When (23 page)

Donny arrived around three, and then we waited some more while he dealt with Ma. He came into the conference room looking stressed out to the max. “With the holiday, I can’t get her
out until next week,” he said, sitting down and yanking at his tie to loosen it. “But truthfully, Maddie, I don’t know that I want to.”

“What?”
I cried. “Donny, we have to get her out!”

But Donny only shook his head. “Maddie, given your mom’s blood alcohol content and the fact that this is her third strike, the judge might not even set bond. He’s far more
likely to keep her in jail and force her to dry out until her trial, at which point I’ll be lucky to get her sentence down to under five years.”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Mrs. Duncan took my hand and squeezed it tight. “Let’s focus on staying positive, shall we?” she said.

Donny’s gaze flickered to her and he sighed. “You’re right, Cora. But Maddie needs to know that her mom’s not going to be coming home anytime soon. Which means
she’ll have to move in with me. I’ll clear it with Faraday the day after tomorrow.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?” Donny asked sternly. “Maddie, you can’t stay here on your own.”

“Why not?” I challenged. “Donny, I’ve been taking care of Ma for the past couple of years. I’m the one who gets the groceries, does the laundry, makes sure Ma gets
something to eat! I can manage okay.”

Donny tapped his fingers on the table. “What’s wrong with moving to the city?”

I sighed and stared down at my hands. “I can’t go back there, Donny. I can’t breathe when I’m there.”

Donny was silent for a long moment. I knew he understood. And then Mrs. Duncan spoke. “I could look in on her,” she said. “I live right next door and could easily make sure
Maddie’s getting enough to eat and being taken care of.”

I eyed her hopefully, but Donny was shaking his head. “Thank you, Cora, that’s very kind of you, but we couldn’t.”

“Why not?” I snapped. My uncle could be such a stubborn pain in the butt sometimes.

Donny looked sharply at me. “We don’t impose, Maddie.”

“Oh, but it’s no imposition!” Mrs. Duncan insisted. “Maddie’s a lovely girl, and frankly, I’m an old woman who could very much use a bit of company and a
reason to get out of my old house.”

I smiled gratefully at her before turning back to Donny. “Please, Donny? I’ll call you every day to let you know I’m okay.”

Donny tugged again at his tie. “I still feel like it would be too much of an imposition.”

“Oh, bah,” Mrs. Duncan said with a wave of her hand. “Maddie’s a wonderful girl. She’s no trouble.”

I almost laughed. I’d been nothing
but
trouble the past few weeks.

Donny sighed, then nodded and tried to put on a good face. “All right, Cora. Thank you. Thank you very much. I’ll take Maddie for Thanksgiving and bring her back on Monday
morning.”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Mrs. Duncan said, clapping the table with her fingertips and giving him a broad smile. “You’ll come to my house for Thanksgiving. I
insist.”

“Aren’t you going to your daughter’s house?” I asked. Mrs. Duncan always spent Thanksgiving with one of her daughters.

“No,” she said, lifting her chin a little, and I could see it was to cover the hurt in her eyes. “Janet’s not very happy with me at the moment. We’ve decided to
spend the holidays apart and give each other some space. And Liz is spending the day with her in-laws, so unless you two want to let an old woman spend Thanksgiving alone, you’ll come over
and keep me company.”

I turned back to Donny. I knew that without the invitation from Mrs. Duncan, Donny and I would spend the next day at some restaurant where the turkey was dry, the stuffing tasteless, and the
mashed potatoes lumpy.

“Okay,” Donny relented with a smile of his own. “But I’m paying for the groceries.”

MRS
.
DUNCAN COOKED ENOUGH FOOD
to feed an army, and we ate like kings. It was the best Thanksgiving I could remember since
before my grandma died. Well, besides the fact that I tried to call Ma at the jail, but I was told she wasn’t feeling well enough to come to the phone. That really bummed me out, but Mrs.
Duncan assured me that once my mom had a few days of rest we’d be able to talk. I knew she really meant once Ma got all the alcohol out of her system, she’d be well enough to come to
the phone.

