Page 21 of Leah

And hopefully I wouldn’t wake up in the dead of night, reaching out into the darkness in a hopeless attempt to rewind that fucking clock.

Seven

Carter

9 years old

“Where did you get that?”

I looked up from my brand-new guitar and stared at Mom. She was leaning against the doorway, her thin lips pursed.

“Dad,” I answered her hesitantly.

She frowned. “How much did it cost?”

“I don’t know.”

“It looks expensive.”

I didn’t respond to that.

I watched the features on her face grow harder, and my heart climbed to my throat. She was too unpredictable. One minute warm, the other minute icy cold. She was the latter at the moment.

She came to me then and extended her hand out to me. “Give it to me,” she demanded.

“Please, Mom –”

“Carter,” she icily cut me off, piercing me with her cold blue eyes.

My shoulders slumped. I handed her the acoustic guitar and watched as she walked out of the room with it, carrying it by the neck instead of the strap. I’d had that beautiful guitar for a measly two hours before she’d discovered it. And all I’d done was hold it.

Didn’t Dad say to keep it hidden until he broke the news of his surprise purchase to her? In my excitement, I couldn’t help it. The guitar had been tucked out of sight in the closet all day, and I was too enamoured by it to keep it there.

I swear—I sweeearrrrr—it had been calling out to me.

I had to convince Dad of this.

That I had not just defied his orders and done something selfish.

Which was kind of a lie.

I sat in my room, nervously counting down the minutes until Dad came home. And when he did, Mom exploded the second his electrician’s work bag hit the floor of our two-storey house.

“You know how far behind on our bills we are!” she shrieked. “How the fuck do you think we can afford this kind of purchase, Ron?”

“Calm down, Liz—”

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down! I know what you’re doing! You’re making me into the bad guy, aren’t you? Giving him things when I tell you not to! I bet you’re turning him against me—”

“That’s not the case at all. I wanted to do something nice for him. He has a beautiful voice on him, and I wanted to get his mind working. I want to teach him how to play.”

“Give him your old guitar then and return this one!”

“I paid with my bonus money, Liz. I’m not returning it.”

When he refused to budge on her demands, Mom erupted.

It got ugly fast.

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