“How did you know it was him?” I asked again.
“He came here, weeks before that. He wanted to know where you and ya’ momma were. I wouldn’t tell him. There was a scuffle, but when I left him, I didn’t think he would ever be dumb enough to show his face around here again.”
He lost his entire world trying to protect my mother and me. I blamed him. I blamed him for so much, and he paid more dearly than anyone.
“I’m sorry.”
24
EMERY
“Why aren’t you in school?” my mother asked, grabbing my elbow as I stepped inside the front door.
“Momma, I need to ask you something,” I exhaled loudly, my eyes searching her and begging for strength.
“What’s wrong, Emery?” she asked, her fingers ghosting over my cheek. My tears had dried, but I was sure I was puffy and pink.
“Did Daddy come here? Did he come back for me?”
She let out a small gasp. I’d caught her off guard. “Your father,” she grabbed my hand, shaking her head. “You always did look at him like he held up the sun.”
“He was my father.”
“He was a criminal, Emery. He never hid any of that from you. But you idolized him for it.”
“No one is perfect, Momma. Not even you. No matter how badly you try to convince others.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she dropped my hand. “You always did love him more than me.”
“Is that what all this was about? You brought us here because you were jealous?”
“I brought you here because Sutton could offer us a better life.”
“Daddy wasn’t a bad man. He didn’t do anything that you weren’t right by his side doing too.” Angry tears spilled over my cheeks.
“Would you prefer I was in a cell next to him?” she asked.
I took a small step back. “Why weren’t you, Momma? How did you get to walk away from everything and he didn’t?”
My mother’s eyes widened fractionally. “Be careful,” she warned.
“You had Sutton get him put away, didn’t you? You were cheatin’ on my father long before he went to jail.”
“He is a man of the law,” she snapped as the phone rang, startling her. It was him. I knew it. She looked at the phone but didn’t move.
“Where is my father?” I gritted out the words, barely able to keep myself together.
“In the past, and that’s where he is gonna stay.”
“Someone always comes to collect, Momma. You should know that by now,” I seethed. I opened the door, slipping outside, and I began to run down the road, my lungs feeling like they were going to explode.
I could barely see through the veil of tears, but my heart carried me to Bridgett’s front door. I didn’t care if she hated me, I needed to see her one last time before I left this place in my rearview mirror. I banged on it with both fists, struggling to catch my breath. When her mother yanked it open, she wore a scowl.
“Emery, I thought we made it clear you girls don’t need to be spending any time together.”
“Emery,” Bridgett’s voice called out before her mother’s hand flew up to cut her off.
“Go upstairs and finish putting away your laundry. I’ll be up in a minute.”
“Bridgett,” I yelled around her, desperate to talk to her. My chest felt like it was imploding.
There was no answer, just the sound of her feet padding up the stairs to her room. My eyes went back to her mothers, her face hardened.
“You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here.”
I knew Bridgett was probably pissed that I’d ran off with Ford, but I never expected her to be this angry. “I don’t understand.”
Her mother scoffed, her hands perched on her hips, her eyes following Ford’s car as it rumbled by behind me. “You couldn’t even drive her all the way home before you ran off with that, that boy? You left her out on the side of the highway in the middle of the night. You’re lucky no one snatched her up. She was traumatized.”
I stumbled back a few steps as the door slammed, nearly falling as the heel of my shoe hit a lip in the sidewalk. Sutton never called her mother to come to get her.
I lurched over, heaving the contents of my stomach onto her front lawn.
“Emery?” I heard Ford’s voice through the fog of panic. His arms looped around my body, and he lifted me against his chest, cradling me. I buried my face into the crook of his neck, my arms like a vice around his neck. “It’s okay,” he whispered into my hair. “I got you. It’s okay. I won’t let go, Emery.”
I didn’t dare lift my head, not wanting to give the neighbors anything else to talk about. I just wanted to get as far from this place as possible.
He carried me inside of a home, and I finally opened my eyes, thankful that we were inside of Daven’s place and I wasn’t near my mother. He sank down on the couch, my body perched across his lap. I made no effort to untangle myself from him.
“She alright?” Daven asked as he lowered himself into his recliner across from us, his knee bouncing with nervous energy.
“Emery, what happened?”
I shook my head, melding myself tighter against him.
“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”
“You can’t help me, Ford,” I whispered. I told him. I warned him I was rotten. I do nothing but spoil everything around me.
He pulled me back so I could look him in the eye. “I can’t try if you don’t give me a chance.” He pushed my hair from my face, catching a wayward tear on my cheek with the pad of his thumb. “I’m your Ford, and you’re my Emery, remember? We’re in this together.”
I shook my head before swallowing against the lump that had formed in my throat.
25
FORD
I was absolutely terrified, staring into Emery’s big green eyes, marred by sadness.
“Bridgett,” she choked out.
I searched her face, not understanding what she was trying to tell me. “Your friend that I met when your brother... when we had to go meet them?”
