Brooke grabbed the keys from my hand, and unlocked the front door as I stood statue like. I’m sure she assumed I was stalling. I wasn’t. I was frozen in fear that once the job was done, my life would change forever.
The guys moved the rest of the big items out. Brooke and I emptied the contents of the drawers into boxes. I’d decided to go through the paperwork later. The rest were donations. We bagged up his clothes, except for a few shirts I’d recognized, and couldn’t part with. I boxed up the pictures, setting a couple of him and Kathy to the side for Kathy.
Two hours later, I taped up the last box.
“You okay?” Brooke asked.
I glanced around the room, trying to memorize how it looked. I was fresh out of tears. Knowing Zack was going to move in, made me feel better. I was sure he would make good memories here.
Nodding, I offered up a smile.
Her eyebrow rose. She knew I was lying.
“You owe us food and beer,” Hunter said. He was standing in the doorway, motioning with a hand for me to hurry up.
I ignored him, trying to look past him for Zack. I wanted a moment alone with him before I locked up.
“If you’re looking for Zack, he’s outside talking to some chick. She looks like a cougar to me,” he said, smirking at me.
Brooke and I shared a look before jetting out the door. I wasn’t ready to let him go just yet, especially to a cougar.
I didn’t see him in the front. I went around one side of the trailer while Brooke went the other way. Rounding the corner, I spotted a woman with long, dark hair talking to Zack. It was my mother.
She turned in my direction before I could run back towards the front. Her face was expressionless, as she stood watching me, with her arms crossed in front of her.
I didn’t know what to say, but I had to break the silence between us. “What are you doing here?”
Her eyebrows came together the way they always did before she yelled at me for doing something stupid. Her mouth opened, but then closed. She turned to Zack, who was looking between us confused.
“Could you give us a minute, please?”
Zack nodded and without hesitation turned in the opposite direction.
She waited a minute before turning back to me. “We’re leaving. Now.”
Her demand pissed me off.
“No.”
Her face turned red. “If you want to talk about this, you’ll go get your stuff, and leave. You can follow me back home.”
The way she said “home” made my stomach flip. Was home back with her and Matt? It certainly didn’t feel that way at the moment. Not just because of the truth that she had yet to admit to, but also because, I felt at home right where I was.
I let my head fall, staring down at the ground. I needed to stay in control, even though my feelings were ripping me apart.
“Let’s go back to my room, and talk there,” I offered.
She rolled her eyes. “You know I need to get back. We’ll talk at home. I don’t have time to play games. Now, go get your stuff, and let’s get out of here.” She walked to her car, stopping before she got in. I hadn’t moved an inch. “Say goodbye to your friends, and I’ll meet you at the cabin.”
I didn’t argue. There would be no point. I waited until she pulled away before joining the others.
Brooke stood up straight once she saw me. “How did it go? What are you going to do? What did she say?”
“One question at a time, geez,” Zack said, walking up to me. He put his arm around my shoulder, and kissed the top of my head.
In that moment I knew I wasn’t ready to go. No one had made me feel protected the way he did since my father.
“She wants me to leave. She’s going back to my room, and I’m supposed to meet her there, pack up, and follow her back home.”
Brooke watched me, not saying a word. Zack squeezed me tighter.
“Bye then,” Hunter said, opening his truck door.
“You’re such an ass,” Brooke yelled at him. Turning back to me, her face softened. “You don’t have to leave. You can stay with me, you know that.”
I closed my eyes, and buried my face in Zack’s chest. My mind was numb. I didn’t know what to do. I’d just finished school, had no job, and my mother was a liar.
“You can stay in the trailer,” Zack said, lifting my chin with his finger, so that I was looking up at him. “You can stay as long as you’d like. Brooke can help you find a job, and you can pay me rent whenever you can afford it.”
I shook my head. His offer sounded perfect, but was it the responsible thing to do? I’d never been on my own financially. Could I even find a job?
“Stop overanalyzing it,” he said, smiling down at me. “We want to help you. Let us.”
I had the money my dad had left me, but it wouldn’t go far with my student loan repayments coming up. If I got a job, I could make it work. I could totally make it happen.
“Okay,” I said. My nerves were making my muscles shake, but I knew it was because I was excited. Well, nervous, but excited.
Brooke cheered.
Zack kissed me.
“What the hell? I’m starving!” Hunter yelled out his window.
“Screw off,” Brooke yelled back.
“I’ll go with you to talk to your mom,” Zack offered.
I needed him with me. Being a grown up could wait one more hour. She was not going to be happy, and I didn’t want to take any chances that I would cave.
Zack drove me to my room. My mom was standing next to my car with my bags.
Taking a deep breath, I got out of the truck.
“You’re all packed. Let’s go,” she said, holding out my car keys.
“You lied to me,” I blurted out. “You told me my father left us for another woman, and you let me hate him.”
She glared at me. “Who the hell told you that? Did you talk to his girlfriend?”
“No one told me. I found the emails dad had between you and Matt. You’re the one who cheated on him, and he left you. You’ve been lying to me about everything.”
