Her Sister's Shoes

by Ashley Farley

  She could not afford to fall apart. Not when so many people relied on her. Sure, she was overwhelmed having to cope with so many different crises at once, but she was tough. She could handle it. She would deal with her problems one at a time.

  She took a left onto Main, then another onto Creekside. She pulled into the parking lot at the market, but left the engine running while she made out her list on the back of one of the past due notices.

  • Call Moses.

  • Examine the account books at the market.

  • Confront Faith.

  • Find a way to get through to Jamie.

  Sam punched Moses’s number into her cell phone. After apologizing for her son’s no-show and offering to pay for the missed session, she said, “Jamie is slipping further and further away from me, Moses, and I can’t seem to reach him no matter what I say or do.”

  “Have you been to see Dr. Baker?” Moses asked.

  “No. Jamie refuses to go.” Sam felt a lump in her throat. “Moses, I’m scared. After last night …”

  “What happened last night?”

  Sam told him about the incident with the truck driver. “I want to believe that it was an accident, that he simply didn’t see the truck coming, but I have this sick feeling in my gut that Jamie had every intention of hurting himself.”

  Moses sighed. “Listen, Sam, my afternoon is full, but I will call you this evening. If I finish earlier enough, maybe I can stop by and see Jamie on my way home from work.”

  Sam spent the rest of the afternoon at the market, studying the records in their financial management software on the office computer. When she discovered several checks unaccounted for, she checked their online bank account and found that all the missing checks were made out to Faith, payable in the amount of several hundred dollars each.

  It was past seven o’clock by the time she had finished printing the documents she needed as evidence to confront Faith. When she stopped by the house to check on Jamie, she was disturbed to find him still lying in bed.

  She snatched the iPod out of his hand and yanked the earbuds from his ears. “I’ve had a hard day, Jamie, and it’s about to get even more difficult. I have to run out to Faith’s. I need you to get dinner started. We are having tacos. Please unthaw the hamburger meat and cut up some vegetables. I will be back in an hour, hopefully less.” She shoved the iPod in her pocket and left before he had a chance to argue.

  Faith’s truck was in the driveway, but no one answered the door when she knocked. Sam went around to the back of the house, peeking in windows and banging on doors. She was turning her Jeep around in the driveway when she saw movement in the front window, a pair of brown eyes peering between two slats in the blinds. She jumped out of the car and raced up the front steps.

  She banged on the door. “Open the door, Faith. We need to talk.”

  The door creaked open two inches and a tiny face, wet with tears, appeared through the crack.

  Sam bent down, eye level with her niece. “What’s the matter, Bits? Does your mom have another one of her headaches?”

  Bitsy shook her head and stuck her thumb in her mouth, something Sam had not seen her do in years.

  “Can I come inside?” she asked in a soft voice.

  Bitsy opened the door wider and stepped aside to let Sam in.

  “Is your mom in bed?”

  “Yes,” Bitsy mumbled around the thumb.

  “Can you take me to her?”

  Sam made her way through the darkened room to her sister’s bedside. Peering down at her face, she saw that Faith’s lip was busted, her eyes were black, and her nose was swollen and crusted with blood.

  “Oh my God, Faith. What the hell happened to you?”

  Tears pooled in Faith’s eyes and trickled down her cheeks. Bitsy climbed in bed and curled up next to her mother.

  Sam nodded at Bitsy. “Did he hurt—”

  “No.” Faith grimaced, bringing her fingers to her busted lip. “At least not this time.”

  “Where is he, the rotten bastard?” Sam asked with fists clenched. “I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”

  “He’s gone.” Faith glanced at the alarm clock beside her. “I haven’t seen him since he did this to me, late Saturday night.”

  “Why didn’t you call me? Or Mom?”

  Faith shrugged.

  “Why the hell are you even still here?” Sam felt her patience slipping. “Are you waiting for him to come back and finish the job?”

