Rising Tide: Dark Innocence (The Maura DeLuca Trilogy Book 1) (22 page)

Oh boy, it must be bad.  “Ron,
right?”

“Yes Ron!  He’s a jerk,
Maura.  I know he hasn’t been talking to you much.  I asked him
myself!”

“You did?  You talked to
him?  Ok, what’s going on?”  What had he done that had upset Merina
this much?

“Yes, I saw the snake.  We
were coming back from getting some dinner—me and Shane—and he was out on the
steps of that frat house…you know where we went to the party?”

“Yes, yes…” I nodded impatiently,
wishing she’d get to the part where Ron was behaving like a reptile.

“Well, he was sitting on the steps
with
her.
The same girl from the pizza place.  Shane said she’s in
one of his classes.  Her name is Natalie.”

 
I didn’t care, at this moment, what the girl’s
name was, I just wanted the rest of the story.  I grasped the edges of my
computer desk in white-knuckled fury and implored Merina with my eyes…which
felt like they were bulging out of their sockets.

“He was sitting there with his arm
around her, rubbing his hand across her back.  He stopped when we walked
up, like he felt guilty or something.  I was so furious!  I asked him
if he’d talked to you lately, right in front of her!  He even had the nerve
to say he’d been really busy with his mom and homework, so I said to him,
‘Well, you seem to have some free time now!’  Then I walked away, even
leaving Shane there by himself…I was just so angry!  And the way he acted
like it was nothing…like he wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

I was hung up on a particular set
of her words.  “You said he was rubbing her back?”

“Yes he was!”  
Merina
spit the words out.  I could tell she’d been
bottling her anger over this.  “But like I said he stopped when we walked
up…like he knew he shouldn’t be.  Jerk!”

“Well, I guess I know the real
reason he hasn’t had any time for me.  He has something else to take up
his time.”  I felt like the biggest fool in the world, making up all those
excuses for his lack of attention.  Why couldn’t he have just told
me?  At least that would have been a truth I could respect.

“Oh Maura,”
Merina’s
anger melted away in an instant.  “I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry to be the
one to tell you. But Shane said I had to...and I knew he was right.  It’s
not fair for him to keep deceiving you. And I thought he was a good guy.” 
Her voice quavered.

“Yea, I did too.”  I was
fuming.  I didn’t lose my temper to quite this degree, so it was an
unfamiliar feeling, being so enraged—being made such a fool.  At that
moment, my phone vibrated, making me jump, I was so on edge.  I picked it
up to read the text lighting up the home screen.  “Oh, it’s Ron.”  I
sounded much calmer than I felt, but it was a bitter, dangerous calm.

“Really?  What did he say?”

I read his text aloud:  “Maura
I’m at the hospital right now, but I need to talk to you.  Can we Skype
once I’m home? Give me an hour.”

Merina
got angry again.  “Damage control, huh?”

“Yes, he has to know you’d tell
me.  The last time he didn’t know you saw him, did he?”

“I don’t think so…Are you going to
give him a chance to explain?”

“Not tonight.  I’m too mad to
even see straight.  I need some time to cool down before I say something
too unpleasant.  His mom is still in the hospital.”

“Maura, you’re too nice” Merina
chided, “not that I don’t wish I could do the same if I were in your shoes.”

I heard the front door open, to my
surprise.  “Oh, mom’s home?” I questioned no one except myself.

“It is after eight there, shouldn’t
she be home?”

“She had a work dinner…She usually
isn’t back from them so early is all.”  I thought about the possibility
Caelyn could be lying to me too, and I became incensed all over again. 
“I’m going to go check it out, ok?”

“Sure Maura…and Maura?”

“Yes?”

“I’m really, really sorry I had to
tell you that.”

“No. Thanks, really.  At least
I can trust you to be honest with me.”  I ended the call.  It was
time I started standing up for myself.  I couldn’t help but wonder if
I
was the reason people were dishonest with me.  Was I depicting myself as a
doormat?

Caelyn
came into my room before I could venture out to find her.  “You’re home
early.”  I tried to keep any kind of negative emotion out of my voice.

She crossed the room to me, “Maura,
are you ok?”