Her face turned pale, but she didn’t deny it.
“Why did you come back here?”
She didn’t answer right away. I was afraid she was trying to come up with another lie.
“I came here looking for him. Matt and I had only been together for a short while before he left. I began second guessing my relationship with Matt. I came back to beg for him to come back to us. He wouldn’t give me a second chance.” Her shoulders slumped.
I could tell the pain was still there. My anger wouldn’t let me pity her, though. “Why did you lie to me?”
“What was I supposed to say? Explain to me how I was supposed to tell my daughter what I’d done?”
“How about telling me the truth?” I shouted. “My father died thinking that I hated him! I lost years that I can never get back because of you. Why in hell would you stand back, and let that happen?”
“I didn’t know he was going to die!” she shouted back. “If I would have known that would happen, I would have told you sooner!”
I laughed, hysteria taking over. I was beyond angry. Zack took my hand, but I shrugged him off.
“You stole me away from him! He tried to keep in touch, but you made sure we didn’t have any type of relationship. And, why? Because you were too ashamed?”
Her expression proved me right.
“Does Matt know what you did?” I had to ask. Part of me hoped I wasn’t the only one she’d been lying to.
She shook her head. Tears pooled in her eyes.
My decision to stay was now solidified. I couldn’t face Matt without telling him everything. My mother needed to be the one to tell him, not me.
“I’m staying here,” I said, trying to steady my voice.
She opened her mouth, but I stopped her.
“I’m staying here, and when I’m ready, we’ll talk more.”
Tears ran down her cheeks.
“I hope, for the
sake of your relationship, that you tell Matt everything. I need space, and I love it here. I don’t expect you to help me in any way, except to stay away, until I’m ready to talk.”
She took a step toward me.
I grabbed Zack’s hand, pulling him closer to me.
The hurt in her eyes tore me apart, but I refused to give in.
She placed my keys on the trunk of my car. Looking at me one more time, I could see her plea, but she didn’t say a word. She got in her car, and left.
The moment her car turned around the corner, I broke down. Zack held on to me as I sobbed.
Epil
ogue
Two weeks later
I’d stayed with Brooke the first couple nights after my mom left, but I needed my space. Her son was a handful, and I could tell she needed some alone time with her husband.
Zack bought new furniture for the trailer, with some input from me. He told me to make it my home, but that was hard to do living with things he’d purchased…until we broke in the bed.
Brooke helped me find a job, within the first week, at the resort. She’d offered to go into the interview with me, until I’d finally convinced her I could handle it on my own. The owner of the resort, Rory London, needed fresh ideas for marketing, and after throwing out a few, she hired me to start the next day.
“What are you going to do today?” Zack asked, kissing my head.
We were tangled up in the sheets. Letting him spend the night felt weird since the trailer still felt like it belonged to my father, but waking up to him was not something I could ever complain about.
“I’m meeting Kathy for coffee,” I responded, snuggling into him.
“Have you talked to your mom yet?”
“No.” I took a deep breath, pushing back the pain. “I’m not ready.”
He didn’t say anything else about the matter. The support he’d offered me right from the very beginning amazed me. I knew I was falling hard for him, but until I could reign in my confusion, I wasn’t ready to face any new emotions. Letting him spend the night was probably not the best way to avoid my feelings, but he was so freakin’ sexy.
I forced myself to get out of bed after losing my argument with Zack. I tried to convince him to stay in bed with me all day using different angles. He finally made a deal with me that included him coming back over after work and staying another night. I couldn’t argue with that.
Kathy was waiting for me at the same table I’d first met her. Approaching her this time felt less awkward.
“Good morning,” she greeted me.
“Good morning.”
The waitress brought over a coffee mug the moment I sat down.
“I’m really sorry for the way I treated you the other day,” I said, hoping she wasn’t one to hold grudges, or at least forget first impressions.
“Don’t apologize. I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through, and I’m sorry you had to find out everything the way you did.”
I stirred my coffee much longer than necessary. I wasn’t meeting her to find out more information about what happened between my mom and dad. There was so much more I needed to know about the life my dad was living here. I wanted to know everything, up until his last breath.
“Do you think my dad hated me for hating him?”
Kathy looked at me as though I’d just asked if two plus two equaled four.
“Your father loved you more than anything in whole world. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t mention you in one way, or another. So, no, your father didn’t hate you. He loved you with his whole heart.”
I didn’t cry. I grabbed onto her hand, and squeezed tight. The woman I’d hated for so long was now sitting across from me, giving me a gift only she could. We sat for hours, talking about my dad’s last days. I could see what he loved about her in the way she spoke about him.
As we were getting ready to leave, she told me again how much he loved me. I believed her, and I thanked her for loving him, too. She put me at peace knowing he’d passed fast. No pain. He’d died in his sleep from a clot that formed after he hit his head, but refused to go to the hospital.
I drove back to my new home with a new hope— to find a love like the one Kathy had with my father, to take my last breath knowing that no matter how many mistakes I’d made, or how many obstacles I had to go through, I was able to love and be loved.