Donny spent the holiday with us, but early Friday morning he told me he had to get back to the city for an emergency with one of his clients, leaving me with a day to fill the best I could.

Feeling bored, I looked out the window and saw that Mrs. Duncan’s yard was still covered with leaves. Wanting to pay her back for all the kindness she’d offered us, I headed
downstairs and rummaged around in the garage for a rake and one of the big plastic garbage cans that we used to put the leaves into when we used to care about having a neat and tidy lawn.

Pulling the rake and the bin over to Mrs. Duncan’s house, I got to work. She came out after about a half hour. “Oh, my!” she said from her front porch, her hands clasped
together over her chest as she beamed at me. “Maddie, what’re you up to?”

“I’m getting up some of these leaves for you, Mrs. Duncan,” I said.

“Well, aren’t you sweet?! Have you had lunch?”

“I’m not hungry, ma’am,” I told her. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to rake every single last leaf up off that lawn and make it look pristine.

“When you’re ready for a break, dear, come inside and I’ll fix you a hot turkey sandwich, all right?”

I nodded and kept raking. I was a raking machine.

“I’m expecting some furniture today,” Mrs. Duncan added before going back inside. “The truck should be here soon. Tap on the window when you see them, will you,
dear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I promised.

The furniture truck rumbled up shortly after that, and by then I’d cleared a nice path to the front door.

Rick Kane got down off the truck and came over to me with a broad smile. “Hey, there, Maddie,” he said. “Happy Thanksgiving to you.”

I stopped and wiped my brow. “Thanks, Mr. Kane. You, too.”

He gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Hey, call me Rick,” he said, and put his hands on his hips, surveying my efforts. After giving the lawn an appreciative whistle he said,
“You’re hauling some major butt here, girl. You on a mission?”

I grinned. “Mrs. Duncan’s been really nice to us lately, and I wanted to pay her back some for looking out for me.”

Rick cocked his head at me. “You okay, sweetie?”

There was something in his kind face that undid me a little. “Yeah,” I said, quickly looking away. “Ma’s been having a tough time, and Mrs. Duncan’s been watching
out for me while Ma gets herself together.”

I bit the inside of my cheek before I could say anything more. Why I was telling this total stranger all our troubles, I didn’t know. Rick was simply a really nice guy. The kind of guy I
imagined my dad would’ve been if he lived to be Rick’s age. Also, Rick didn’t have long to live—maybe that’s why I’d confided in him. All my secrets would die
with him.

He squeezed my shoulder again. “That’s rough, Maddie. I’m sorry.”

I swallowed hard and shrugged. “It’s okay.”

“Rick!” his partner called. I saw that he’d already opened up the back of the truck.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rick said, his voice thick with irritation. “Coming,
Wesley
.” Thumbing over his shoulder he said to me, “Wes gets his panties in a wad if he
thinks he’s gonna have to lift something heavy by himself.”

That made me smile.

“How about
today
, Rick?” Wes complained, disappearing into the back of the truck.

Rick rolled his eyes. “That kid’s a pain in the butt and always in trouble. I’d get rid of him, but he’s my wife’s cousin and he needed the job, so what’re
you gonna do? It’s family, you know?”

I nodded because I really did know, and with one last squeeze, Rick let go of my shoulder and moved off to help Wes while I got back to raking.

I kept out of their way as they carried in Mrs. Duncan’s items. She seemed so pleased by the new furniture that it warmed my heart to see her so excited.

As I was loading a big bundle of leaves into the garbage bin, however, I felt a prickly sensation on the back of my neck, and I glanced up to see Wes coming toward me, carrying a small chair. He
was staring straight at me. And it wasn’t a nice stare. It was a leer. He licked his lips as he passed by in a way that made my stomach turn.

