Chapter 24
Rick pushed the cart through the supermarket aisle behind his mom.
Dani was trying to ride on the front of the cart, despite being too old for it.
They were going to stay in their own home tonight, which meant they’d need to restock the fridge.
Rick loved his uncle, but he couldn’t wait to sleep in an actual bed.
In an actual room. With a door that locked so Dani couldn’t run and jump on him at six in the morning.
“Dani, that’s not safe,” Daphne said. “Shoot, I forgot bread.”
His little sister perked up. “Time for a mission?”
Daphne nodded solemnly. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find me a loaf of wheat bread on sale. Do you accept?”
“I doooo!” Dani yelped as she darted down the aisle.
Rick watched her go. “How long did that trick work on me?”
“Until you were thirteen,” Daphne said, giving him an expression full of mock pity. “I was so worried about you, falling for such a thing.”
He laughed. “I bet I would still do it.”
“You would.” She patted his cheek before putting a bag of apples into the cart. “Because you’re a sweet boy. The difference is now you’d know it was a not-so-elaborate ruse. I am a creature of cunning.”
“Hmmm.” Rick nudged the cart forward, following her along. At the edge of the produce, he could see a display of flowers, his eye catching on a handful of brightly colored daisies.
“Don’t do it,” Daphne said, choosing a few onions carefully.
“Don’t do what?”
“Get her those daisies.” She put the onions in the cart and checked her list.
“Let me get this straight,” Rick said. “You’re advising me to not get my girlfriend flowers for our first official date?” He was considering it official, even if it was a group date.
Daphne raised a brow. “Is it official, then? The girlfriend thing?”
“It is,” he said. “Martina changed Nika’s name to ‘the girlfriend’ in my phone and hers to ‘the friend who is a girl,’ which she thought was hilarious.”
One corner of her mouth kicked up. “Good for you. And no, I’m not telling you to not get her flowers. I’m telling you to not get her those flowers. Those are desperation flowers, and the cost reflects that.”
Rick pushed the cart forward, leaning most of his upper body over the handle. “So where do I get her flowers?”
“From the family that sells them at the pop-up spot in the gas station parking lot. You’ll get a really nice bunch, grown by a local family, and it will be much more impressive than those anemic daisies.
And if you get them today on our way home, the price probably won’t be hiked up for homecoming.
” She headed to the left to grab a bag of carrots.
Rick followed her. “So, can I stop at the gas station on the way home?”
“Smart boy,” Daphne murmured. She paused then, glancing around to make sure Dani wasn’t back yet. “I’ve been talking to Vic.”
“That’s good, since he’s your brother,” Rick said.
“Smartass,” she said under her breath.
“Pot,” Rick said, pointing at her. He turned his finger toward himself. “Kettle.”
“Anyway, we got to talking, and…I’m tired.”
This was not news to Rick, so he just nodded, but he was watching her closely now. She kept fidgeting with the produce bags.
“And I’ve been thinking, well, I’m thinking of selling the house.”
He was so surprised, all he could do was stare at her for a second. Then he thought of Vic’s couch. “Am I going to be sleeping on that couch the rest of my senior year?”
Daphne shook her head. “No. Vic’s been talking to some construction buddies of his about adding on to the space above his garage for a while.
Making an apartment.” She dropped a bag and cursed, stooping to pick it up off the floor.
“I guess he’s been planning it for some time, because they’re starting this weekend. ”
“How long will it take?”
“Two months? I don’t know. Depends on how quickly they work. It’s going to be two bedrooms and a bathroom. You and Dani would take them, I’d take the other bedroom in the house.” She looked at him, her bottom lip between her teeth. “What do you think?”
“Would you be able to drop one of your jobs?” Rick asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “We won’t make much off the house—we still owe a lot, and it needs work, but…yeah.”
“Then do it,” Rick said.
“You sure?” She watched him carefully, her fingers plucking absently at her necklace. “We’ve lived there since you were little.”
Rick shook his head. “Mom, I hate that house. Burn it down for the insurance money, for all I care.”
She seemed surprised by this. “Really? I guess I just assumed, childhood home and all, that you’d be attached.”
Rick shrugged. “Maybe Dani will be? Me?” He turned his head, afraid that if his mom saw his expression, she’d get too good of a read on his feelings, which would make her feel guilty.