  Faith smoothed her daughter’s hair back and kissed her forehead. “There’s something I need to tell you, Sam. I did something I’m not proud—”

  Sam held a hand up to silence her. “I already know about the money.” Gently, so as not to hurt Faith, she sat down on the edge of the bed. “Why didn’t you come to me? You know I would’ve loaned you money if you’d needed it.”

  “Pride, I guess. We got behind on our payments and the bank was threatening to kick us out of the trailer. At the time, it seemed simple enough to borrow a little from the market. We paid it back immediately that time, and Curtis and I agreed we’d never do it again, but …”

  “But what?” Sam ran her finger down her sister’s bruised cheek. “It’s okay. You can tell me. I won’t get mad.”

  “Curtis got greedy. He started drinking heavily and gambling more than usual and—”

  “Now he’s out of control and taking his frustration out on you. You’re coming home with me.” Sam jumped to her feet, but Faith grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.

  “I can’t, Sam. That would only put you and Jamie in danger.”

  “What about your safety, Faith? Have you looked in the mirror? You can’t protect your daughter anymore than you can protect yourself.”

  Faith drew her daughter’s small body closer to her. “I know, but—”

  “No buts.” Sam grabbed Bitsy’s bare foot and shook it playfully. “How would you like to come and stay with me for a while?”

  Bitsy removed her thumb from her mouth and smiled.

  Sam held her arms out for Bitsy. “Let’s you and I go pack your stuff, then we’ll come back and help your mother.”

  “I can manage my things.” Faith struggled to sit up. “But we should probably hurry. Curtis could come home at any minute.”

  Twenty

  Faith

  Despite the pain in her ribs, Faith managed to drag her beat-up rolling suitcase down from the top shelf of the closet. She stuffed it full of shorts, shirts, underwear, and pajamas. When the bag was bulging, she retrieved a handful of paper grocery bags from the kitchen pantry and filled them with the few valuables she owned—her string of pearls and her antique clock and Bitsy’s baby book. She would never come back here. She’d rather live on the streets than in the home she’d shared with a monster.

  She removed cash from her wallet and sealed it in an envelope she found in her kitchen drawer. She wrote Curtis’s name on the envelope and left it on his pillow, with no other note. Sixty dollars would keep him liquored up for a couple of days, which should give her enough time to come up with a plan. She wouldn’t impose on Sam for long. The last thing she wanted was for her family to get caught in the cross fire.

  Faith was loading her things in her truck when Sam and Bitsy appeared, their arms laden with Bitsy’s bags.

  “What’re you doing?” Sam said. “You can’t drive in your condition.”

  “I need my truck, Sammie. I can’t leave it here.”

  “Then we’ll come back and get it later, when you are not in so much pain.”

  “No way. When Curtis discovers I’ve left him, he’ll destroy my truck just for the fun of it. I can’t take that chance. This bucket of rust is all I got that’s worth anything.”

  “You’ve got Bitsy. And me. And Jamie and Mama.”

  “And enough junk to fill a few grocery bags.” Faith slammed the truck door and went around to the other side.

  “You’ve got your share in Sweeney’s,” Sam said over the bed of the
truck.

  “Which I plan on signing over to you as payment for the money I owe you. Unless you’d rather have cash, then I’ll gladly sell the truck, or work for free for the next ten years. Whatever it is, Sam, it’ll never be enough to show you how sorry I am for what I did.” Faith buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

  Her sister rushed to her side and took her in her arms. “I’m not worried about the money, Faith. And I don’t want you to worry either. You need to concentrate on getting well and staying safe.”

  “I embezzled funds, Sam. That’s against the law. I could go to jail.”

  “That’s not going to happen. We’ll figure out a way to put the money back.” Holding her at arm’s distance, Sam brushed Faith’s hair out of her face. “Our biggest concern right now is getting out of here before Curtis comes home.”

  “I’m not going anywhere without the truck.”

  “Fine.” Sam lifted Bitsy into her car seat. “But only on three conditions. Follow me, drive slowly, and stay close.”

