night.”
“I tried explaining, but she said she had plans for you in the morning,” Chloe answers.
Trey rolls his eyes. “Yeah, right. Plans for us to make her and her boyfriend breakfast.” His breathing shakes. “No. She chose not to go to dinner. Tell her we’re staying here tonight.”
Chloe looks at him in devastation. “I’m sorry, buddy. I tried. Now, grab your bag. Maybe I can pick you up tomorrow and we can do something, okay?”
She turns around, walks down the hall, and returns with Gloria in her arms.
“I’ll drive you,” I say, jumping up from the couch.
She shakes her head. “You don’t need to do that.”
I start following them outside. “I want to.”
She sighs. “It will be a pain in the butt to move the car seat.”
“Then, we’ll take your car.” I wink. “It won’t be the first time I’ve driven it.”
She shuts her eyes and sighs, as if she’s lost all energy to carry on our conversation. “Fine,but I’ll drive since I know where it is. You can ride passenger.”
Her giving in so easily surprises me. “Works for me.”
The four of us load into the car, and everyone is quiet as she makes her way out of town. I’ve answered police calls in this neighborhood plenty of times. Sadly, it’s where most of our crime comes from—the outskirts of Blue Beech.
Chloe parks in front of a run-down brown trailer, unbuckles her seat belt, and then glances at me. “I need to go in and make sure everything is okay.”
“What do you mean, make sure everything is okay?” I ask before she gets out.
“She needs to go in and make sure Mom isn’t drunk, or it’s an unsafe situation for us to be in,” Trey answers for her.
She looks back and gives him a look, saying he shouldn’t have said that.
I clutch my door handle. “Let me come with you.”
