by Emma Quinn
His words had felt like a slap in the face. But she’d swallowed her hurt and tried to make him feel better, telling how smart he was and how original his thesis work had been, even though he’d cribbed half of it from one of her earlier projects.
“You idiot,” Anna muttered to herself, shaking her head as she thought back to those early days. Changing lanes, she took the exit heading west, out of Virginia. “How could you not have realized how he was manipulating you? Ugh! Young women are so gullible!” She slammed her hands down on the steering wheel in frustration and accidentally hit the horn. The sudden noise scared her and she jumped, waving her hand sheepishly when a passing driver shot her a dirty look.
“Get a grip, Anna,” she told herself sternly.
Deciding that she had wasted enough time and energy on Justin already, Anna turned on the radio and rolled the windows down. Soon, the wind was blowing through her thick, wheat-blonde hair, carrying away all thoughts of Justin. Rihanna blared through the little speakers as Anna settled on a station that played all the Top 40 pop songs she loved and Justin hated.
Holding one hand out the driver’s side window, Anna howled at the empty highway, feeling free for the first time in years.
“I’m going to listen to top 40 radio at top volume all the way back to Colorado, you asshole!” she shouted into the wind. “And it’s going to be AMAZING.”
And it was.
Three days later, she drove up to her family home in Boulder, Colorado, feeling better than she had in years. Her little sister, Daisy, was out in the front yard, watering the vegetable garden, and she looked up, surprised and happy to see Anna pull into the driveway.
Dropping the hose, she ran towards her sister, arms outstretched. “What are you doing here?” she asked, as Anna shut off the engine and launched herself out of the car and into her sister’s embrace.
“I’ve come home,” said Anna, squeezing her sister tightly. “Oh my god, it’s so good to be back.”
“Come home?” Daisy pulled back slightly, looking up at her older sister from underneath the brim of her big floppy sunhat. “What do you mean ‘come home’?”
Anna sighed. She hadn’t wanted to tell her family the news over the phone, but now that she was there in person, she didn’t want to do it that way either. “Let’s get inside and I’ll tell you everything over a cup of coffee.”
“Okay,” said Daisy, sensing that her sister’s story wasn’t a happy one. “Just let me turn off the water.”
Anna fished her backpack out of the back seat of the car and headed for the front door, Daisy following after her with a basket of freshly picked green beans and cherry tomatoes. “Dad!” she called as the sisters entered the house. “Guess who’s come home?”
Their father, Tom Fox, was old beyond his fifty-five years. Rolling his wheelchair around, he back up and looked down the hall at them from where he sat in the living room. “Anna!” he cried, his voice hoarse. “What a wonderful surprise. What brings you all the way out here? Did they give you a few days off?”
Anna toed off her shoes, leaving them in the messy pile of shoes and boots by the door. “No, I’ve quit,” she said.
Her father raised his eyebrows. “You quit?”
“Let me put some coffee on,” Daisy interjected. “Then we can all sit comfortably and talk. I’m sure Anna’s exhausted after her drive.”
“You drove back?” her father, looking even more surprised than before.
Anna nodded. Leaving her backpack in the hall with her shoes, she padded into the living room and went to join her father by the large French doors that looked out onto the backyard. Settling herself in a large, paisley reading chair – one that had been in the family since she was a child – she took her father’s hand in hers and squeezed his fingers. “A lot’s happened,” she said.
Her father looked at her, his dark eyes crinkling in the corners as he smiled at her. “Well, whatever it is, you know we’re always happy to have you back.”
His hand was weak and frail in hers, and she stroked his papery skin gently. “How are you?” she asked softly. Her father had been diagnosed with MS ten years ago, just after her mother had died. While his was a milder form, one that came and went, in the last few years it had been coming more often than going and his condition was getting steadily worse. Anna knew that she was going to need to find work soon if she was going to keep up with his medical bills.
“Good,” he said, smiling gently. “It looks worse than it is. The new medication that Dr. Foster got me on is really helping. I’m just tired these days.”
“At least that’s good news,” Anna smiled.
Daisy came in with a tray of coffee, mugs, and homemade gingersnaps, her long blonde ponytail swinging behind her as she walked. While Daisy and Anna looked so similar they were often mistaken for twins, Daisy had always been the home-maker of the two. And it was only thanks to her willingness to stay home and look after their father that Anna had been able to go off to college.
Tom grinned at his two daughters as Daisy poured coffee and mixed in milk and sugar. His was in a lidded plastic travel mug. When he saw Anna’s eyes land on it, he shrugged. “It’s just in case,” he explained. “At least then if my hands give out I won’t pour hot coffee all over myself. But that hasn’t happened yet.”
Anna gave him a weak smile. It made her heart ache to see her father this way. He’d always been such a strong man. Built like a bear, he’d been a park ranger in nearby Arapaho National Forest. But after his wife’s death, all that had ended. His heart had been broken and his body soon followed suit.
“Now,” said Daisy, curling up on the couch with her own mug of coffee. “Tell us what’s happened.”
