by West, Shay
Alex lay in bed, the sound of muffled sobbing coming from her mother’s room lulling her to sleep.
CHAPTER 30
ALEX PUSHED HER sweaty hair from her face, wishing her aunt’s store had air conditioning in the stockrooms. She couldn’t believe how hot it was at ten o’clock in the morning. Gonna be even hotter later. Already fighting a bad mood, Alex decided the best way to deal with the heat was to work faster so she could be done that much sooner. Her friends were going swimming at Lincoln Park Pool and if she could finish the inventory, she might get done in time to join them.
“Alex! I need you to watch the front for me. I’ve got an appointment.” Her Aunt Karen’s voice drifted through the large double doors leading to the back of the store. Alex sighed and clenched her teeth. This meant no swimming with her friends.
“I’ll be back in a few hours. The sweaters on those tables need folding and the racks could use a little straightening up,” said Karen as she ran out the door.
Alex rolled her eyes. Since there was no one in the store, it was tempting to go back to doing inventory but she feared what would happen if her mom came over from the other store next door, or if her aunt returned and found her in the back. She grumpily folded the shirts on the table closest to the door, hating her life and most of the people in it. Of her friends, only Paul worked but not nearly as much as she did. Even he had time to hang out with the gang. She hadn’t seen her friends since the last day of school, nearly a month ago. The summer was a third of the way over and she hadn’t been hiking, driving around, or out to dinner or the movies. Even Drake had stopped calling so much. She was lucky if he called or sent her a text once a week. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before he found another girlfriend, one who could actually go and do stuff.
Alex had to admit that part of the reason for her not seeing her friends lately was the large amount of time she had to spend being grounded for her little outburst to her mom. The two had barely spoken. Alex was still angry and feeling more guilty as the days wore on. She didn’t know what to say to begin to clear the air. But she missed her mom, missed talking about their day, singing the mellow seventies music Karen played in the stores.
All of this added to her anxiety, making things worse. Alex snorted in derision. Never thought anything could make things worse. She didn’t know how she was going to deal with the Traveler and an angry mom at the same time. A groan escaped her lips. Alex knew the only way to begin smoothing things over was to start talking to her mom, perhaps starting with an apology. The thought of doing that made bile rise to the top of her throat. She had never been good at saying “I’m sorry” and she had really screwed up this time; a simple apology wasn’t going to cut it.
Jennifer had suggested telling her mom the truth. Alex would never admit how much she wanted to come clean about her gift. An adult would surely be able to help her with her missions, give her advice, tell her everything was going to be okay. She wanted to sit her mother down and blurt out the secret she had been keeping since the day they moved here to Grand Junction, the day at the Burger King.
I can’t! I just can’t! That voice always won out over the other. Alex wasn’t sure how much longer she could be torn in two. The fighting in her mind was driving her mad.
Her aunt returned with a fresh new haircut. Fury bolted through Alex like white-hot lightning, searing her to the bone.
“Thanks, Alex. You can finish the inventory now.”
Alex stomped back to the storeroom, shoving the doors open so hard they slammed against the walls. I can’t believe I am stuck here for another two hours so she could go get a damn hair cut! Tears fell down her cheeks and her body shook with sobs. When Jennifer texted and asked her if she would be able to come, her hands shook so bad she could barely type the word “no”. Jennifer’s disappointment was apparent when she didn’t answer back with her usual condolence texts.
At the end of the day, she grabbed her things off the back counter. Alex glanced down at her time card. She picked it up, wanting a closer look, certain that she’d misread the time on the card. With her gut filled with suspicion, Alex went through the rest of the time card, hands shaking so badly she could barely read it. I can’t fricking believe this!
When her mom came to pick her up, her cheeks were still wet, her eyes red and puffy. Neither one of them said a word the entire ride home. The tension was so heavy Alex felt it pushing against her body, trying to squish her into a tiny version of herself.
As soon as she got home, Alex disappeared into her room to take a shower. The warm water did little to soothe her aching muscles. Her head pounded and all she wanted to do was take some aspirin and go to sleep. A low rumbling in her belly reminded her she hadn’t eaten lunch that day. I’ll never be able to sleep unless I eat something. That meant suffering through dinner.
Her mom still cooked, even though the two of them never spoke and Alex rarely ate. It was as though her mom was on autopilot or something, or just going through the motions trying to pretend everything was fine and normal.
“Why didn’t you see your friends today?” Patricia asked.
Alex pushed her steamed broccoli around on her plate. “Aunt Karen had to go out in the middle of the day so she made me watch the store and do inventory after she got back.” The words dripped with bitterness.
“I’m sure she must have had a good reason—”
Alex snorted and got up from the table, her appetite gone. “Yeah, getting a haircut is a really good reason to leave in the middle of the day. You know what else? I saw my time card for the day; she only had me down until two o’clock.”
“Are you sure, Alex? That doesn’t sound like her—”
“Why won’t you believe a word I say? Maybe you should ask her and see for yourself since I’m such a liar and all.” Alex ran from the dining room, sobs breaking free from her clenched jaw.