She nodded, her lower lip jutted out, tears still leaking from her eyes. “I think that night... he didn’t call her parents.”
Her words hung heavy between us. I swallowed back the bile that was rising in my throat. “Emery, that’s not your fault.” I grabbed her head, pressing my forehead against hers. Her face scrunched up in pain as she unleashed another round of sobs. “None of this is your fault,” I whispered over and over until her body stilled.
I picked her up and carried her into my room. Laying her on my bed before I crawled in behind her, curling my body around hers.
For a few moments, at least, it felt like we had slipped back in time, to the hotel room, to when it was only us against the world. It felt good to hold her again. I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance.
But this was far from over.
Eventually, Emery’s breathing evened out, her panic waning.
“I need to get some stuff together for us,” I whispered, and she nodded, her hair rustling against my pillow.
“T. Ford,” Daven called from the doorway. I jerked my head up to nod at the silhouette that filled my door frame, and he trudged back to the living room to wait for me. I gently pulled my arm from under Emery and placed a kiss on her temple before I slipped out of the room after him.
He was pacing the living room, scrubbing his hands over his face.
“I can’t just let him walk away from this,” I warned, rubbing over the back of my head as I watched him. He stopped, turning to look at me, the look on his face sobering.
His eyes searched mine. “We found your father stayin’ at ‘dat abandoned house –”
I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek. “We?”
“Everyone was lookin’ for him. After what he’d done. The sheriff came over one night, said they got word someone was squattin’ at ‘dat ole house. Told me I could ride along with him to check it out.” His shoulders sagged as he
exhaled. “I didn’t mean to kill him. I wanted to, but I wanted him to suffer for the rest of his life in prison. Once I bucher... I couldn’t stop. It took over me, the anger. It became me.” His hands shook as he stared at them like he couldn’t believe what they were capable of.
“So, why are you standing in front of me right now. Why’d he just let you walk away?”
Daven threw his arms in the air, his face wrought with regret. “Because we take care of our own here, Ford. Just like he said. He knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself and he’d be able to hold that over me.”
I took two large strides toward him, gripping the front of his worn shirt in my fist and yanking him toward me. He didn’t try to pull away. “What did you do for him? Huh? What the hell did you do?”
“I didn’t know who he was. He told me the guy was coming after his wife. He was comin’ for his kids, Ford. I did what any man would do –”
“My father,” Emery whispered from behind me, her voice strained. I let go of Daven as I spun around to face her.
“I didn’t know, Cher. I didn’t know what kind of man ‘da sheriff was,” Daven pleaded with her.
“He really did come back for me.” Fresh tears sprang from her eyes. I walked over to her, pulling her against my chest as I pressed my lips to the top of her head.
“No one knows more than me how you’re feeling right now, Ford.” Daven’s voice was strained.
“Then what are we going to do about it?”
26
EMERY
“I can’t lose you too.” I clung onto Ford’s tear-dampened shirt, pleading with him not to do anything.
He gripped my shoulders, pulling me back enough that he was able to look me in the eye. He pushed the hair from my wet cheeks. “I can’t have you spending the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, wondering if he is gonna be there.”
The wailing of a distant siren caused everyone to fall silent.
“You won’t,” Daven growled as he walked into the kitchen, yanking open a drawer and pulling out a small, black handgun. He checked to ensure it was loaded before shoving it into the back of his jeans.
“What are you doing?” Ford asked, releasing my hold on me.
“He ain’t gonna let this go. He can pin two murders on me.” He walked to the living room window and yanked down the blinds to peer through. “And I could do the same to him. There’s only one way he has out of this.”
Daven pulled his wallet from his back pocket, taking out a small stack of cash and shoving it into Ford’s chest. “Get her out of here, now. Don’t go to that hotel. Leave town.”
“I’m not just gonna leave you here –”
“This is my home, T. Ford. I got nowhere else to go.”
“Then I’ll stay with you.”
“If you stay, she won’t survive this.” He barked, poking Ford hard in the chest before his eyes softened. “Take care of her.” His eyes narrowed before he clapped his hand on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around his uncle, pulling him in for a hug.
He nodded once as he pulled away. “Go.”
Ford gripped my hand and pulled me behind him. We hurried out the front door and into his car.
“Put your seatbelt on,” he ordered. I grabbed it with shaky fingers and tugged it across my chest.
Before he could throw the vehicle in reverse, the sheriff’s car pulled in behind us, splashing streaks of red and blue against the house. He got out of his vehicle, propping his arms on his door with his weapon aimed at us. I let go of the belt, and it snapped back beside my head.
“Ford,” my voice shook as I whispered his name.
“Get out of the car,” Sutton ordered.
Ford looked over at me, regret in his eyes as he gripped my hand, giving it a final comforting squeeze. I knew that look. It was the look my father gave me as he was being ripped from my life.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, pulling my hand to his face and pressing his lips to the back of it.