She crossed her arms. “If you’re not staring me full in the face, I won’t believe a word you say next.”
Rick winced. His mom had always been smart. He stared up at her. “All I see when I look at the house is what’s missing. You and Dani are what’s there. You’ll be at Uncle Vic’s. That’s all I give a damn about.”
She couldn’t hide her own small flinch at his words, but she shook her head at him before he could say anything. “Yes, I feel guilty. Not to beat a dead horse—”
“I’d really love to know where that saying came from.”
The smile she gave him was faint, but it was there. “But, I’m your mom. Of course I feel guilty that your childhood sucked so bad you’re ready to burn the house down.”
“That guilt belongs to Dad, and I didn’t say it sucked.”
She sent him a look telling him she wasn’t buying that as she led the cart closer to the bananas. “I still picked him, didn’t I?”
Rick let out a frustrated breath. “How in the hell could you have known he’d pull a disappearing act, Mom? Not exactly the kind of question you ask on a first date.”
“Maybe it should be.” She selected a bunch of bananas, frowned at the price, and put them back.
“I could have at least prepared better. I don’t know, kept a separate savings account?
Something.” She glanced at him. “Please don’t repeat any of this to Dani.
I’ll tell her when she’s older, but I feel bad enough that you’ve taken on as much as you have. Kids should be able to be kids.”
Rick gritted his teeth, biting back a response.
He’d been with his mom when she found out his father had not only taken stuff in the house but wiped out their accounts completely.
The devastation that had been stamped into her features still made his stomach hurt.
It pissed him off even more when she turned the dagger back on herself instead of where it belonged.
He took a steadying breath. “What did the counselor tell us?”
She made a face. “We can’t control what happened, only how we handle it.”
“His actions, his fault, his guilt.” Rick grabbed a bunch of bananas and stuffed them into the basket of the cart.
Both Dani and his mom loved them. “This isn’t about me having a crappy childhood.
It’s about my priorities. I don’t care about a house.
I do care about you working yourself to death to keep it.
I care about Dani and me both getting more time with you. And we’re getting the f—”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Freaking bananas. I’ll put back the bagels.”
When she seemed like she was going to argue, Rick kept talking. “If we move in with Uncle Vic, we can get bananas and bagels.”
Her eyes welled up, and she sniffed before letting out a sharp laugh. “I refuse to cry in the produce section.” She hugged Rick tight, pulling his head down so she could kiss the top of it. “I hate that you’ve had to become an old soul, kiddo.”
“I don’t,” Rick said. “I like my life. Present circumstances excluded.”
“Right,” Daphne said, sniffing again. Then she pulled herself together, her back straightening. “Right. Let’s go find your sister before she comes back with six different bags of chips and an ax. Then we’ll go get your flowers.”
“Where would she even find an ax?”
“It’s Dani,” she said. “If she were determined, she’d find it.”
—
Rick was getting out a vase to hold the flowers until tomorrow when his phone buzzed, letting him know he had a new message in the group chat.
Zara: Found something. Meet me at room M224 in 30 mins, K?
Martina: Got it, Camryn’s got her dad’s truck. We can meet you there
Rick smiled at that, texting Martina away from the group chat. Are you asking Cam to expand upon her extensive knowledge of biology? Maybe with “hands on research”?
Martina: You bet your ass
He laughed while texting Nika. Want me to come get you? At the front door this time like a normal person? The upside of a suspect being in custody was the media backing off Rick and the others, at least temporarily.
Nika: Yes please
Rick popped back into the chat. I’ve got Nika. See you soon.
Zara:
—
Martina was annoyed by the time she opened the door to the modular where they were all supposed to meet.
She had finally—finally—been going to get some time alone with Camryn.
Zara’s texts had derailed that completely.
Camryn scowled at her phone, equally disgruntled, which made Martina feel better.
She could only hope that Zara had found something pretty spectacular to explain the cryptic message, and that there was a really good reason she couldn’t just say it in the chat.
No matter what, she was hoping it wouldn’t take long, because Camryn had a curfew and Martina had to be home before her mom decided that maybe a curfew was a really good idea for Martina, too.
She shoved open the door. “Okay, we’re here, so what’s so important?”
Camryn laughed softly. “Tell her how you really feel.”