AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She grabs my shoulder to stop me. “Definitely not a good idea. It’d make things worse. Stay here. I’ll be back.”
I don’t settle in my seat. “The fact that the three of you could possibly walk into anunsafesituation makes me uncomfortable, and there’s no way I can sit here. I’ll stand on the porch, out of the way. No one will even know I’m there.”
She opens her mouth to argue, but her phone starts ringing. I see Claudia’s name on the screen.
“Fine,” she says with a groan.
She helps Gloria out of her car seat while I grab her bag, and we walk up the creaky porch steps. I hand Trey Gloria’s bag, and a whiff of cigarette smoke and mold hits me when they open the door. I stand out of view and watch through the torn blinds. Claudia is sitting on the couch with a cigarette in her hand, talking to Chloe about needing money for food. Roger is spread out next to her with a beer in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. Claudia must be too dumb to realize that asking for food money when there’s an open pizza box in front of him isn’t helping her case.
“You’ve tapped me out this month,” Chloe says with a stressed breath.
“Don’t act like you’ve forgotten who took care of you when Mom didn’t,” Claudia snaps.
“I took care of myself, but thank you for the reminder,” Chloe replies.
Claudia puts out her cigarette while Trey helps Gloria out of her coat. “When will you have it then?”
“I will go buy you groceries in the morning,” Chloe says.
“I like doing it myself. You buy too much healthy stuff for our liking.”
“I’ll drop off groceries tomorrow, Claudia. I’m not arguing with you tonight.” Chloe kisses Gloria and then Trey on their heads. “Good night, guys. Call if you need anything.”
“They won’t need anything,Chloe! I’m their mother. If they do, they can ask me,” Claudia shouts to her back.
Chloe nods and walks out the door.
I rest my hand on her back as we walk down the steps to the car. I get into the driver’s side while she takes passenger. She doesn’t fight it. I see the defeat in her eyes.
I blow out a breath as I pull out of the neighborhood. “Chloe, I don’t know how you do it.”
She peeks over at me. “Do what?”
“Deal with her.”
“I do it for the kids. Not her.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t let them stay. She seemed like she didn’t want to spend another minute with them at the game.”
“Trust me; it wasn’t her wanting to spend time with them.”
“What do you mean?”
“When she called, she asked me to borrow a few hundred dollars. I told her I didn’t have it. She demanded I bring the children home, or she was calling the cops.”
Wow. The nerve of her sister.“Babe, in case you haven’t realized it, I am the cops. Did you tell her there was already one there?”
She gives me a look. “I don’t want to drag you or any other law enforcement into my family’s drama. Not to mention, people talk. She already causes enough problems for me, just being her. There doesn’t need to be record of endless police visits to my house.”
“Maybe you should take her to court and fight for custody.”
“I’ve tried, but there’s nothing I can do. She’s passing drug tests. I have no power, and if I take it too far, the kids might end up in foster care before the process of adoption goes through.IfI’m even able to adopt them. It’s complicated. The system wants to keep children with their parents. Claudia uses it to her advantage with me.”
“You ever walked into something you’d refer to as an unsafe situation with Claudia before?”
“A few times, yes.”
“And?”