I can’t live like this anymore! Alex knew she was at a breaking point. She felt like she was being torn into a thousand pieces that would soon scatter to the winds.
***
-Long time no chat.
Alex smiled when she saw Drake’s chatbox pop up, complete with his profile picture taken with him on a motorcycle. Alex knew it wasn’t his motorcycle and that he didn’t actually own a pair of leather pants, but he looked so hot she didn’t care. Her heart hammered in her chest as she thought about what to write back. She didn’t want to come off too casual or he might think she didn’t care they hadn’t seen each other for so long. And yet she didn’t want to be too needy or desperate.
-Sorry. My aunt’s got me working constantly. Not to mention the fact that she’s not even putting me down for all my hours.
-Seriously? How many hours is she shorting you?
-Well, I only caught her doing it today so I don’t know for sure.
-Dude, that sucks so bad. Maybe you should say something to your mom. I know she’s a drag and all, but maybe she could help.
-Yeah, right. When I told her about it tonight, she didn’t believe me. Accused me of “misunderstanding” what my aunt was doing.
-That’s so uncool! You’re the “good” girl and she totally rips on you for stuff you didn’t even do. I wish parents would treat us more like adults. It’s not like we’re kids.
-I know. I can’t wait to move out. If I could, I’d do it tonight. I can totally take care of myself.
It felt so good to talk with Drake about the troubles with her mom and her aunt. Alex poured her heart out. The words flooded the chatbox like a black river. Rather than pull away as she feared, Drake seemed to enjoy hearing about her troubles. If only I could tell him about the time travel stuff.
Jennifer got online so Alex filled her in on what her aunt did to her time card. She grinned at Jennifer’s enraged response. Until that moment, Alex didn’t realize just how much she missed her friends. They always had such a good time together and her fears about the evil Traveler disappeared while she was laughing and joking around.
-You gotta say something, Alex. I’m pretty sure that stuff’s against the law.
-But she’s my aunt. It’s not that easy.
-Maybe your mom will say something. You can always hope.
-Yeah, I guess.
-So if your mom agrees and if you’re not working, we should hang out next Sunday. We can go to the Mica Mines for a hike.
- I’ll see if Aunt Karen will give me that day off, but I doubt mom will let me go anyway.
Alex didn’t want to get her hopes up. So far, most of her plans had had to be cancelled due to grounding or her aunt making her work past her scheduled time. And she didn’t want to ask her mom either. The last thing she wanted to do was speak to her mother about anything.
CHAPTER 31
“ALEX. COME HERE, PLEASE.”
Alex took a deep breath, wondering what she had done this time. She knew that tone in her mother’s voice. Great. She probably thinks I’m pregnant now. Alex tried to convince herself that her mom just wanted to ask her something and her voice was all hard and edgy because she was uncomfortable around her daughter.
Alex’s breath caught in her throat. Her mom and her aunt were sitting at the dining room table. They weren’t looking at each other and her aunt’s face was red.
“Your aunt has something she would like to say to you,” Patricia said.
Alex wanted to run, anything other than stand there. Am I about to be called a liar again? She looked back and forth between her mom and her aunt, wanting to scream at them to hurry up and get this over with.
“Alex...I...what I did with your time card was wrong.”
Alex blinked a few times, certain her mind was playing tricks on her. Of all the things she had expected her aunt to say, admitting to shaving hours of her time card wasn’t one of them.
“I’ll pay you for your actual time,” Karen said, refusing to look at Alex or her mom.
“And?” Patricia asked.
“And I’ll hire someone to help in the store so you can have some time off. Guess I should have done that a long time ago.”
“Alex, will you go to your room and wait for me? Your aunt and I have a few more things to discuss.”
“Why would you lie like that?” Alex asked.
“Alex, please wait—”
“No, Mom. I deserve to know the truth.” Alex stood in the dining room, heart pounding, face flushed and warm.
“I don’t really know, Alex. I just took you for granted, I guess. When it came to the time cards I simply put down the scheduled hours rather than taking into account all the times you stayed late because I asked you to.” Karen stared at the table.
“Was it about money? Could you not afford to hire someone else to help out?”
“Of course not, Alex. I can easily afford to hire someone part-time. Like I said, I just got so used to you being at the store all summer, and just didn’t think about how hard it would be on you working so much during the school year. And since you never said anything, I thought you were okay with the hours you were working. I got used to having someone there I could trust. I’m really sorry, Alex.”
“It’s okay. Maybe I should have said something sooner,” Alex mumbled. “Can I go now?”
When her mom nodded, she practically ran back to her room. She couldn’t believe her aunt admitted to wrongdoing. While she was still angry and hurt, it actually felt kind of nice knowing her aunt trusted her that much with the stores. Alex grabbed her phone and sent Jennifer a text. The two girls spent the better part of the next hour trying to figure out how her mom had convinced her aunt to tell the truth.
When her mom called for her again, she wasn’t nearly as nervous as she had been. There was still a lot of work to do before the two of them would be on good speaking terms again, but at least her mom believed her now. Maybe she’ll believe me about the drug thing too.