  Faith’s eyes stayed glued on Sam’s bumper as they drove toward the main road. When they turned right, toward town, she breathed her first sigh of relief. And she relaxed a little more with each mile she put between her and the double-wide in the woods. She faced many obstacles ahead of her, but knowing she’d taken the first step gave her confidence. For the first time in years, she felt free.

  She stole a glance in the rearview mirror. Faith hated to see Bitsy sucking her thumb, but she was resigned to let the bad habit slide. At least for now. After what she’d been through, her daughter needed comfort wherever she could find it.

  “Are you okay, honey?” Faith asked.

  Bitsy met her mother’s eyes in the rearview mirror. She nodded, then stared out the window, searching perhaps for the single headlight of her father’s motorcycle in the oncoming traffic.

  If only she’d approached Sam earlier for help, she could’ve spared Bitsy both the physical pain she’d suffered at her father’s hand and the mental anguish she’d experienced from witnessing his cruelty to her mother. Faith hoped her daughter’s memories of this time would eventually fade away.

  The drive through the center of Prospect was quiet, typical of a Monday night there, but as they approached Sam’s street, traffic on either side of Main slowed to a halt. Angry drivers blasted horns and flashed bright lights. Faith rolled her window down and hung her head out, craning her neck to catch a glimpse of the commotion. She saw Sam jump out of her Jeep and signal to the oncoming traffic to stop.

  “What’s Aunt Sam doing?” Bitsy asked.

  “I’m not sure. Maybe there was an accident and she’s going to see if anybody needs help.”

  “Why are all those cars honking their horns?”

  “I don’t know, honey. I can’t see much in the dark.” Faith stuck her head a little farther out the window. “It looks like a homeless man in a wheelchair is blocking traffic.” Blue lights appeared, illuminating the scene enough for her to see that the homeless man with the scraggly hair and beard was her nephew.

  Two policemen got out of the patrol car. The tall bald-headed one directed traffic while the shorter one bent down to speak to Jamie.

  Faith’s mind raced. What was he doing in the middle of the road in his wheelchair? Was he confused and disoriented? Jamie had never been one to drink too much or do drugs. But he hadn’t been himself since the accident.

  The policeman wheeled Jamie between the waiting cars as he headed toward Sam’s Jeep. Sam appeared in Faith’s headlights, her face contorted in devastation.

  “Look, Mama, there’s Jamie!” Bitsy shouted. “Is that policeman taking him to jail?”

  “No, honey. He’s helping him get in the car.”

  “But why?”

  “I don’t know, sweetheart. Maybe Jamie tried to go too far in his wheelchair and got tired.”

  Once the wheelchair was stowed away on the back of the Jeep, the policemen spoke briefly to Sam before returning to his patrol car. A single siren sounded and the cruiser spun out in front of Sam, offering her a lead. Faith followed the small caravan the short distance to her sister’s house. The cruiser parked on the curb out front, and Sam pulled in the driveway with Faith behind her.

  After helping Jamie back in his wheelchair, the shorter policeman wheeled him down the sidewalk and around the back of the house, with Sam walking alongside and holding her son’s hand.

  Bitsy struggled to get out of her car seat. “Let’s sit here for a minute, honey, and give them a chance to get Jamie settled inside.” Faith turned to face her daughter, stroking her bare leg to comfort her.

  She ran a mental checklist of her options. She could go to her mom’s house. Or to Jackie’s. Or she could drive the hell out of town and never look back, although she wouldn’t get far considering she’d left all her cash for Curtis. But she knew she couldn’t stay here when Sam was already dealing with problems of her own. Jamie needed, and deserved, his mother’s undivided attention. Unwanted company in the house would only complicate the situation. She had no idea when, or if, Curtis would ever come home, but when he discovered she wasn’t there, he would drive straight to Sam’s house looking for her. If he saw the patrol car out front, he would assume Faith had called the police on him. Which, in his current frame of mind, might cause him to go postal.

  Faith opened her door. She would go inside to tell her sister she was leaving. She’d have to take Bitsy to her mom’s house for the night, but in the morning she’d figure something else out.