“Don’t do this, don’t do this, Ford. Please,” I cried. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he smiled, genuinely, dimples settling into both of his cheeks and I exhaled loudly. I’d been dying to see that smile from the moment he stepped into my world.
“Sutton? Emery? Oh, God, Emery,” I could hear my mother frantically calling out to us.
“Get back in the house, Melony,” Sutton called over his shoulder.
Ford paused, his hand on the door handle before he looked me in the eye.
“Every second with you was worth it.” Ford shoved open his door, taking all of the air in my lungs with him as he exited.
27
FORD
I couldn’t wait to get out of this town the moment I stepped into it.
My uncle, who I’d thought had abandoned me, the memories of my father, and even the strange girl across the road, were all reasons I wanted to escape as quickly as possible. All I cared about was revenge.
Somehow I thought Emery could be a temporary distraction from the past that tormented me. But one moment, one night with a girl who challenged me to live my life like it was my last left, changed everything.
She changed me.
As I stepped out into the stifling heat, my eyes went to Daven’s front door as it pulled open. I thought back to that moment he had first greeted me there, welcoming me into his life even though my father had already destroyed it.
“Drop your weapon,” Sheriff Woodrow yelled from behind me. My gaze fell to the black object in Daven’s hand.
“Let ‘dem leave, Sutton,” Daven yelled back, the grief still strangling his voice. “This is our mess.”
The radio crackled as a voice echoed throughout his car, “Officer down, we need all units on scene. I repeat, officer down.”
“Sutton?” Emery’s mother was only a few feet behind him now, her eyes full of terror. “What are you doing?”
His nostrils flared, his eyes penetrating mine before he turned, firing off one shot. Melony fell to her side in the middle of the street, her eyes pleading with me to help her as she wailed in agony.
“Momma,” a scream ripped from Emery’s throat. The crack of the passenger door opening caused everyone to turn just as Emery stood up, her wild eyes met mine for a fraction of a second before I noticed the glint of sun off the barrel of the sheriff’s gun.
I had no time to think, but my heart reacted. I rushed him, putting myself between my future and her past. The second shot came from behind me, but my eyes were locked on Sutton, and the crimson that spread across his belly from Daven’s bullet. I watched the muscles in his arm flex, the barrel of his gun jump.
Emery once asked me how I thought I was going to die. I told her I suffered from a pre-existing condition, a broken heart, and that there was no known cure. But I just didn’t know her yet. She was the antidote. Now I had someone to live for, and I wasn’t giving her up without a fight.
White hot heat sliced through me as my name ripped from Emery’s chest, pleading with me not to leave her. Her hands cradled my head, her warm tears raining down on my face. My eyes closed, but I could still see her, every smile, and every delicate touch with nervous fingers.
28
EMERY
Momma said you’ll know when you’re in love because everything will just feel right.
Momma was wrong.
Our love wasn’t like that at all. It was fear and regret and spilling the deepest, darkest parts of ourselves on the floor and allowing someone else to wade in the murky waters with you.
Nothing about Ford and me was perfect. Things aren’t tied up in a pretty little bow in real life. They’re restrained in a loosely knotted ribbon that threatens to unravel at any moment.
No one says that out loud. We all pretend that under our skin, we aren’t clawing and bursting to just be seen by someone else and have them not look away, no matter how frightening your truth was.
Real love is staying anyway after the crippling and devastating rea
lization that one day, you will have to walk this Earth alone again when they die. And they will. We all do.
But not today.
“Ford, please don’t leave me, please, please,” the words continued to tumble out of my mouth as he was lifted onto a stretcher. His hand gripped mine, and I cried out. He could hear me. His fingers slipped through mine as he was loaded into the back of the ambulance. Daven climbed in behind him and sat at his side.
“Emery,” my mother yelled, her breathing labored. I rushed to her, slipping in the back of her ambulance. “I’m sorry,” her words came out garbled.
“I know, Momma,” I reassured her. As much as we didn’t get along, she could have never known all the dirty secrets the sheriff harbored.
Sutton was in the driveway, his blood now staining the browned weeds in the gutter that had poked through the cracks in the cement.
The media descended on our sleepy town within hours as news of Officer Salt’s murder and the Sheriff’s ultimate fate spread like wildfire. The details of their longtime affair dominated the headlines, and my mother was the damsel in distress. She was the talk of the town.
One good thing about a place like this is that they really do take care of their own. My past torment was never mentioned as we gave our statements, and I could finally leave that part of my life behind me. All of our secrets would be buried with the sheriff.
“How is he?” I asked, wringing my hands together.
“He’s still in surgery,” Daven replied as he sank down on the edge of a blue plastic chair, his elbows propped on his knees. “How’s yo’ momma?”
“She’s stable. The bullet missed her vital organs. She’s resting.”
He nodded. “Cher –”
“I know,” I whispered. Daven couldn’t take back the things that he’d done, but he was willing to give up his own life so that Ford and I would have a chance without having to look over our shoulders. He was willing to sacrifice everything for us.
Something in the Water Page 18