Chapter 31
Already out of my chair, I hung up as I ran to the stairs, taking them two at a time, careful not to accidentally toss my phone down the steps as I flew. My sister would have to wait for the garage door to open, park her car, get out, shut her door, cross to the door that led to the foyer, open it, and close it behind her. I should have been able to beat her because I was really trying.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs where the door to the garage was located, I heard my sister’s voice. In the kitchen.
That was not humanly possible.
Slipping my phone into the pocket of my jeans, I headed into the other room. My sister was talking to my mom, and as soon as I entered the kitchen, they stopped talking, but I did hear my mom say, “Maybe he’s just having trouble coping with Drew’s death.” I didn’t know who they were talking about, but I assumed it was Jack.
“Hey, Cass,” Cadence said, turning to face me. She was wearing a long black dress, and I noticed she’d somehow also had time to take her coat off and hang it up in the amount of time it took me to run down the stairs.
“Hi,” I said, eying her carefully. She didn’t look the same to me. Her arms were so muscular now, I could see her biceps through the sleeves of her dress. Her calves looked similar to an Olympic athlete’s. There was a sheen about her hair that I’d never noticed before, and her brown eyes seemed a bit more sparkly than what I was used to. I decided it was fine for her to hug me, and she didn’t feel cold like Jack had, but I was still a little leery.
She must’ve noticed. “Are you okay, Cass?”
“I’m fine,” I replied. “I’m just… sad.” I’d learned that explanation worked for just about everything.
“Me, too,” she replied, letting me go. She patted my cheek like she was my mother. “It’ll be okay.”
“That reminds me,” my mother said, stepping over from whatever she was putting in the oven, “Dr. Sanderson will be stopping by tomorrow after school to speak with you.”
“Oh, okay,” I replied, a little surprised. I was glad, though. I’d been wanting to talk to Elliott again to see if I could unravel exactly what he had done to make me forget everything before.
“Hmmm,” Cadence muttered, her forehead puckering. “Why is Elliott coming to talk to Cassidy?” she asked, staring at my mother’s retreating back.
“Oh, Aaron brought him over the other day,” Mom replied, without turning around. “It seemed to help answer some of Cassidy’s questions.”
“I asked to see him again,” I said, waiting to see if Cadence would give me anything with her reaction.
She didn’t. “Oh.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Well, I’m really tired. I think I’m going to go take a nap.”
I considered pointing out that sleeping would be a lot easier if she stopped letting Aaron into her room late at night, but I held my tongue. Cadence patted me on the arm and headed out of the room. I wondered if it was difficult for her to keep her footsteps so natural looking or if she wanted to take off at breakneck speed.
My mom was baking cookies, and I suddenly realized I was starving. “How long until those are done?” I asked, breathing in the aroma of sugar and chocolate.
“A few minutes. You hungry?”
I nodded, and my mom smiled at me. “Have a seat, and when they’re done, you’ll be the first to know.”
Pulling out a chair at the table in the corner of the kitchen, I sat down. I realized I was sitting on my phone so I grabbed it out of my back pocket and thought about updating my girls, but I didn’t want Mom to ask what we were talking about, so I decided to wait until later. “Mom,” I said, thinking of a question that might seem pretty normal, “where will Cadence be working at? I mean, I know you said she might be traveling, or whatever, but does she have a headquarters or something?”
“She does,” my mom nodded. She was still standing by the oven. “It’s in Kansas City.”
My eyes grew wide. “So, she’ll be moving?”
“I’m afraid so,” my mom replied as she exhaled. “And it might be soon. I think Aaron is anxious to get her started.”
“I bet he is.” The words were out of my mouth before I stopped to think about them. My mom raised both eyebrows. “I mean… he seems like the sort of person who has a plan.”
“Cassidy, you don’t need to worry about your sister’s job.” Suddenly, my mom’s voice sounded foreign to me. It was almost monotone, like she was trying to brainwash me, too. “Don’t worry about Cadence’s job. Everything is just fine.”
I nodded, and for a moment, I was completely content to believe the lie my mom had just fed me about everything being just fine. I was brought back to the few moments I’d spent in the living room the other day with Elliott and how he’d convinced me everything was all right. My mom was trying to trigger that for me, like I’d done with Jack. I plastered a smile on my face, and my mom let out a deep breath. Why would my mother want to have her daughter brainwashed by some psychiatrist from Oklahoma?
The oven timer beeped, and my mom got up, patting me on the head like I was a good dog as she went. “These will need to cool,” she said as she began to pull the cookie sheet out of the oven.
They still smelled delicious, but suddenly I wasn’t as hungry as I had been before. It wasn’t easy to stomach the idea that your own mother wanted you to forget and not ask any questions about what was going on with the rest of your family….