  Faith helped Bitsy out of the car and the two entered the house through the kitchen door. They crept through the small dining room and stood in the doorway to the sitting room. The scene in front of her broke Faith’s heart. Sam knelt beside Jamie with her arms wrapped around him while he sobbed hysterically. “Why can’t you just let me die? Don’t you get it? I don’t want to live anymore like this.”

  Sam kissed the top of his head. “We’re going to get you help, son,” she said in a soft voice. “But I will never, ever give up on you. Do you hear me?”

  Faith was backing out of the sitting room, pushing Bitsy toward the kitchen, when Jamie caught sight of them. He stopped sobbing. “Why’d you have to go and drag them into my problems?” he asked his mother.

  Faith locked eyes with her sister. “I’m gonna take Bitsy over to Mama’s. You’ve got your hands full without having to worry about us.”

  “Oh no, you’re not. You would scare Mom into an early grave if you showed up at her house like that.”

  Jamie’s eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on her. “What happened to your face?”

  All eyes in the room fell on Faith at once.

  “Did Curtis—”

  Faith held her finger to her lips, and pointed at her daughter.

  Seeing Bitsy for the first time, Jamie turned his attention to his cousin. “Are you okay?”

  She stuck her thumb in her mouth and cowered behind her mother.

  “Aw, Bits. Did I scare you?” He spread his arms for her. “Come here.”

  She peeked at him from behind her mother’s legs.

  “Please.” He opened his arms even wider.

  She crawled onto his lap and snuggled up to his chest. Stroking her hair, Jamie whispered something only Bitsy could hear and got a smile in response.

  The short officer approached Faith. “Evening, ma’am. I’m Officer Marshall and my partner over there is Officer Swanson. But please call me Eli, and he’s Brad.”

  Swanson waved at her from across the room.

  “Evening,” Faith said.

  Eli studied her face. “Do you want to tell me how this happened?”

  Faith shielded her face with her hand. “It was a silly accident. I wasn’t watching where I was going and I ran smack into the doorjamb.”

  The officer lifted her chin and turned her head one way then another. “Must have been reinforced with steel. Did you report this doorjamb to the police?”

  Faith shook her head
.

  “Have you seen a doctor?”

  “No. But I’m fine, really.”

  “You don’t look fine to me. I’m certainly no doctor, but I’d be willing to bet your nose is broken. Even if you don’t want to press charges, you need to document the assault so we have it on file. It puts us one step ahead of the process if something like this happens again.”

  Sam was suddenly at Faith’s side. “He’s right you know. You should let Eli take your report.”

  “Unfortunately, it’s a little more complicated in your sister’s case,” Eli said to Sam, then turned back to Faith. “We are happy to take your statement, but it won’t do much good unless we have a doctor’s account of your injuries to substantiate your claim.”

  Faith turned to her sister. “Really, Sam. I don’t want to be any trouble. Why don’t I go to Jackie’s?”

  “I doubt you’ll find much sympathy there. Anyway, I agree with Eli. I think your nose is broken. You’re going to have to deal with it sooner or later.”

  Faith saw the deep worry lines in her sister’s forehead and decided not to argue with her. “All right, fine. But can’t it wait until tomorrow? It’s been a long day.”

  “Honestly, no. I think it’s important you get seen tonight.” Eli locked eyes with his partner. “Why don’t you run her over to the ER while I finish up here with Jamie?”

  “What about my daughter?” Faith asked.

  Officer Marshall glanced over at Bitsy, who was still curled up in Jamie’s lap. “Doesn’t look like she’s going anywhere, anytime soon.”

  Faith prepared herself for a long wait in the emergency room, but was surprised when a soft-spoken nurse called her name right away.

  “One of the rare benefits of having a police escort,” Brad said when he recognized her surprise.

  Faith appreciated Officer Swanson’s efficient manner and corny sense of humor. She tried to imagine him with hair, a sandy crew cut to match his eyebrows.

  As they passed through the double doors leading to the examining rooms, Faith spotted Captain Mack, sporting a bandage from elbow to wrist on his left arm and heading in their direction from the opposite end of the hall.