Chapter 23
Addie sat next to Monroe in the staff room. Her sister had somehow acquired a new phone, and she was going through it, setting everything up.
“God, I hate technology,” she muttered. “Ooh, all my photos have appeared and my contacts. Oh my God, I don’t have to put everything in? I love technology. Technology is the best. Whoever invented technology should win a prize.”
Addie had to grin, despite the fact that she was feeling quite sad. Dotty had purchased them plane tickets back to Las Vegas tonight.
And she found herself reluctant to leave.
Dotty was currently in a meeting with Ink and a police detective.
Butch was sitting in the corner of the room, working on a laptop.
He’d barely looked up when she’d arrived with Cash.
And hadn’t said a word since. Which was good, since he kind of scared her and she wasn’t sure that she’d be able to reply.
The door to the staff room opened and Cash walked in. Oh good, he’d disappeared before and she’d been worried that she wouldn’t see him again before they had to leave for the airport.
Behind him walked a woman she hadn’t seen before. Although she seemed a bit familiar. She had long dark blonde hair and big blue eyes. And she walked really close to Cash.
Was this his girlfriend? Did he have a girlfriend? He hadn’t mentioned that. Would he have taken her to LittleLand and carried her and done all those other things if he had a girlfriend?
Surely not.
But anxiety filled her, and she squeezed hard on her squishy, that he’d bought her from LittleLand. It was pink with silver flecks inside and in a cube shape.
She loved it. Not only was it cute, but it was meant to help her get rid of stress and anxiety. Maybe she should have bought several of them.
“Hey, guys,” Cash said. “This is my sister, Greer. Greer, this is Monroe and Addie. You know Butch.”
Butch actually glanced up and nodded at Greer. Did that mean he liked her? Well, he wasn’t scowling, frowning, or scolding, so she would guess that was a ringing endorsement.
She was Cash’s sister, not his girlfriend. Addie felt bad for getting jealous. She was acting so out of character. This wasn’t like her at all.
“Hi, everyone,” Greer said.
The door opened again, and a man with short, dark hair and emerald-colored eyes walked in, glancing around.
“This is my fiancé, Hack,” Greer said.
“Hack?” Monroe asked. “Is that your actual name?”
“No, actually, it’s a nickname,” Hack said. “I’m a doctor.”
Didn’t seem like a great nickname for a doctor to have.
“Don’t worry. He’s a really good doctor,” Greer said.
His gaze narrowed in on her face and he looked angry.
What had she done? What was wrong?
“Who the hell hit you?”
“N-no one.” She closed her eyes for a moment. Idiot. Obviously someone had.
“It was a guy who was trying to grab her,” Monroe said.
“I took care of him,” Cash said.
“Did someone ice it?” Hack demanded.
She nodded.
“I’ve been taking care of her,” Cash told Hack before turning to her. “I got Greer to come down because she’s really good at sketching and drawing. Addie, if you were comfortable, I thought you could tell her about the scene you saw and she could draw it.”
Oh, she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Could she tell this gorgeous woman about what she’d seen? Should she? It wasn’t fair to give that image to someone else, was it?
“It’s all right if you don’t want to talk,” Greer said. “Cash told me you can get a bit nervous around strangers, and I get it. But you could write it down, and I could try and sketch from that, if you like. And we can do it in private, without everybody else here.”
Addie’s gaze immediately went to Cash for some reason.
“Or Cash can come with us,” Greer said with a smile.
Butch grunted and stood. “I’ll wait outside.” He walked out.
Shoot. She bit her lip, she hadn’t meant to make him leave.
“Don’t worry, he’s just trying to be thoughtful,” Greer said with a smile as she sat across from them. She set down a pad and some pencils on the table.
“Butch? Thoughtful?” Monroe said. “The guy’s a grump. He didn’t even laugh at my famous knock-knock jokes. If you don’t laugh at my knock-knock jokes, then you really have a terrible sense of humor.”
“Maybe you should try telling me one,” Greer said. Addie leaned back in her chair so she wasn’t in Monroe’s direct line of sight and shook her head slowly, widening her eyes at Greer. She did not want to hear Monroe’s knock-knock jokes, they weren’t funny.
Greer’s eyes widened, but other than that, she didn’t show any reaction, which was just as well because Addie didn’t want to hurt her sister’s feelings. It’s just that she’d heard all of these ‘famous’ knock-knock jokes, and they were so bad.
