22. Hunter
Hunter
H unter walked sluggishly home from the bus stop. She’d spent almost an hour combing through the first floor of Abby’s house with Kiera, looking for anything that was out of place before she came home from her bridge game.
Of course, Hunter didn’t know the place like Kiera did, so she mostly just trailed behind her, feeling incredibly grateful that Kiera hadn’t immediately called the police. That was what Piper deserved, and what Hunter deserved for not seeing all of this sooner.
She was on her way home now and she had two hours before her next nursing home shift started. In that time, Hunter needed to confront Piper, and she’d rather stay awake for a year than ask her sister to list all the things she’d stolen from Hunter’s employer over the last few months.
But she had no choice. Kiera was expecting a list so they could compare it with their own findings.
When Hunter went inside, the boys were sitting cross-legged in front of the coffee table, quietly doing their homework for once. Josh jumped up as soon as Hunter came in and picked up his turtle drawing from where it was laying on the table.
“Look!” he said. “I finished. Do you like it?”
“Yeah, I do,” Hunter said, trying to muster as much enthusiasm as she could. She’d been keeping her problems from Josh and Andrew for so long that it should be second nature by now, but this time it felt almost impossible.
“His name is Jacob,” Josh said. “Andrew’s turtle is named Wilhelm.”
“Jacob and Wilhelm the turtles,” Hunter said with a weak smile. “I’m glad you had fun at the teen center.”
I hope you get to go back there someday.
She thought that last part but didn’t say it because the truth was that she had no idea how Kiera felt about it now. The boys hadn’t done anything, but the teen center was her baby. Would they still be welcome in any part of her life after what Piper had done?
“Where’s your mom?” she asked.
“Upstairs,” Andrew said.
Hunter handed Jacob the turtle back to Josh, then went upstairs to do what she had to. She took the stairs two at a time – the better to get this out of the way – and went into Piper’s room without knocking.
“Hey,” Piper scowled, annoyed at the intrusion. She was laying across the bed with a magazine in front of her. “Thanks for knocking.”
“Thanks for fucking everything up,” Hunter growled, shutting the door so the boys wouldn’t hear them.
It didn’t come out exactly as she’d imagined on her bus ride home.
She was planning to lead in with some gentle prodding about what Piper was fishing for at the teen center, then mention that she’d talked with Kiera, and finally ask Piper what she was up to.
Piper was great at deflecting questions and Hunter was expecting to have to trick her into a confession.
But the moment she came into the room, all of her frustrations poured out.
“What did I fuck up?” Piper asked, more confused than concerned.
“Me and Kiera,” Hunter said, ticking things off on her fingers. “My job with Abby. My trust in you. The list would be shorter if I started with things you haven’t fucked up!”
“Whoa,” Piper said, sitting up. “Calm down and tell me what happened.”
“Stop acting like you’re my friend,” Hunter hissed.
Piper pointed to the door – their shorthand for be quiet, the boys could overhear – and Hunter lowered her voice.
“I don’t know what you were driving at with all those questions about Kiera’s grant money, but you can forget about it.
You’re not going to get within a hundred yards of that money now. ”
“Did Kiera say something?” Piper asked, still looking innocent and confused while Hunter paced up and down the small room.
“No,” she said. “I did. I told her everything - about your history with Jed, and Jason Dawes, and sleeping on the streets. Tell me what you’re up to at Abby’s house.”
She wanted to give her sister a chance to come clean on her own before she told Piper she already knew.
“I already told you I’m not doing anything,” Piper said. “Why would you tell her about Jason Dawes?”
“To protect her from you,” Hunter hissed. “It turns out some of Abby’s things have grown legs and walked away in the last couple months.”
“Abby, the senile old woman you’re being paid to keep from wandering off and getting lost in the woods?” Piper asked. She crossed her arms defensively, then asked, “You think I took her stuff?”
“I know you did,” Hunter said. “Cut the shit, Piper.”
“Fine,” Piper said, throwing up her hands in defeat. “I may have taken a couple of small things.”
Hunter stopped pacing and stared at her hard. She’d known this was going to be the answer – if Piper told her the truth – but it was still hard to hear. “How could you?”
“We needed the money!” Piper said, raising her voice a little.
“My minimum wage café gig was never going to get the property taxes paid, and we needed your income for food, Josh’s medicine and Andrew’s football stuff.
I know you don’t like to hear it, but even when we bust our asses, we’re barely getting by.
There’s only one way for people like us to get ahead, even a little bit. ”
Hunter pressed her lips together, her stomach churning with acid. She asked, “Have you been to see him?”
Because those sound like his words coming out of your mouth.
Piper looked away. That was all Hunter needed to know that she had. This situation had Jed written all over it.
“Why?” Hunter asked.
“I’m just so fucking tired,” Piper said. “I’m tired of bill collectors and the scumbags at the bank. I’m tired of eviction notices and insulin shots and being a disappointment to my own kids because there’s never enough to go around.”
“You’re not a disappointment,” Hunter said, relenting.
“And I’m tired of disappointing you, too,” Piper said, her voice going watery with tears. “I just can’t live like you want me to. It’s too hard.”
“Is it harder than being in jail?” Hunter asked.
Piper met her eyes again for the first time in several minutes. “Are they going to press charges?”
Hunter looked away, considering her answer.
Piper’s bedroom was small, just a mattress on the floor and a dresser pressed up against one wall.
There were baskets of laundry lying on the floor and who knew how long they’d been there?
No one in this house had a spare minute or enough energy to bother with something as mundane as folding laundry.
Hunter knew that Piper was just as run down and tired as she was.
It was just that there was only one person in this room who was actually ready to leave this life behind.
“I think she might,” Hunter said. “I was able to calm Kiera down, but she said she’s planning to tell Abby tonight, and I don’t think Abby will be so understanding.”
“Oh my god,” Piper said, putting her hand to her mouth. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know,” Hunter said. “Maybe start by trying to get her stuff back. What did you do with it?”
“Pawned it,” Piper said. “I can’t afford to buy it back but it’s all at the little shop at the end of the block. She can buy it back herself and I could pay her back. Shit, Hunter, I can’t go to prison.”
“That sounds like something you should have thought about before you robbed a little old lady,” Hunter said coldly.
She knew it was cruel to make Piper sweat like this, but she was tired of having conversations like this over and over again. Maybe this time she’d learn something.
Hunter let herself out of the room and went down the hall to her bedroom.
She changed into a pair of scrubs and then dragged herself back down the stairs again, even though she wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep for the rest of her life.
She didn’t stop in front of Piper’s room to say goodbye.
She just hugged the boys and then went back outside.
The night air was cold and it helped keep her eyes open. At least there was that small mercy.