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Change was inevitable.Sometimes all you could do was open your arms and embrace it. Even when the idea of making such a drastic decision was terrifying. But Wichita Falls wasn’tworkingany longer.
Heather Holly Coleson had pissed someone off somewhere.
Wichita Falls wasn’t the best place for her now. It definitely wasn’t best for the little girl she loved so much. That was the real deciding factor.
It was time.
Heather had been told that once she returned to work, she was returning to the late shift. If they could have taken some of her salary away—the assholes probably would have done that, too. But there were federal laws against that. Considering…her condition and just why she was going to be off work for a while.
She’dearnedher spot on dayshift over the last eleven years. But Heather knew the truth. When she came back, regardless of what shift she worked, she’d have the exact same problems as before. The rules…only mattered for the common man in Wichita Falls.
Not the ones in charge.
Theyhad a free pass to do whatever they wanted, apparently.
Heather didn’t roll like that.
But for now…Heather had far more important things to think about.
Maybe her sisters were right, and it was time she made a change?
The path seemed obvious—but why did it feel so painful right now?
A sharp, stabbing pain tightened her entire body. Heather bent over fast, hands clutching her stomach.
Oh. That painwasreal.Not metaphorical at all. She knew what it meant, too.
That was a strong one.
Yes, Heather had far more important things to focus on than the TSP right now. But eventually, the TSP was facing a reckoning. She just knew it.
12
Grandfather was still gone.Oakley was happy.
Oakley liked it when he was gone for really long times.
She kissed Orion good night.
Oakley snuck through her special tunnel. Sometimes it was a cave. She had to crawl through it to rescue Orion from monsters. There was always fire and dragons and sharks and snakes.
She had to be really, really careful.
And be really, really brave.
Maybe when she was a grown up, she’d go to a real cave.
Oakley liked making up stories in her head. Even if Grandfather saidstorieswere for the weak.
She had the papers from the last time. She went to his computer.
Oakleyknewexactly how to do this.
Oakley had watchedScraggle-Poppswhere Jilly and Milly Silly showed kids how to get on the internet and how to look for something. She’d watched it four whole times, until Nanny had yelled at her to watch something else before Nanny’s last nerve got fried.
Nanny’s last nerve got fried a lot.
It was usually Oakley’s fault.