Luring Shadows by Kristina Rienzi
Book 7 in the Happy Endings Resort Series
Coming August 31, 2015
Chapter 1
Rayna
Shadows drifted along the edge of the lake where Caitlyn’s body surfaced five years ago. I shook with a chill from somewhere deep within my soul. The grotesque images of my dead sister have haunted me since the fateful day I was forever changed. Memories of the beautiful girl I loved so dearly, the girl so full of life, ever twist and turn in my mind. Although time has passed and life has gone on, her death remains a mystery and her murderer remains unknown.
Caitlyn’s murder is officially labeled a cold case now. She’s one of millions of victims whose brutal crimes have yet to be solved. Cold because there are no leads and they aren’t any closer to solving her case than they were the day it happened. Cold because the investigator’s empathy is pushed aside, ensuring that real emotions associated with a young girl’s murder won’t skew the investigation. Cold because her body was cold when they found her floating, dead in the lake. A cold case is merely an unsolved crime, yet they don’t call it that. They call it cold because of the image it summons, one you are powerless to forget.
I made a failed attempt at skipping rocks and then just tossed them into the lake instead. I did this often as a silly tribute to our meaningless pastime from the summers we spent at our Happy Endings Resort cabin. Our childhood getaway was now my adult home. Times had changed since then, more than I ever wanted them to, and a tribute to Caitlyn still wouldn’t bring her back to me.
In our glory days, our tiny behinds would have been planted in the grass right next to each other, hip to hip. We would have spent our time complaining about this or that, whatever our mom and dad had said we weren't old enough to do on that particular day like running with scissors or something equally dangerous. Dreaming, making up stories and singing to each other, were the things us bored girls banned from technology did in the summers at the cabin. We were all we had back then. And now, it was only me.
Five years. The heaviness in my chest returned with a vengeance. I should have known a significant anniversary would have that effect on my broken heart. After five whole years, I honestly thought the pain would have gotten a little lighter by now. I had been waiting for the day to come when I would no longer be consciously aware of my beating heart and its demands for my full attention out of nowhere.
It had been more than just heavy lately. The weight had fallen hard and birthed a hollow and empty pit. It was one you could drop a quarter down and watch fall all the way into the black abyss light years below. Whatever was unlucky, or lucky, enough to fall into my abyss—love, happiness, peace——would never stop falling because my grief was bottomless. My pain for missing my sister, Caitlyn was dark and eternal.
I pushed hard on my chest. Please, I begged it in my head. I wanted my heart to stop calling me, stop distracting me. You’re a selfish heart, you know that? Let my head win this time, won’t you? My head deserves a win. It needs a victory.
After all of those years of persons of interest, suspects, questioning and multiple dead-end investigations ended up with no leads. Caitlyn’s case was as dead as she was and it still angered me to no end. I ripped a handful of grass out of the ground and threw it into the air. The blades fell down around me, not going very far.
What about DNA? DNA never lies. Why wasn’t there any DNA? Hell, it was the reason I had moved into our cabin after graduation. I thought, maybe, just maybe, I would be the one to solve her cold case. I’d find a piece of old gum, or a cigarette butt—something. Per
haps I would have the honor of being the heroine who found the one crucial piece of evidence that had previously been ignored. And, alas, Caitlyn’s murderer would be captured and caged like the animal he most certainly was.
Of course, it hadn’t turned out that way. There was no evidence left behind. No cigarette butts or chewed up balls of gum or anything else for that matter had been found. I still didn’t know who murdered Caitlyn. No one did. I had no idea what happened to my baby sister on that dreadful day, the day that dimmed the bright light inside of me forever. To this day, I have no closure, and being happy without it is not an option for me. I’ll only ever be broken apart.
Happy.
It’s funny how one word can change your entire perspective on the world depending on the situation. One day, happy is a bright and never-ending rainbow, although you don’t appreciate it in the least because happy is your normal. Until the next day when happy has morphed into a jet-black ball of negative energy that you couldn’t run fast enough away from if you tried. That’s when you beg your former happy to bring its color back into the world, but the best you can hope for is for your happy to become a version of gray one day. And even that is too much to ask.
My world lost its color forever the day my sister was killed.
I shook off my thoughts and headed back to the cabin.
The screen door creaked as I pushed it open. The night air wafted in when I entered my house, scents of musk permeating the space around me. I glanced at the window and caught sight of the neon sign that shone brightly on the other side of the lake.
WELCOME TO HAPPY ENDINGS RESORT.
I huffed. What a crock. Caitlyn’s ending was far from a happy ending. Her story belonged at Horror Endings Resort, the place where run down trailers were nestled high atop the Rocky Mountains, miles from any semblance of life. Caitlyn’s ending belonged in the campground where no one made it out alive, not even the bright, young, beautiful girls who had the universe in the palm of their hands. And especially not my bright, young and beautiful sister. Especially not her.
Elastic Heart: (The Happy Endings Resort Book 6) Page 7