“Tell me one,” Greer said cheerfully as she opened her pad.
“Ladybug,” Hack said, and Greer turned to him. “I’m just going to go and do a few things, all right?”
Greer nodded with a smile. “Yep, go. I’m good.”
“Knock, knock,” Monroe said.
“Who’s there?” replied Greer.
“Ahab!”
“Um, Ahab who?” Greer asked, looking confused.
“Ahab to pee! Open the door!” Monroe said before she started giggling. “That’s so good, right? I read it online. I thought I could start making up my own knock-knock jokes. I have one I made up. Do you want to hear it?”
“Sure,” Greer said with a smile.
At least she wasn’t telling Monroe how bad the jokes were. That was a plus.
In fact, she seemed to be really nice.
“Knock, knock,” Monroe said.
“Who’s there?” Greer replied.
“Martin.”
“Martin who?” Greer asked.
“It’s martini time.”
That was so bad.
Greer looked surprised, and Addie couldn’t blame her. Then, to her shock, a giggle came from Greer. She put her hand over her mouth as she started to giggle again.
Addie didn’t get it. The joke wasn’t funny. It didn’t even work. ‘Martin who? It’s martini time?’ Like, how was that a proper knock-knock joke?
But even though she and Dotty had tried to explain this to Monroe, their sister just didn’t seem to get it. They’d given up, just accepting the fact that she was terrible at jokes.
But they also didn’t want anyone else making fun of her for it.
Cash leaned into her. “I don’t get it.”
“I don’t either,” she whispered back.
“That was really good,” Greer told her. “I think you might have a talent for making up knock-knock jokes.”
Monroe’s eyes widened, and she smiled big. “Why, thank you. You’re one of the few people that appreciates a good knock-knock joke. I feel like it could be a dying art.”
Well, it probably would be if Monroe kept at it, but Addie didn’t say that.
“Right. So, Addie, do you want to write down everything that you saw for me, and then I’ll see if I can sketch it. Once I have, you can tell me if it looks correct or if anything needs changing.”
Addie nodded. “I can try and talk.”
“All right, let’s get started. Tell me what you saw.”
Ten minutes later, Addie couldn’t talk anymore. Her throat was completely dry. She wasn’t used to talking this much, although she didn’t have to do heaps of talking for Greer to pick up what she was saying and draw it out.
She rubbed at her throat, and Monroe gave her a worried look. “You need something to drink.”
Addie nodded, even though it hadn’t been a question. Monroe stood, but Cash waved her away. “I’ll get it for her. Is water best?”
“Yeah, probably,” Monroe said. “If there’s anything kind of milky, that can help too. But if she drinks too much, then she gets all phlegmy.”
Awesome. Wasn’t her sister just making her sound wonderful?
Luckily, Greer didn’t see the look Addie gave her sister.
Monroe gave her a look back, like she had no idea what it was that she’d said to make Addie upset.
“Here you are, Stowaway.” Cash put a bottle of water as well as a glass of milk in front of her that was only filled halfway.
Great. Now she really did feel like a child. Well, she wouldn’t have minded a cookie to dip into the milk.
“What, no cookies, Cash? You can’t have milk without cookies,” Greer scolded.
“Eating them probably wouldn’t be good for her throat,” Cash replied.
“Cookies are good for everything. How many times have I tried to tell you this?” Greer told him.
“Sugar isn’t good for you,” Cash told his sister.
“You take that back! There’s nothing wrong with sugar. And cookies should be their own food group.”
“Whoa, you guys are really passionate about sugar, huh? And cookies.” Monroe gave the siblings a wide-eyed look.
“I wouldn’t have minded a cookie,” Addie said, glancing up at Cash.
He sighed, “I shouldn’t get you one. You barely ate anything all day.” But he left the room, and when he returned, he held a plate filled with chocolate chip cookies.
Yum, those were her favorite. Both she and Greer reached for one, biting into the cookies with groans. Monroe eyed the cookie as though she thought it might bite her.
“You want one?” Addie whispered to his sister, hoping she’d take it.
But Monroe just shook her head and went back to her phone.
Greer did some sketching in silence while Addie slowly drank the water and the milk. Her throat still felt a bit scratchy. She’d have to give it a rest for a while, which normally wasn’t an issue.
She’d been doing far more talking lately than she had in the last probably two years.
