Page 40 of Every Which Way

Kenna stood up, reaching for a cupboard. She pulled the door open and rummaged. Nope. She pulled open the next cupboard.

“Sit down.”

“Give her pain meds, and I won’t keep messing up yourbus.” She threw a few packages on the ground for good measure. Then she found the unlocked cabinet with high-dose pills of normal over-the-counter meds. “Here we go.”

She handed Maizie the packet and had her sit up.

“Here.” The EMT sighed, then threw her a bottle of water. As if her defiance was inevitable and not that big of a deal in the grand scheme.

So he thought.

“Put that gun down.” She sat so she could focus on Maizie while uncapping the water. Or trying to. Kenna gritted her teeth and got it open even though it hurt. “Take the meds.”

Maizie put the pill on her tongue and swallowed a mouthful of water.

The back door opened, and Kenna didn’t even look. She might’ve flinched a bit to keep from turning to see but kept her focus on Maizie. “Okay?”

Maizie stared at the open back doors. “It’s her,” she whispered. “The photo.”

“Amara?”

The guy EMT shifted out of the ambulance. She heard him jump onto the ground.

“Yes,” Maizie whispered.

Her mother.

Kenna touched Maizie’s shoulder. First things first. “Listen to me, Roxanne was going to take you, but you stopped it.”

Maizie pressed her lips together. “I crashed the car.”

“I’m so stinkin’ proud of you right now.” She turned her head slightly and spoke louder, still not looking at the doors. “We’re supposed to be going to the hospital. In case you didn’t realize, she needs to see a doctor.” Kenna didn’t look over.

From over by the door, she heard, “That’s all you have to say to your mother?”

Kenna looked over at the tall woman standing just outside the open doors. “You can’t be my mother. She died a long time ago.”

It was her. After all this time, the woman holding her in the photo taken back when Kenna was a toddler. The one her father had married, who had claimed Kenna as if she intended to raise her. Then she had “died.” Shot to death after a family trip to get ice cream.

Leaving Kenna’s father heartbroken for the rest of his life.

Kenna moved then, turning so she could sit on the end of the stretcher. Protecting Maizie from view. “What do you want?”

ChapterEleven

Kenna had been waiting all her life to have a mother, but right now, all she could think about was the child in her care. Maizie.

“You got my note,” the woman said.

It was definitely her. She looked like the photo—Maizie had been right about that. Dark hair with a few silver strands. Smooth skin with not many lines. She hadn’t lived a life of laughter. She’d aged well or employed other means to slow time. She wore black khakis and a heavy jacket, her hair loose over her shoulders.

If Kenna didn’t know better, she’d think this woman was worried.

And she’d mentioned a note. Kenna frowned. “In the bathroom? That wasn’t a note; it was intel.”

The woman’s expression softened a little.

Until Kenna said, “You think I’m gonna act like we’re friends?”

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