Chapter 1 Backtracking #4
Shutting her eyes tight, Remi took a deep breath.
She had to remind herself repeatedly that she loved her brother.
If not for him, she didn’t know how much of her niece she could tolerate.
Giselle had always been a breath of fresh air, but there was no denying she was arrogant and entitled.
It was when she was fighting the little girl around the corner for calling her names or talking smack about Lou or Maisie that she was reminded that she did have some spunk.
She’d spent most of her life being reserved like her mother, Grace, taught her.
Remi eventually found a way to love Grace and see what Greg saw in her, but that took a lot of time, patience, and miscommunication.
She realized over the years that there was far more to Grace than met the eye.
Her brother had a mouthpiece from the day he learned to talk.
He knew how to sweet talk himself both in and out of some shit.
Grace didn’t take his shit or bend to his every demand like most women would.
Gregory loved the challenge of being with her, and that’s what Remi was reminded of when she saw them together.
“Listen here, little girl… because make no mistake, that is exactly what you sound like right now. You are not the only one who lost someone in this scenario, and I’m not just talking about this girl.
I’m talking about me. That was my brother, and while he was not in the least bit perfect, at the end of the day, he was who he was.
Now… this girl didn’t ask to be here. She spent her entire life knowing you existed and that her father chose you over her—”
“That’s not―”
“I don’t care what it is… this is how she sees it,” Remi pointed out.
“And what about how I see it?” Giselle shot back, arms tucked across her chest. “Or does that matter?”
“For the first time in your life, the sun does not rise and set on your ass, Giselle,” Remi voiced, annoyance lacing her words as she rolled her eyes at Giselle’s dramatics. “Look at everything that’s happened in the last few weeks and tell me that you can’t at least try to be there for her.”
“This is really blowing me right now,” she grumbled, rubbing her temples on each side with two fingers.
“How about you stop thinking about you for like two seconds?” Remi suggested, holding up two fingers. “You are the oldest, the supposedly more mature one, yet here you are, acting your shoe size.”
“I can’t even be here right now.” Giselle threw her hands up.
Mind spiraling, heart racing, she sensed the walls closing in on her. Her breath hitched in her chest. She gripped the back of her chair, and Maisie reached for her wrist. Her lost gaze drifted to her cousin, and she slipped her a set of keys.
“Take my car. Go for a drive. Clear your head and come back,” she advised. “I know this is a lot, but... Ma is right. We can’t turn our back on her no more than we can you. Can you at least try, G?”
Gripping the keys in her hand, Giselle could only bob her head.
After she grabbed her phone and purse from upstairs, she found herself behind the wheel of Maisie’s Lexus while cruising through traffic with Tink’s “Heat of the Moment” filling the speakers.
“On my shoulders got more weight than ever. Heat of the moment I won’t feel no pressure.
” She hadn’t paid attention to the forecast, but the darkened sky and the steady downpour of rain reflected her current mood.
Running her fingers through her thick hair, she gripped the steering wheel with one hand and hummed along.
Maisie still had half a blunt in her ashtray.
Giselle picked it up and located a lighter in the middle console to spark it.
Not a regular smoker, she took a deep pull, and the tip of the cherry popped off.
“Shit!” she hissed, shifting in her seat to locate it before it burned through Maisie’s leather seats or carpet.
She was going to kill her if she didn’t bring her car back in the exact condition she left in it. Stepping on the cherry with her foot, Giselle’s eyes drifted off the road for a few seconds before she heard a pop, and the car wobbled along like one of the tires had lost pressure.
“Fuck!” Slowly, she maneuvered the vehicle to the side of the road and peeped the dash.
Sure enough, the rear passenger tire was now showing zero. Pushing her door open, she climbed out and rounded the back of the vehicle to investigate her situation. Repairing it was not an option when she peeped the shredded rubber; she needed a brand new one.
“Fuck my life,” Giselle grumbled, eyes surveying her surroundings to see where she was.
The wind picked up around her, and she hugged herself to fight off the chill as a slow drizzle began.
God had a sense of humor, that was for sure.
She remembered passing Sapien Automotive about a block over.
With little options, she grabbed her purse from the passenger seat along with her cell phone and decided to trek it to the shop to see if she could get some help.
The large bolt that flickered across the sky left her shuddering.
With this string of unfortunate events, Giselle wasn’t sure how much more she could take.