“How is your throat feeling?” Cash asked as he came and sat next to her. He’d been standing over his sister, offering bits of unwanted advice.
How did she know it was unwanted? Because Greer kept telling him that it was.
The two of them were quite funny together. Cash didn’t seem to intimidate Greer at all, which she guessed made sense when they’d grown up together.
“It’s good,” she said, but it was clear to everyone that her voice was croakier than usual. She rubbed her throat again before taking a few sips of water.
“Do you want Hack to have a look at it?” Greer offered. “Maybe it’s red or something. Irritated? Perhaps he can give you something for it.”
She tensed, and was aware that Monroe went very still next to her.
“No thanks,” she said. “It’s fine.” She didn’t want to put Hack out. Or have to explain about how it was probably hurting because she wasn’t used to talking this much.
That she often went days without speaking at all.
She got the feeling that Greer wouldn’t judge, but she now couldn’t speak past the lump that had formed there.
She hated being like this. She hated being a mess of nerves and worries.
Why couldn’t she just be normal? She set down the rest of her cookie, unable to eat it either. Her mother hadn’t liked her eating sugar. She’d say that sugar caused most of the diseases in the world. They hadn’t had any in the house when she was growing up.
Everything in the house had been organically grown vegetables and fruit. Her mother had fed her rice and beans for most meals. She also hadn’t liked to eat meat, not trusting where it had come from, and whether anything had been injected into it.
Thankfully, Addie had been allowed things like cheese and milk and homemade bread that her mother would make with a sugar substitute.
Until she’d become too ill to make anything and Addie had to start fending for herself.
Greer turned the sketch around, and Addie stared at it in amazement. It was so good. She couldn’t believe it. It was almost like she’d reached into her mind and drawn the image that she’d found there.
“Wow, you’re so good,” Monroe said. “Do you do this as a job? If you don’t, you really should. It’s utterly wonderful.”
Monroe was often generous with her praise, but in this instance, Addie thought she was right.
“Really? Do you think so?” Greer asked almost shyly.
Addie nodded.
“Does it look like what you saw, Addie?” Greer asked.
“Is there anything I should change?” Addie nodded, then shook her head.
Then she gave a small grunt of annoyance at her inability to get her words out and picked up the pen and paper that Greer had put by her earlier, in case she wanted to write some details down.
“It looks just right. Nothing needs to change.”
Greer smiled widely. “All right. Ink also wanted me to work with you, Monroe, to see if I could sketch an image of Vextar.”
Monroe’s smile dimmed. “Right. Sure. We can give it a go.”
They worked for twenty minutes and Greer was frowning slightly at the end.
“Sorry,” Monroe told her. “I’m just not good at details.”
“Does this look at all like him?” Greer asked.
“Kind of,” Monroe told her.
“Anything I can add or change?”
“No, I don’t know.”
“Don’t worry,” Greer said. “Maybe something will come to you.”
Someone knocked on the door and Hack poked his head through. “Are you finished, Ladybug?”
“I think so,” Greer replied as she pulled the pictures out of the pad and placed it on the table.
Hack walked in to take a look at her artwork. “That’s what you saw, Addie?” He turned his gaze to her. His face and voice were very kind, and she found herself nodding.
“That must have been really scary for you, sweetheart,” he said.
She bit her lip to hold back her tears. Why was everybody here so nice? It was bizarre. Nobody had ever been this nice to her before. At least, not people that didn’t know her really well, like her sisters.
And yet here, people she’d only just met here were kind and understanding. It made her wonder if she wasn’t giving people enough of a chance back home, or perhaps she was living in the wrong sort of place. Maybe she should live somewhere like here.
Right, you just want to move here because of Cash.
Yeah, there was that, too. She couldn’t deny it.
“Make sure that you talk to someone about it if it starts affecting you, okay?” Hack told her. “If you find yourself waking up with nightmares a week, a month down the road, find someone you trust, and tell them about it. All right? Don’t let this eat at you.”
She nodded again.
Hack gave her a warm smile and helped Greer up. “Right, come on then, Ladybug. We need to get you home. It’s nearly dinnertime. Do you need us for anything else?” He turned to Cash.
Cash shook his head and stood, pulling his sister into a big embrace. “Thanks for coming down, Squirt.”
“Hey, who are you calling squirt? I’m older than you are.”
“Not calling you Squirt because of your age, short stuff.”