“I’ve decided that I’ll okay your work schedule from now on, just to make sure that nothing like this happens again. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before. Karen actually tried to deny it but when I asked to see the time card for today, she admitted what she did.”
“Why can’t I be the one to decide what my work hours will be? I’m the one working them!”
“Alex, let’s not—”
“No, seriously, Mom! I have so much going on right now, you have no idea! The last thing I need is for someone else telling me what hours I’ll work!” She didn’t see that her mom’s idea was going to change anything. If her aunt wanted her there every night and all weekend, her mom would probably say it was fine. “I can’t work all those hours. I don’t have time to do homework, I don’t have time for theater, I never see my friends. And if I take those advanced classes at the college next semester, I’ll fail for sure.”
Alex refused to look away from her mom. She knew she was right, and she couldn’t handle the extra work load for even another day. She was afraid of going stark raving mad.
“I didn’t know you were thinking of taking advanced classes.”
Alex groaned and plopped down into a dining room chair, running her hands through her hair. “I’ve just been so busy, I must have forgotten to tell you. Ms. Simmons thought it would be good for me to take some advanced placement classes at Mesa. It would look good on my transcripts and would give me a taste of what college will be like.”
“That’s great news, honey!” Her mom stood and paced back and forth. “How about this then: we both decide on what hours you want to work, okay? That way, I can still know your schedule to help keep an eye on things and I’ll give you this bit of freedom to choose your own hours. Sound fair to you?”
Alex stood, nearly knocking the chair over with the sudden blinding flow of tears. Her mom caught her just as she was about to fall on her face. The relief was enough to make her float right off the floor.
“I’m so sorry, Lexi. I wish I’d have known how stressful all this work has been for you. I knew it was something. I’m just glad it’s this and not something worse.”
Alex just nodded, unwilling to say anything. She wanted so badly to tell her mom about her gift. Then she would be coming clean about everything. But she just couldn’t.
She couldn’t say how long she sat there and cried in her mother’s arms. It felt like an eternity. Each second that passed saw a release of more and more tension until Alex felt as though she were either going to float away or sink into the floor.
When they finally pulled apart, Patricia said, “I’ll get cooking as soon as I talk to your aunt about the new arrangement. Why don’t you figure out what you want your hours to be for the next couple of weeks? Write them down and I’ll take a look.”
“What if Aunt Karen isn’t okay with what I pick out?”
“She won’t have a choice. I won’t have her taking advantage of you and working you to death. I’m all for a good work ethic but a high school student shouldn’t be working so much that she has a nervous breakdown.” Patricia walked into the kitchen to see to dinner.
Alex got teary-eyed again. It felt so good to have her mom on her side. She grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down what she thought was a reasonable schedule for the next few weeks. There was plenty of time to hang out with her friends and yet she would be spending most of her time in the store, which should make her aunt happy.
After dinner she showed the tentative schedule to her mom who didn’t argue at all about any of the hours Alex wanted to work.
“As soon as school starts up, I want you to back off on the hours. Your schoolwork has to come first. I know your grades have slipped a little, so I want you to work on getting them back up again.”
“I will, Mom, I promise. I’m gonna do theater again in the fall so that’ll take up some time too.”
“That’s fine. Just don’t neglect work totally,” her mom said with a smile. “I’ll call your aunt with these hours then and tell her this is all you’ll be working.”
Alex cleared the plates from dinner and put everything in the dishwasher.
She was eager to get online and chat with Drake about going hiking up at Mica Mines since she would have that entire day off, thanks to her new schedule. Her heart skipped a beat when she pictured the two of them holding hands, strolling down the path, Drake pointing out the plants and flowers he knew, enjoying the peace and quiet of the outdoors.
“Can I talk to you for a minute, Alex?”
There was nothing in her mother’s voice that led her to believe she was in any sort of trouble, and yet she felt a little nervous all the same. How much trouble could I get in putting the dishes in the dishwasher? Her mother was sitting at the dining room table with some sort of booklet in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat. She feared it was literature about drug abuse or something. Upon closer inspection, she saw it said Colorado Driver Handbook.
Time stopped and she thought she may actually faint. ‘Are you...is this...seriously?”
Patricia laughed. “Yes, I think. After you’ve studied the rules of the road, we can go and get your permit. When I’m satisfied that you’ve had enough practice behind the wheel, we’ll go and get your license.”
Alex squealed and hugged her mom.
“Easy, Alex! You’re cutting off my air supply.”
“Sorry, Mom! I’ll start studying right away!” She grabbed the book off the table and ran to her room, frantically searching on the bed for her phone. She sent text messages to her friends, in such a hurry that she had to backspace and re-do most of the words in the message.
Jennifer called her and screamed in the phone so loudly Alex had to hold the phone away from her ear. In no time, Jennifer was planning extravagant trips to the mountain resort towns, and even Vegas and Disneyland.
“One thing at a time, Jenn! I haven’t even passed the tests yet.”
“Oh, please! You’ll probably pass without even studying for them.”