Louise
I’d just finished my shift at the garden store. On the phone, Sean had just said you need to get over here, so I didn’t understand how bad the situation was until I glimpsed Kayley’s bandana between the plants. Oh shit.
I skidded to a stop in front of her and Sean. He and I exchanged horrified looks.
“This is for Switzerland, isn’t it?” Kayley said. “This is for my treatment.”
I looked at Sean and then looked at her. I nodded.
“Are you INSANE?” Kayley yelled. “You’re growing drugs! You...you asshat, Louise! This isn’t…” She looked at me helplessly. “This isn’t you!”
“I know,” I said softly. “But it was the only way. We had to have the money.” I took hold of her arms. “Look, this is just a one-time thing. And it’s all over in another few weeks.”
Kayley swallowed, turning pale. I could see her working it out in her head.
This is what had terrified me all along: not just her finding out I was breaking the law, or being scared for me, but figuring out why I needed to do it.
Watching the realization wash over her was the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen.
“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” she whispered. “If this doesn’t work, if I don’t go to Switzerland...I’m going to die.”
Before I could answer, Sean stepped forward.
“That’s fuckin’ irrelevant,” he said heavily.
“Because this is going to work.” And he said it in that voice.
The same one he used when he told a trespassing dealer they were leaving town, now, or the owner of a poker den that the game was over.
It sounded like slabs of stone the size of houses, so fucking sure that even I was convinced.
Kayley nodded, tears in her eyes. Then she suddenly ran to me and threw her arms around me, pressing her face to my chest. I hugged her tight, nodding silent thanks to Sean over the top of her head.
“You’re still an asshat,” Kayley said at last, her voice muffled. “You really thought I’d never find out?”
“How did you find out?” I asked.
She pushed back from me a little. “I snuck a look at your phone while you were asleep and found this place pinned on Google Maps. So I got a cab over here while you were at work. At first, I thought he must live here—the guy you were dating. Then I snuck in a window and saw this.” She waved at the plants, then walked closer to look at one.
“Good plan, telling Stacey you’re dating.
You totally have her fooled.” She chose that moment to glance up and see Sean and my guilty faces.
“Oh. Oh shit!” She clapped her hand to her mouth. “You two are—”
My face flashed red. I’d been so concerned with her finding out about the grow house, I hadn’t thought about that side of it. I exchanged looks with Sean, but there was zero chance of hiding it. And there’d been enough lying already. “Yes,” I said at last.
“Fuck!” Kayley breathed.
I tried to claw back some shreds of parental authority. “Okay, under the circumstances I’m giving you a free pass up until now. But if one more curse comes out of those lips, I’m suspending your Kindle account.”
Kayley gave me a look...but she also looked strangely relieved that things were back to normal. Well, sort of normal.
“So you’ll be here all the time?” she asked, looking around.
“Most of the day, yes, when I’m not at the garden store. I’ll be back at the apartment every night. No more emergencies...I hope.”
“But I’ll barely see you,” Kayley said. “Can’t we all just move in here? There’s plenty of space.”
“WHAT?”
“I could help with the plants.”
“NO!” My chest had clamped tight with fear. “Kayley, you are never to come here again, understand? Ever.”
“Okay, okay, whatever.” She looked around ruefully. “But this place is awesome!”
“We need to get you home,” I said. “Right now. Come on, I’ll drive you.”
She sighed but trailed along behind me. The fact she knew—about the growing and about Sean—had my stomach in knots. But, oddly, I felt lighter. It was only now I’d stopped lying that I realized how much it had been tearing me up inside.
We were almost out of the room when Kayley suddenly broke away from me and ran back to Sean.
He’d started to turn away and swung back towards her running footsteps just to get a small warm wrecking ball in the chest. He oofed and staggered back a step, then looked up at me in wonder as he realized she was hugging him.
“Thank you,” said Kayley. “I know she wouldn’t have pulled this off on her own.”
Sean looked down at her awkwardly, as if he’d never had a kid hug him before. Then it hit me that, in all probability, he hadn’t. “That’s okay,” he said at last.
Kayley finally pushed back and looked up at him. “Don’t you dare break her heart,” she said hotly.
Sean nodded solemnly, then glanced at me. “I won’t.”