Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Scarlett
“How is Mom?” I asked as I poured each of us a glass of the spinach, apple, and other assorted fruits smoothie I had made earlier.
I’d been trying different recipes the past month and finally found one that I liked that didn’t taste like kale.
I hated kale and never put it in my smoothies and yet no matter what I did, I could sometimes taste the evil plant if I mixed too many greens together.
Luna eyed the concoction warily but took the glass from me anyway.
The ingredients may sound a little off, but I made a good smoothie.
Plus I could add all of my protein and fiber powders to it and call it a day.
No, it didn’t make up for the fact that I sometimes missed lunch while working at the Cage Resort, but that was just life.
When you needed to work hard, and prove yourself, sometimes you skipped a meal or two.
“Mom is Mom.” She stared into her green smoothie, frowning as she answered.
There was so much in those words of hers I wasn’t sure I wanted to dive deeper. After all, I knew what “Mom is Mom” meant. Because it could mean nothing and everything all at once. I reached over the kitchen island to tap her glass. “Drink it. You’ll like this one. I added extra honey for you.”
She perked up and took a sip. “Tasty. Surprisingly.”
“For somebody who spends her days out in the wilderness most of the time, you would think you wouldn’t mind eating something with greens in it. It’s healthy.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Excuse me. I think you’re confusing me with Ivy. Our bestie. She likes to take pictures of green things. And probably eats them as well. Me? Not so much.”
“You do your studies out in the real world. All of your research grants force you into that forest to actually hike and gather specimens. You might be a general science and chemistry professor down in Denver, but you’re still somewhat outdoorsy.”
“You’re just lying to yourself because you don’t even go out to the slopes anymore.”
“Jerk.”
“Dork.”
We giggled, the same pitch, the same laugh, the same expression on our faces.
Whenever somebody asked me what it felt like to be a twin, I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to say.
I had always been a twin. Luna and I had shared a womb and hadn’t been separated until after college.
We were in the same classes, did the same sports, we had the same group of friends, we never dated the same guy thankfully, and we had similar interests.
While my Type A went into managing and organizing, her Type A went into the sciences.
I couldn’t read her mind, and she couldn’t read mine, much to each of our consternations. But she was my best friend. She had seen me at my worst.
But so had he.
I quickly pushed that thought out of my mind and went back to my original question. “Thanks for stopping by Mom’s house. I couldn’t make it yesterday because I had a late delivery that I wanted to check on with the resort, as there’s an event coming up that I’m really excited about.”
I pushed my white-blonde hair behind my ear and knew I would just put it up in its usual bun later. While Luna tended to have hers flowing around her face unless she was in the lab, I needed mine back. I looked far more professional that way.
“I don’t mind. She’s my mom too. And it was nice coming up for the weekend to hang out with you both. It would’ve been nicer if we could have gotten her to go to Harper’s bakery, or to the Cage Free diner. The diner has the best pancakes, but Mom makes good ones too.”
I winced. “We’ve both been trying to get Mom out of the house for years now. We’re just lucky that our doctor makes house calls for certain things.”
I shuddered to think what would happen if Mom needed something more than just a checkup. Yes, we got her out of the house for certain appointments, but we practically had to drag her to our doctor. He helped where he could, but it wasn’t enough.
Slowly over the years, our mother had lost herself to her own demons, becoming an agoraphobe in a way that I hadn’t ever thought possible.
My mother with her bright smile that had dimmed over the years, and a laugh that I hadn’t heard with such sincerity in far too long, was afraid of the outside world.
I didn’t blame her. Not when our father was still around. He might not be in Cage Lake anymore, but he could show up at any minute, and all of us knew it. Mom felt she was safer behind the four walls of her house and locked doors.
I ran my hand over my shoulder, remembering the bruise that had darkened there, and swallowed hard. I didn’t blame my mother for wanting to hide. Wasn’t I doing the same?
“Scarlett,” Luna whispered. “Have you talked to anybody about it?”
My gaze shot to hers, and the glass slipped from my hand. It shattered on the counter, leaving its green contents and glass shards spraying over the granite. “Shit,” I whispered as I reached forward to clean it up with my hand.
Luna gripped my wrist. “Scarlett. You’ll cut yourself.”
