“Sorry, I had to open a pack of crackers.” When in doubt, blame a kid.
“That’s fine. I’ll start over. I looked into retirement communities here on the island, and there’s only one. It’s actually not that far from the house. So I went over there to check it out, and you’ll never guess who I ran into?” The mock surprise in his voice was thick.
“My aunt?” Kill me now.
“Yeah! I walked in and there she was. I didn’t even know it was her until I started talking about you. How completely unbelievable is that?”
“That’s…really unbelievable. Did she happen to tell you her name?”
“Yeah, it’s Michelle.”
“Oh, then that’s not my aunt. Must’ve been one of those Alzheimer’s patients. You can never trust anything they say.”
“That’s disheartening. She was really nice, too. What’s your aunt’s name then?”
“Sally. Aunt Sally.”
“Sally what?”
“Jessy.”
“Her last name is Jessy?”
“No. It’s Raphael.”
There was a long pause, and I almost told him I was being kidnapped and had to call him back later, but before I could, in the most disbelieving voice I’d ever heard, he asked, “Your aunt is Sally Jessy Raphael?”
“Yup. Sure is. But hey, I’m going to have to let you go.” I glanced up to the bright blue sky and added, “It just started to pour here. I’ll call you later.”
“Oh, that’s fine. But when you call me back, can you do me a favor?” He paused, and when he continued, a hint of a smile was heard in his soft voice. “Can you please stop lying to me?”
My mouth dried up, which made my tongue thick and in the way. And the knot in my throat deepened my usually higher-pitched voice, adding a level of scratchiness to my words when I said, “Sure thing.”
I immediately disconnected the call and blew out a long, deep exhale. He’d caught me. I’d say I didn’t know how, but that would’ve been laughable. I sucked at lying on the spot, and it seemed he wasn’t gullible. At all. But at least he didn’t sound mad, and from what I could tell, he had a good sense of humor about it. Plus, he wasn’t dismissing me.
So as soon as I had my thoughts and nerves collected, I called him back.
“That was fast,” he said in lieu of “hello.”
“Yeah. I’d say the rain stopped, but I had agreed to be truthful when I called you back.”
An airy snicker flooded my ear. “I appreciate that.”
“How did you know I was lying? I don’t mean today…that was rather obvious. But what made you even go check out whatever retirement village that was, and without her name, how’d you figure it out?”
“I just know things, Jade. I read people.”
“I won’t lie…that’s a little worrisome.”
He laughed again, this time louder. “Truth be told, there aren’t any retirement places on the island. I knew as soon as you said it you were lying.”
“Then why not just say something then?”
“What fun would that have been? But seriously, I figured you had a reason for it. If it makes you feel any better, had I thought for one second your deception was malicious, you would’ve never heard from me again.”
He reminded me of my dad. Anytime I’d done something wrong, he always had a way of talking me down, opening me up, making me want to tell him everything. One time, I’d planned to run away, upset over being in trouble for something stupid, and when he found out—I still wasn’t sure how—he’d sat me down and made me feel like he’d be lost if I left. By the end of the conversation, he had my entire getaway plan, which wasn’t much, considering I was eight and never left the neighborhood, but it was enough to give him an idea of where to start looking in the event I ever followed through with my threat.
Cash possessed the same trait. It was the gentleness in his baritone voice, the concern that weighed down his words. I felt safe, even though I had no tangible reason to. It was unexplainable, but it was there. And it made me take a deep breath, ready to answer him, lay it all out there for him to possibly twist or use against me. I’d seen both sides of the coin in my lifetime. Where my dad had never betrayed the trust I’d given him, my stepdad had—on multiple occasions. It made it hard to tell the truth, knowing it would come back to bite me in the butt. But this was one of those times when I had to figure it out the hard way.
I regarded Aria playing in the sandbox beneath the pavilion and struggled with how to be honest without giving everything away. “I lied about my aunt because a young woman who isn’t tied to family, has no one close to her, no one to check in with her, is a murderer’s dream come true.”
He laughed, and I couldn’t deny the way the sound caused my own lips to curl. “I completely understand. And I don’t blame you. It actually makes me happy to know you were using your head. There are too many sick fucks in the world to not react cautiously.” His tone changed, deepened, as if he had personal knowledge of what he was saying, but before I could analyze it too much, he continued. “But you have to have some family, right? Siblings? What about your dad?”
“He died when I was ten. My mom remarried when I was twelve, and I never had any siblings. My grandmother on my dad’s side died when I was a baby, and my grandfather lives in Canada, so I haven’t seen him since my dad’s funeral. My mom has a brother and a sister, both much older than she is. My aunt does live in a retirement village down south, just outside Miami, but I have no idea where my uncle is. Last I heard, he was entering rehab for the sixth time. My grandparents on my mom’s side don’t have much to do with us, but I couldn’t begin to speculate why. I’ve been told so many different stories that I have no idea what’s the truth and what isn’t.”
He paused, allowing the silence to linger. When he finally did speak, his voice was hoarse and heavy. “So does that mean you’re not interested in following through with this? I’m unsure how to prove I’m not a crazy person.”
I hummed to myself and thought of ways he could prove himself to me. “Well, you said earlier that we should talk and get to know each other, so why don’t we start there?”
“I can do that. What do you want to know? Ask me anything.”
I didn’t handle being put on the spot very well, but decided I’d just go with it and hope more questions would come to me as we went. “Your name is Cassius, but you go by Cash?”
Humor rumbled through the line and filled his words when he said, “It’s Cassius”—he pronounced it Cash-us, not Cass-ee-us like how I’d said it—“and yes, I’ve gone by Cash ever since I was a baby. My dad was a huge Muhammad Ali fan, so when he found out he was having a boy, my mom didn’t even get a vote.”