I still didn’t want to tell her
about Ron.  She’d already reacted with too much caution, regarding my
involvement with him.  I didn’t want to give her any more ammunition in
her quest to prevent me from getting my heart broken…I guess somewhere deep
down, I was hoping Merina might be mistaken.  But, given what she’d
described to me, coupled with Ron’s secrecy and avoidance, I didn’t see how she
could be.

“Yes, I’m just tired.  I had a
lot of homework.”

She saw the open Skype screen,
“Looks like you were talking to Ron.” 

I let her believe that. 
“Aren’t you home early?”  I pointed it out again.

“Oh the dinner meeting!”  She
said it as if she’d completely forgotten mentioning it to me that
morning.  I grew more mistrustful.  “Something came up at the office,
so I had to put it off until tomorrow night. 

“Oh yea, what came up?”

Caelyn
looked rightfully taken aback.  I rarely asked her about her work. 
She eyed me with suspicion when she answered  “Some samples that were
supposed to be in today got shipped to the wrong location.  I had to pacify
the screaming client when she showed up at 4:00, and I had nothing for
her.  Then, I had to track the samples down.  Luckily, they were
delivered to Calgary, which is close enough for the courier to deliver them to
me by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.”  She raised her perfect eyebrow at me, “Why the
sudden interest, Dear?”

I knew I had to be more nonchalant
if Susie’s plan was going to work.  Caelyn would never slip up if she
thought I knew something was going on.  Her overprotectiveness would
outweigh her own happiness, as it always had.  That thought softened me up
just a touch, and I could pull off acting more normal. 

“I don’t know.  It just feels
like you’re never around anymore, and even when you are, I never ask you about
what you do when you’re at work.  I guess I just think it’s time I started
showing more interest—like you do about my schoolwork.  And, I mean you
seem to really love what you do.  Who knows, maybe that’s what I’ll end up
doing too.”  I shrugged at the end, looking at her with what I hoped was
innocent curiosity.

She walked over and hugged me, and
I breathed a sigh of relief— imperceptibly.  “Wow, Maura, you really are
growing up, aren’t you?”  She pulled away from me and looked into my eyes,
her own glistening.  Instantly, I felt guilty and lowered mine.

“Thanks,” I muttered softly.

My mother seemed thrilled to find I
could be interested in Interior Design.  I’d sentenced myself to an
evening of animated discussion, focused around what she did on a day to day
basis.  She even went into her office and brought out some tile and
curtain samples to show me.  I feigned interest and gave Caelyn my full
attention until it was time for bed.  I figured that was my penance to pay
for lying in the first place…well, not a complete lie.  I did think what
my mother did for a living was cool, and it gave me a chance to tuck the whole
Ron situation into a back recess of my brain.

When I was lying in bed, I sent a
text to Susie.

Mom
cancelled dinner tonight. Is tomorrow too short notice to go downtown?

In just a couple of minutes she
answered.

No
way! Tomorrow is perfect! : )

I was happy Susie didn’t have other
plans.  I was hoping to prove her wrong and put the whole scheme behind
me.  But what if her suspicions were fact?  I tried to quiet the
muddy thoughts seeping around in my brain, keeping me awake.

I’d no idea what time I finally
fell asleep.  Ron had texted a couple of times, but I had no desire to
read them.  I had zero energy left to deal with anything.  When I did
drift off, my dreams were full of my mother. 

She appeared in several different
places…a restaurant, walking down a city street, sitting on a bench in a
park.  In every location, she was with a man—I could tell by his
stature—but in every scene he was shrouded in darkness, his features
indiscernible.  It was like his own personal shadow followed him,
obscuring him, no matter how the light fell around him—which gave me a sense of
deja vu I couldn’t quite place.  Caelyn was speaking, enthusiastically,
but her companion remained a mystery to me.  He was left in the dark, just
like me.  But I was the only one standing on the outside.

When morning finally came, I felt
as tired as when I’d gone to bed the night before.  I dragged my feet into
the kitchen where Caelyn was making a pot of coffee.  It smelled
delicious.  I wondered, since she’d remarked on my growing up, if she
would share. 

“Mom, can I have some coffee? 
I didn’t sleep good.”  My voice came out with a touch of whine…definitely
not good for achieving adult status.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,
Mink.”  Caelyn was rushing around, smoothly, getting ready for work. She’d
always limited, and most times restricted, my sugar and caffeine intake.

