14. You’re On Your Own
YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN
CAIN
I haul Paula to my office at Ripley’s
I don’t want to talk to her because I’m angry and torn. All I want to do is howl my pain for hurting my woman. But, first, I have to close this down.
“Cain—” Paula starts.
“You’re fired,” I cut her off. “Effective immediately.”
Her mouth falls open. “You can’t fire me. I’m your sister.”
“You framed someone. Lied. Ruined a woman’s life. I don’t care whose blood runs in your veins—you’re done here. And considering I can’t trust you—Melody and you are banned from Ripley’s.”
Paula slumps into a chair, tears slipping silently down her cheeks.
“I didn’t mean for it to go this far,” she whispers. “I just...I was just trying to bring you and Melody closer.”
I don’t answer. I’m too tired. Too disgusted.
“Call Mom and Dad,” I say. “Put them on speaker.”
“No, Cain.” She’s terrified now.
“Paula,” I warn.
She’s sobbing as she does what I ask.
“Hey, Paula darlin’—”
I cut my father off. “Dad, it’s both of us. It’s serious. Is Mom there?”
My father doesn’t ask questions, he knows the answers are coming. My mother joins the call and my heart breaks for them.
“Tell them what you did, Paula.”
She looks at me with eyes that are pleading for mercy.
Faith spent two nights in jail.
She spent one night homeless, sleeping in the cold.
She’s working at a strip club cleaning right now. Honest work, but…hard.
“ Now ,” I growl.
Paula starts talking, slowly. Every time she tries to fabricate something, hide her culpability, I interrupt her and demand she set the story straight.
“Jesus, Paula,” my father gasps time and again.
“What were you thinking?” Mom demands when Paula’s done and is crying so loudly that I have to increase the speaker volume to be able to hear my parents.
“I…just…Melody and Cain were supposed to be together,” my sister whines.
“Why? Melody is a useless bitch just like you,” Mom has venom in her voice. This may be the first time I’ve heard her cuss.
Paula cries some more.
“Stop it,” my father orders. “Stop crying. Cain, what are the next steps?”
“She can’t work here.”
“That’s for granted,” Dad agrees.
Paula whimpers. “Dad, I have bills to pay.”
Our mother’s voice comes—tight, furious. “You get your life together, young lady. We’re not bailing you out ever again after this. Don’t even ask.”
“I didn’t mean?—”
“No,” Dad snaps. “Don’t play the victim. Fix your own damn mess.”
“Oh and Paula, either you pay rent for the house or leave. You have a month,” Mom continues.
Paula lives in my parents’ house, the one we grew up in.
“Mom, how am I supposed to?—”
“You’ve been getting paid for doing no work and you haven’t had to pay rent. You’re twenty-five years old, get a grip on your life.” Mom is taking no prisoners, as I knew she wouldn’t. “Cain, how is Faith doing?”
“She’s…not good.” It’s the truth. The woman I saw at Nectar was broken, bitter, brittle.
What have I done!
Sure, Paula and Melody screwed up big time but they weren’t the ones in love with Faith, or the ones sleeping with her. They weren’t her boyfriend. I was. And what I wouldn’t give to be that again.
“You take care of that girl,” Dad orders.
“You want him to take care of strangers and not his own sister, your daughter?” Paula screeches.
“I just can’t take this anymore,” Mom says, sounding dejected. “Cain, we’ll talk later.”
They hang up.
Paula stares at the phone like it betrayed her.
“You were always the better one, weren’t you?” she accuses.
“Paula, you were the baby of the family and we spoiled you. Part of how you turned out is on us—but you’re a grown woman, your choices are your own.” I stand up and look at the sister I’ve always loved—still do. “Leave. You’re not welcome at Ripley’s.”
She doesn’t say goodbye. Just walks out, slamming my office door shut petulantly hard.
During a break, I call my parents back.
I sit at my desk, earbuds in my ears.
“So,” my mom says. “Faith.”
I close my eyes.
“I destroyed her,” I say. “And I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know if I can.”
There’s a long silence.
Then my dad says, “You can’t fix a damn thing if you don’t start trying, son, so get on with it.”
“You tell her that…,” Mom pauses and I can hear the tears in her voice, “we’re sorry for what Paula did. We’re…so ashamed. And we want to take care of her, make it right.”
“We’ll be in Silverton for Christmas,” Dad says.
They were supposed to be going on a cruise. Even for Thanksgiving they’d chosen to go hiking in Bali instead of eating turkey.
I say, more power to them for living their best lives.
“But—”
“We have to check on Paula,” Mom interjects, “She’s still our daughter and I want to meet Faith. Make amends, though I’m not sure how we can even go about doing that.”
No kidding!