But what caught me even more off guard was the date on his forehead. I moved to the edge of the lawn then, well away from the truck, and kept a wary eye on him while the rest of the furniture
was unloaded. I saw him glancing over at me quite often, and I didn’t at all like the smirk he wore. Finally, Rick had Mrs. Duncan sign the receipt and wished her a happy holiday. Before I
could second-guess myself, I motioned him over. He approached with a smile and a curious look. “What’s up, honey?”

I bit my lip nervously. I didn’t know how to tell him, and I knew I was violating Donny’s orders, but this was an extenuating circumstance and I felt I had to take a chance.
“Rick, there’s something you should know….” My voice trailed off as I struggled to find the words.

“What is it, doll?”

I cast a nervous glance toward the truck. Wes had reemerged and was pulling on the handle to lower the back hatch.

“It’s Wes….”

Rick immediately stiffened. “Did he give you any trouble?”

I shook my head, deciding not to tell Rick about the leering and simply confess my real concern. “He has the same date as you.”

Rick blinked. “The same…?”

I pointed to my forehead. “His deathdate. It’s the same as yours.”

Rick paled and he turned to stare at his partner. It was a long time before he said anything. “Whoa.”

Wes had now finished locking up the truck, and he was eyeing us warily. I could tell he knew we were talking about him. “What if you didn’t go to work that day?” I asked.
“What if you both took the day off?”

Rick turned to look at me again. “You think maybe there’ll be an accident?”

I nodded. That was exactly what I thought might happen. “Maybe you two should avoid hanging out together that day?”

He glanced again at Wes. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, okay, honey. I’ll do that.”

I peered at his forehead, willing that deathdate to change, but it remained stubbornly fixed.

“You coming?” Wes snapped when it was obvious his cousin was taking longer than usual to wrap it up.

Rick frowned at him, then turned to me and tried to smile, but it failed to reach his eyes. “Thanks, Maddie. For telling me. I appreciate it.”

And then he headed back to the truck, got in, and started up the engine. From the passenger side I saw Wes turn and stare at me, and this time it wasn’t a leer. This time it was full-on
sinister.

Donny was still caught up with his client in the city, so I slept in the house alone that night, which I’d done on a few occasions when Ma was out on a bender, but this
time it felt different. I knew there was no chance she’d come back into the house at three or four o’clock in the morning, so I was able to fall into a deeper sleep, but then I woke
with a start. My heart was pounding as I looked around the room. The digital clock next to my bed read four
A
.
M
. Something had woken me up. Something
out of place. Had it been a noise?

Taking great care to be as quiet as possible, I got up and crept to the doorway. I peered into the darkness, but I didn’t see anything amiss. I held my breath and listened. Faintly, I
could hear the ticktock of my dad’s clock downstairs, but nothing else. I counted to ten. Then to twenty. Nothing.

With a sigh of relief, I turned back toward the bed, and that’s when I heard a rumble outside. A low, familiar rumble. My breath caught, and I darted to the window. I craned my neck to
catch sight of a large pickup cruising to a stop before turning the corner.

I stood there for a long time with my nose pressed to the cold glass. It was then that I realized my arms were covered in goose bumps. It was unquestionably time to tell someone about that
truck, no matter how resistant I felt.

The next morning I called the jail and said that I wanted to speak to my mom, but they told me that Ma had been taken off phone privileges. When I asked why, they told me they couldn’t
give out that information.

I called Donny and told him about it, and he said he’d see what was up. He called back about a half hour later. “She’s been acting up and throwing her food at the
guards,” he said. He sounded really tired.

“She
what
?” That seemed so out of character for Ma, I thought maybe the guards were lying.

“Kiddo,” Donny said, “you gotta understand. This is the first time your mom’s been sober in a very long time. She’s going through a nasty withdrawal, and it’s
making her act out. We gotta be patient and let her get the alcohol completely out of her system.”

“Well, when can I talk to her?”

“I don’t know, Maddie. Hopefully tomorrow, if she calms down and behaves herself.”