“But I’m so sleepy!”  And
cranky.

“Mink, I said no.”  She
ruffled my hair as she whizzed by.  “It’s a bad habit.”

“But you’re drinking it.”  I
pouted.

“I’m too far gone for help.”
 She winked as she emptied the pot into her travel mug.  “Have some
eggs, ok?  That’ll jump start you.”  She hurried off to the bathroom
to finish doing her hair.

I moved like a sloth over to the
cabinet to grab down a bowl, so I could whisk up some scrambled eggs.  I
was careless, and when my arm came down with the heavy bowl, I sent Caelyn’s
handbag flying.  “Crap!”

Of course it was open…and of course
it landed upside-down.  This was more than a little annoying, given my
drowsy state, but I quickly got down on the linoleum to scoop the contents back
in.  Luckily, even though it was a pretty roomy bag, Caelyn traveled
light.  When I turned it over, though, the plain, brown envelope that was
the trademark of the Canadian Government caught my eye.  I’d been watching
for an envelope like this to show up in our mailbox for weeks.

It had been opened, so it was easy
to peek inside.  There were two health cards, one for me and one for my
mother.  The mailing address on the letter inside was for her office
downtown.  My head reeled as realization sunk in.  Caelyn must have
asked for them to be sent there, while she’d had me checking our home mailbox
for weeks.  And how long had she had them?  Could it be possible
she’d been so busy she’d forgotten to mention they’d arrived?  She knew
how worried I’d been.  I felt dizzy with all the insufferable questions
spinning inside my head.

I knew my mother would be coming
out of the bathroom any minute now.  At first I was tempted…very
tempted…to thrust the envelope in her face and demand an explanation.  I’d
been shocked to find my mother had been hiding my health card from me—which she
claimed was the only thing stopping me from going to the doctor.  Now I
was livid.  I looked the envelope over.  The postmark date made me
see red—July thirty-first!

Susie must have been right! 
The only explanation had to be that Caelyn was dating a new boyfriend and was
so distracted, she couldn’t even remember to give me my health card.  Or
she was too busy, juggling a more exhilarating career and a new love life, for
sparing a moment to care about me anymore. 

I heard the tapping of her
toothbrush against the porcelain sink.  I knew she was finishing her
morning routine, so I quickly stuffed everything back into the purse, including
the telltale envelope.  Trying to focus on Susie’s plan, I went to the
fridge to retrieve the eggs.  All I had to do was hold back my temper for
a few more minutes, I told myself, and my mother would be out the door. 
If I confronted her now, I knew everything would come out once we started
shouting at each other.  Even if I didn’t spill the beans about my other
suspicion—one that seemed far more plausible now—Caelyn would probably stop
seeing the guy, just to be careful.  I wanted the whole truth.

Like clockwork, my mother emerged
from the bathroom at precisely the same time she did every morning.  I
concentrated on making sure the eggs were blended together perfectly, with no
clear gobs showing through, when she came over to kiss my cheek and tell me
goodbye.

“Have a good day, Mink.”

“
Mmm
-hmmm.”

“Be careful going to school.”

“MMMM-HMMM.”

She sighed heavily, “Maura, are you
really that upset about not getting any coffee?”

My phone rang.  I glanced
over, but could tell by the ringtone, Muse’s “Endlessly,” that it was
Ron. 

“Aren’t you going to almost break
your leg to get that?” Caelyn asked, surprise in her voice. 

“Nope,” still concentrating on the
eggs, trying not to be enraged…at either of them.

“Are you two fighting?”  I
wouldn’t look over at her, but I could tell my mother had her eyes narrowed in
utter suspicion. 

I thought fast.  “No, he’s
being stubborn.  He didn’t want to wait until tonight to talk, but I told
him I don’t want him wasting the money. I know they don’t have much right
now.” 

“Oh!  I didn’t know
that.  Are they going to be ok, do they need some help?”  The concern
in Caelyn’s voice softened me up, but it also made me speculate why someone who
had such a great heart would do anything to bring me harm.  I started to
wonder if she could, possibly, have a valid reason for hiding the health cards
from me.  If so, what could it be?