Anna took a sip her coffee and smiled. Daisy had made it perfectly. Creamy with just a hint of sweetness. Exactly how Anna liked it. In all their nearly six years together, Justin had never bothered to learn how she liked her coffee. “This is delicious,” she said reaching for one of Daisy’s gingersnaps.
“Don’t avoid the subject,” said Daisy.
Smiling wryly, Anna took another sip. Then she started her story. “Justin’s been cheating on me,” she said. Her father nearly did lose his grip on his coffee mug that time, but it had nothing to do with his illness.
“He what?” Tom growled.
Anna shrugged. “I don’t know how long it’s been going on for. Maybe forever. But at least as long as we’ve been in Williamsburg. Things were really great when we first moved there. I mean, you guys know how happy I was - how much I loved my job, our apartment, Justin. Anyway. About a year ago, things started going downhill. Justin got promoted. It was the first time he’d ever out-ranked me, and it went to his head. He started ordering me around like I was one of his minions and then he’d stay out late and come home reeking of booze and cheap perfume. And when I tried to talk to him about it he’d just get mad. And then, one day…” Anna looked down into her coffee cup, swirling the milky brown around and around. “And then one day he got so mad he…he…he hit me.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. She could hardly bring herself to say it.
Daisy’s breathed hissed as she gasped. Putting her mug down, she crossed the room and perched on the wide armrest of Anna’s chair. Without saying anything, she put her arms around Anna.
Leaning against Daisy’s shoulder, breathing in her rose-water smell, Anna felt tears prick her eyes. The last few months had been so horrible – like some waking nightmare – and she’d missed her family so much. Now that she was here, she couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to leave Justin.
“I’ll kill him,” said Tom. “I’ll shoot his fucking heart out.”
“You don’t have a gun anymore, Dad,” Daisy pointed out.
“Thanks, Dad,” Anna smiled. “But it’s okay. I’m here now.”
“Is that why you quit?” her father asked. “Because of that scumbag? You were a brilliant psychologist, Anna. You can’t let him chase you away from your career.”
; Anna shook her head. “It wasn’t just him,” she explained. “I told my friends, even my commanding officer in the end. But no one believed me. They all knew Justin and loved him. I mean, he is totally charming. They didn’t believe he could do something like that. They thought I was overreacting.” Anna felt Daisy’s arms tighten around her and she leaned into her sister’s protective embrace. “And that’s why I quit. I realized that I didn’t want to work in an environment that didn’t take me seriously. I didn’t want to work with people who didn’t believe me when I said I was being abused. With people who didn’t…who wouldn’t help me. So one day I decided enough was enough. I filed for divorce, dropped off my letter of resignation, packed a bag and left. I didn’t tell anyone I was going. And I hope Justin will get the hint and just leave it at that when the divorce papers arrive in the mail.”
Her father was rigid with anger and Anna wished she could soothe him. But he would never have accepted anything but the truth, no matter how much it pained him.
“My brave girl,” he said at last, and Anna could see tears glint in his eyes. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
Anna smiled at him, reaching out and taking his hand in hers once again. “It’s okay now, Dad. I’ m here. I know you two will never let me down.”
“You can say that again,” said Daisy angrily. “Just let that creep try to come after you. I’ll shoot him, never mind Dad.”
Daisy was a peace-loving hippie and had nearly disowned Anna when she’d found out that she was going to work for the military. So her statement made Anna laugh. It felt so good to laugh, so good to feel safe and loved, that Anna’s little chuckle quickly turned into side-splitting hysterics. Her laughter was too infectious to ignore and her sister and father joined in. Soon all three of them were clutching their stomachs, tears rolling down their cheeks.
“God, it’s good to be home,” said Anna when she finally caught her breath.
2
T
he late summer sun poured in through the kitchen windows as Anna sat at the table, pouring over the classifieds of the local newspaper. Daisy had made fun of her for bothering with the paper, but Anna had kept at it anyway.
“It’s not like I don’t check the online ads too,” she’d told Daisy. “I’m just being thorough.”
Daisy had grinned and run a hand through Anna’s long, blonde hair. “You just want an excuse to sit around and nurse a coffee,” she’d teased.
But they both knew that Anna was doing everything she could to find a new job. She had some savings left over – luckily not in a shared account – but they wouldn’t last long with the price of the medication her father was on. Anna knew that job-hunting took time and that she wouldn’t find the perfect thing right away. But she needed something to keep the family’s head above water. Daisy was good at economising and stretching things, but she wasn’t a magician.
Anna took a sip of coffee and flipped the page, enjoying the feel of the old-fashioned newsprint between her fingers. Highlighter in hand, she ran down the last line of wanted ads, looking for something – anything – that she could do.
And then she saw an ad for a live-in nanny and burst out laughing. “Daisy!” she called, giggling to herself. “I’ve found the perfect thing!”
Daisy came in from the other room, where she’d been cleaning. “Really?” she asked, beaming. But then she saw her sister’s face and knew it was a joke. “Oh, okay, what did you find?”
“This!” Anna held up the nanny ad. “Don’t you think I’m perfect for it?”
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