Page 19 of Redemption

What the hell is recogmation?I watched her keep trying and getting frustrated so I stepped in again. Not to help out really, I just needed to get back to the halfway house before my curfew. “Can I help?”

“It won’t recognize my…my face.” She held the device out to me. I took it, not understanding how these worked, phones were different to the one I had twelve years ago. I tapped the screen, just like I saw her do and it lit up.

“Passcode?” I asked her.

“Oh-four-oh-six-twenty-twelve,” she muttered, stumbling again and I reached out to grab her, ignoring the pounding in my chest when I realized the passcode was the date her mother died.

“Come sit down, at least,” I said, ushering her back to the bench. She pushed against me before shoving the bit of paper at my chest. I took it from her, cramming it in my back pocket while I sat her down and turned my attention to her phone.

“Want me to call your boyfriend to come get you?” I asked, tapping in her passcode. The phone unlocked and the home screen flashed up a picture of hermom and dad on their wedding day and I didn’t think it was possible, standing here at the site where I killed her mom, but my guilt worsened.

She scrunched her face as she looked up at me. “Boyfriend?”

“The guy from earlier?”

“Yesss, call Leo,” she replied.

For some reason it rankled me that he was her boyfriend. He seemed too young and too…whatever, it didn’t matter.

I found his contact and called him, explaining what happened when he answered and he said he would be by in a few minutes, thankfully.

I held her phone out and she snatched it, eyeing me suspiciously. Then she wobbled and her skin turned pale and then slightly green.

“Oh no,” she moaned. She leapt up, turned to the bushes and retched, her long pale hair falling into her face.

“Jesus Christ,” I exhaled and went over to her, grabbing her hair in two handfuls and holding it back. I don’t know when I decided that was a good move, only that I felt bad for her. Her body clenched violently and she coughed, more liquid gushing out then she tried to suck in air and flapped her hands.

I transferred her hair into one hand and patted her back. “Get it all out,” I sighed. It seemed to help and she calmed a little while she continued throwing up all the alcohol she’d drunk. My pats morphed into a soft stroking motion without me realizing. I didn’t notice she was done until she was snatching her hair off me, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Don’t be nice to me,” she grumped. I let her hair fall, the strands trailing through my fingers like silk.

“I will always be nice to you, Kat. I will do anything I can for you, forever,” I said, my words surprising me but they were the God’s honest truth. I owed this woman, all the women at Redemption, everything I had.

She frowned at me, her blue gaze piercing me but I didn’t shy away from it. I stood taller, let her see my sincerity. Her frown deepened and she nibbled at her lip. She opened her mouth but then we were flooded by the lights of an approaching vehicle.

The truck pulled up beside us and the guy from this morning, Leo, her boyfriend, was rushing out. He wrapped an arm around her and led her towards the passenger side. Once she was inside with her seatbelt firmly in place, he turned to me.

“Thanks for calling me, man.”

“Of course, least I can do.”

He nodded, getting in the other side of the truck when I asked him, “What time is it?”

He glanced at his watch. “Nine-fifty.”

“Shit! Thanks,” I shouted then turned and started running. I couldn’t miss my curfew so soon after being released. I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize my future. My lungs were burning and my legs aching when the house came into view.

The man who ran it was standing outside looking at his watch, waiting for me.

“Not a second to spare, Cinderella,” he wheezed, before taking another drag on his cigarette.

I went to my room, collapsing onto the bed to try and get my breath back. The crinkling in my pants pocket had me frowning until I remembered it was the bit of paper Kat had been holding. I groaned, pulling it out and unfolding it.

It was wrinkled and had a stain on itthat smelled suspiciously like whiskey. But as I read it, I realized what she’d been talking about when I found her. And I understood what Charlie meant when he said he had something to give me once I got out.

He was going to give me the cabin at the bottom of their land. Somewhere to live. The lump in my throat increased tenfold and tears sprang to my eyes at what a wonderful man he was. That he would give me a place to go when my sentence ended. Only I hadn’t signed it, it wasn’t mine.

Part of me wanted to grab a pen and scribble my signature on there, just to give myself some security in an uncertain life. But I could never do that to the Cartwright sisters. It was a beautiful gesture, but the person who made it wasn’t around anymore and I couldn’t in good conscience take what he’d given.

---