Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Creole winced. “So pretty much, she’s aware. She can live. But she can’t live a good life.”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Is she better, do you think? Mentally?”
I thought about her question for a long moment before I said, “No, she is still incredibly depressed. She tries to kill herself at least once a year.”
Her mouth fell open.
“Then tell her to ask for a divorce from your father,” she suggested. “And stop coming up here. Continually exposing yourself to this toxicity isn’t doing you any favors. At some point, you have to choose you.”
I wondered if she’d ever chosen herself, or for the last few years, she’d been constantly choosing everyone else.
I looked up at the building and said, “I don’t have the money to pay for her shit anymore.”
“Because the Combs are freezing it up in court?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “But, even when they’re not, I’m giving it all to Gunner for Lottie. It makes sense that Laney’s money goes to her daughter.”
“So what does that mean?” she asked. “What happens with your mom then?”
I blew out a breath. “I don’t know. But that’s why I want Dad to get a divorce from her. If he doesn’t, then he’ll now be responsible for her payments again.”
Her head nodded. “Well, let’s go tell a woman to divorce her husband.”
That’s when she took my hand, and I knew for the first time that the visit wasn’t going to absolutely wreck me.
Fourteen
I’m down for church, brunch, aggravated assault, movies, working out. Whatever. I’m a multi-purpose friend.
—Audric to Creole
CREOLE
No matter how you try to prepare yourself for it, nothing can prepare you for seeing a person with half of their face, and all of their jaw missing.
I thought that I had it under control, but the flinch still took me off guard.
Before I could control the way my face visibly reacted to Audric’s mom, she looked over with her one eye and saw the reaction.
I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what I was looking at.
No wonder she couldn’t eat and had to be fed by a tube.
My god.
“Mom,” Audric said, pulling the woman’s attention away from me and to her son. “I know I don’t usually come in during the work week, but I have to talk to you about something.”
The mom’s attention went to her computer that she had in her lap, and she typed with one hand on the laptop.
Her entire left side didn’t look like it worked correctly.
An animatronic voice came from the computer a few moments later.
“What is it? Is it about your dad?”
Audric blew out a breath. “Actually, it is.”
Again, typing.
The tap-tap-tap felt loud in the small room.
“Out with it.”
I looked to Audric who looked like he was struggling with his words.
I elbowed him, and he looked over at me with surprise.
“Tell her,” I muttered.
He blew out a resigned breath and then said, “I want you to divorce Dad.”
Her one single brow went straight up.
It was weird, because it went to a mangled hairline where hair grew in patches.
“In a few months, they’re going to try to start taking money from him for your stay, and we just can’t afford it anymore. We have no money left to pay for your care, and to keep us out of debt, Dad will want to sell the house on North Shore.”
Now I watched Audric’s mother wince.
“We’ve barely stayed afloat. And you know it was only Laney’s money that got us out of that nightmare for as long as we were. But we don’t have that cash flow anymore, and we need you to make the smart decision and file for divorce. Dad won’t do it.” Audric paused before making a killing blow. “Dad and I deserve this. We have sacrificed a lot in the last decade. We’ve lived paycheck to paycheck. We’ve worked our asses off with overtime. I went into the military hoping that I could live a life, and realized I couldn’t because Dad was over here drowning in problems that you made for us. I had to leave a job I loved to become a plumber’s apprentice in the hopes that one day I could make enough to keep up with the fees for this place. And just sayin’, but short of selling drugs, I’ll never be able to do that. You just took the last thousand dollars out of my account, and I can’t do it anymore. If I ever want to start a family, I won’t be able to with your bills hanging over my head. Because I would never do that to my family.”
A sound came from Audric’s mom that felt like a wounded animal.
“The other reason I’m here is to tell you that this place might not be an option for you when we stop paying. I’m not sure where they’ll take you, but I want to make sure you don’t list us as responsible parties.”