I froze at her touch, bile coating my tongue, and immediately felt ashamed. This was my twin sister. Not our father.
Not Ronin.
My ex.
Luna didn’t miss the motion and let out a soft sigh before relaxing her grip. “Let me clean it up. Okay? I won’t talk about it again. Not today.”
I hated the worry in her tone, but I knew there wasn’t much I could say to make it better when it came to this particular subject. “I’m fine, Luna. I’m leaving the house, even though Ronin still comes into Cage Lake.”
“If you would talk to the authorities, you could get a restraining order.”
I snorted. “Oh yes, because restraining orders worked just fine and dandy with Dad. He routinely pushed past that to beat our mother. Don’t you remember?”
Luna rang out a towel underneath the faucet and glared at me. “I was there too you know. I remember it all. I know what our father did, and I know Mom is healing in her own way. But you have to stop blaming yourself for all of this.”
I rolled my eyes, even though my hands shook.
“I’m not blaming myself. Thank you very much.
It’s done. Ronin hasn’t come by again. If he sees me across the street, he goes the other way.
And our breakup was just a breakup. Nobody has to know that I fell into the common trap of becoming a statistic. ”
“I never want to hear you say that again,” Luna warned, her voice harsher than I’d ever heard it.
Tears pricked my eyes, and I pressed my lips together.
“Scarlett. I love you. But we both know that you are not a statistic. You are a woman whose boyfriend hit her.”
“Luna. I thought you weren’t going to talk about it anymore.”
My twin held up her hands. “Just because our father was an abuser, doesn’t mean we’re both destined to fall for abusers. It’s not how it works.”
“And yet I did.” A single teardrop slid down my cheek, and I angrily brushed it off. “I thought I knew better. I thought I could see the signs. And I didn’t. But it’s done with. And Mom’s being taken care of, and we’ll figure out something whenever she needs to leave the house again.”
“Maybe I should just move back up to Cage Lake.”
“No, you don’t. You have a job you love at a prestigious university in Denver. You are going to stick it out, because you’ve earned this. I can take care of Mom.”
“You don’t have to do it yourself. And Mom should also take care of Mom.”
“I’m going to be late for work. And I know you have to head back down to Denver soon. So I need to go and gather my things.” I turned on my heel and did my best not to react to my sister’s sigh.
If we wanted to, we would continue going in circles, and there would be no coming out of it. I ignored the little voice in my head telling me that my sister was right. That I probably should talk about it more. But it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
I quickly gathered my things, slid my feet into my heels that I knew Hudson hated, then made my way back into the kitchen. Everything was cleaned up, the lone glass in the dishwasher, and the kitchen looked sparkling. A note lay on the counter, and I swallowed hard, heart thudding.
S—
Love you. I’ll see you soon.
Remember, you are the light as well.
You deserve happiness.
L
I closed my eyes tightly, willing myself not to cry, before setting the note back on the counter. I patted the paper with two fingers, feeling lighter , and left any worries that I probably should focus on behind.
Luna hadn’t left for good—she’d probably only left the house to give me a moment. She would be back to gather her things and then head to Denver for work.
She didn’t teach on Mondays, at least not this semester, so she had been flexible in her down time. I was grateful for it because even though The Pantry, our local grocery store, and other places delivered, our mother still needed help.
I pulled out onto the road that surrounded the lake, passing the small houses of local residents that I had known for years. Airbnbs and other types of short-term rentals weren’t allowed inside town limits. There were town homes, cabins, and the resort for vacationers.
In order to stay in one of the homes in Cage Lake proper, you had to be a resident.
Or call it a vacation home and use it as a vacation home personally.
There were rentals within the community, but those were long-term rentals.
For those Cage Lake residents just starting out or not wanting to own a home and all the issues that came with that responsibility.
I didn’t have many neighbors, however. Unlike some. I lived around the lake, where most of the Cages had homes of their own.
I also ignored my actual neighbor. Because it wasn’t as if I ever saw him these days. We had both made our stance firm. There was no need to be near one another or acknowledge each other’s existence. It was much better that way.
While I could have driven through town, down Main Street, or even to Aspen Creek and Champagne Peak, I went east, towards the resort.