Page 95 of Cross My Heart
This seems to have sparked Lanie back to life because she starts walking again. This time, she has dropped my hand, but I work to keep pace with her and only stay an arm’s distance away.
When we reach her mom, Lanie stops a few feet away, looking around. As if sensing trouble, the woman to the left vacates her stool, and I guide Lanie to sit. It takes all of five seconds for her mother to start in.
“Well, if it isn’t my selfish piece of shit, daughter. Where you been,kiddo?Momma could have used some help with the bills the last couple of months, but those assholes up the mountain refuse to tell me where you’d gone. I figured after that Zachary set you straight, you’d stop slutting it up everywhere, but considering who you walked in with, I’m guessin’ I was right all along. Tell me, sir, how much you paying her for tonight?”
I’m beyond pissed. I’ve never hit a woman before, but I’m seconds away from knocking this bitch out.
Lanie, seeing my hands balled into fists, places her palm on my knee. One shake of her head is all it takes to tell me not to make a move, she has it handled. Feeling proud of my girl's strength, I place my hand on her lower back as encouragement. To my surprise, she lets her mother continue.
Her mother leers back at me, “Names Laurel, what’s yours, handsome?” she holds out her hand.
I stare at it briefly and make a show of placing my hand in my pocket. “My name is Dexter, I’m not the one here to talk to you,” I inform her.
“Shit, you got him wrapped up tighter than a willy in a whore house,” she spits out at Lanie. “Tell me, did my dear old daughter here tell you she got a man locked up and his son taken away, all because she needed some attention? She got herself in too deep with some guy then claimed he attacked her. Can you believe that shit? You look like you got money too, you better watch yourself around the girl who cries wolf, or you might be in jail next.”
Unable to control my anger any longer, I lean in with a voice so low and dangerous, it's hard to detect as my own. “If I end up in jail, it’ll only be for putting you where you belong.”
Lanie pulls me back and ushers me behind her. I know this isn’t my fight, but hell if I’m going to sit by while this woman tells straight-up lies.
“Are you done,mother? Or is there any other poison you want to spew my way? This is your one and only chance to get it off your chest, after tonight, we will never see each other again.” Lanie alerts her with an eerie calm to her voice.
“What? You givin’ me ultimatums now, you ungrateful little shit?” Her mother leans in dangerously close and loses her balance on the stool.
Lanie catches her, sitting her upright and moving away quickly.
“Get your slutty little hands off me before I call the cops,” Laurel grumbles.
“No ultimatums, mother, I’m simply telling you, after tonight, you will no longer be welcome in my life.” I’m starting to get nervous at how rigid Lanie’s body is, even though her voice remains steadily calm.
“News flash, smart-ass, that’s not how family works. You’re stuck with me just like I’m stuck with you.” Laurel shoots an evil grin our way.
“Not my family. As I said, is there anything else, anything at all you want to say to me?” Lanie asks again. Laurel stares at her incredulously.
“Nope, I got nothin’ to say to you that you ain’t already heard.” Lanie nods her head, and Laurel is clearly thinking this is the end of their conversation.
“That’s fine, mother. I do, however, have one question for you. Why? Why have you hated me so much all my life? What could I have possibly ever done to you?” A small speck of vulnerability creeps into Lanie’s voice.
Laurel’s face goes red and she slams back the rest of her beer. Laurel leans in, so she is almost nose to nose with Lanie. “Why would I ever love the whore that killed my sister, my best friend, why would I ever love you after that?”
Lanie’s face goes white. Clearly, she has no idea what her mother is talking about.
“What are you saying?” I interject, “Lanie was two when your sister died.”
Seething and through clenched teeth, Laurel spits, “You think you know so much, you and your little slut here...”
I interrupt her. “I’m going to tell you one time and one time only, do not disrespect Lanie in front of me again, or you will not like the outcome. I have the resources to make your life a living hell, don’t doubt me on that.”
Laurel stands quickly, this time yelling. “You think I’m not already in hell, you asshole? I’ve been in hell for twenty-two years. If this needy, whiny, problem-causing bitch didn’t get an ear infection, my sister wouldn’t have gone out that night.” Finger pushing into Lanie’s chest, she announces each word with a hard poke, “My sister died because of you. It is your fault. Everything has always been your fault.”
Before I can stop her, she shoves Lanie with both hands, sending her flying backward off her stool. I reach her just before her head hits the ground.
Lanie waves me off, standing face to face with her mother once more. “I was a child, mother. A child incapable of caring for myself. You are the one who brought me into this world. Therefore, it was your responsibility to care for me, not auntie’s. If I had to guess, I would say you were probably too drunk to drive to the store, that’s why auntie went. Am I right? That seems the most plausible. That would make it your fault, not mine. Even if you weren’t drinking, you, mother, were the adult. You failed me in every way possible, not the other way around.” She paused to take a breath.
“When you are old and alone, you remember that. Remember that you once had a daughter who tried everything to get you to love her, who tried everything for you to notice her. When you are alone and dying, you remember that you did this to yourself, not me. Do not contact me again. Do not contact the McDowell’s again, and do not contact GG again, or I will be the gum on your shoe. You think you are in hell now? It will be nothing compared to what I will do if you bother any of us ever again. That’s not a promise, mother. That there is a threat.”
Lanie grabs my hand just as I notice Laurel raising a beer bottle in the air.Fuck no, not again.I lunge at Lanie, covering her body with my own just as the bottle crashes down on my head.
* * *
