My legs shake erratically, bouncing up and down at a rapid pace. I can’t sit still. They’re out there—he’s out there—and I’m stuck in this hotel room. Thoughts about his new family fester.
I peer at Declan through the bedroom door, and he’s still fast asleep. Gently, I close the door after slipping on a pair of pants and a top. Grabbing the keys to the car, I quietly sneak out of the room. He’s going to be pissed when he wakes up to find that I’m gone, but if I told him what I’m about to do, he’d refuse. And I can’t just sit in that room and drive myself crazy.
Once I’m in the car, I drive back to Gig Harbor and park along the street a few houses down from my dad’s. His SUV is no longer in the driveway where he parked it last night. I’m not even sure what I’m doing here.
Time passes, the sun makes her appearance, and eventually the garage door opens. A car begins to back out and then stops halfway down the driveway. I sink down, worried I’ll be seen, but keep watching. The driver’s side window rolls down and the woman I saw last night hangs her head out and hollers, “Come on, kids!”
A few beats later the blonde girl and the brown-haired boy run out from the garage with backpacks hanging from their shoulders. They hop in the back seat, and when the car starts driving away, I sit up and follow. When we turn out of the neighborhood, I make sure to follow with one car between us.
Hate rises in my soul for these people that my father’s chosen over me. Good or bad, I don’t give a shit—I want to hurt them. I want to take them away from him, then maybe he’ll be so lonely that he’ll finally want me.
My knuckles are white as my hands choke the steering wheel so hard it just might snap. The car pulls off into a strip shopping center, and I follow, parking several spots down from them. The kids hop out of the car, cash in their hands, and run into a smoothie shop while the woman stays in the vehicle.
Without much thought, and honestly, just not caring, I get out of my car. I walk past the woman and see she’s paying no attention as she’s chatting away on her phone. She’s blonde as well and appears many years younger than my dad, and I wish I had a brick to throw through her windshield to smash her pretty little face.
The bell above the door jingles when I step inside the smoothie shop. The two kids are watching the blenders mix up their drinks.
“What can I get for you this morning?” the guy behind the register asks in a much too peppy tone for it being so early in the morning.
I pick a random drink from the menu on the wall and shove him some cash.
“Hailey,” one of the employees calls out, and the girl runs to grab her drink.
Her name’s Hailey. How fucking precious.
When I see her walking to the door, I fake clumsiness and bump into her, sending her smoothie to splatter all over the floor.
“Oh, I am so sorry. I wasn’t paying any attention at all.”
“It’s okay,” she says. “Accidents happen.”
I grab a wad of napkins, and with her help, we do our best to clean up the sticky mess
“Let me get you another drink. What flavor did you have?” I offer.
“You don’t have to do that. I can get more money from my mom.”
“I insist.”
She tells me her drink and I place the order.
I reach out my hand and introduce myself. “I’m Erin, by the way.”
She shakes my hand enthusiastically, and giggles, saying, “My name is Hailey.”
“I’m going back out to the car,” her brother announces as he takes his smoothie with him to the exit. “Hurry up; I don’t want to be late to school.”
“And that,” Hailey says, “Is my annoying older brother, Steve.”
Steve. My dad passed his name down to that little fucker.
“You look like you’re all ready for school. What grade are you in?” I ask while we wait for her drink.
“Fifth grade.”
“Wow. Big girl on campus. So how old does that make you?”
“Eleven.”
Her perfect voice, her perfect hair, her perfect clothes all make me want to ball my fist up and slam it through her perfect smile.
“Hailey,” the employee calls out, and I fight the overwhelming urge to grab her and run.
“I gotta go. Thanks for the smoothie, Erin.” She’s so polite it irritates me to the point I want to claw my own skin from my bones.
She practically skips out the door, leaving me to watch their car as it pulls out and drives away.
I snap around when there’s a tap on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” the employee says as he holds out a cup. “I called your name, but I guess you didn’t hear me.”
Without a word, I turn away from him and walk out the door as he stands there like an asshole, still holding my drink.