Anything but Broken by Joelle Knox

Author:Joelle Knox [Knox, Joelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781942432029
Publisher: Joelle Knox
Published: 2015-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

13

»» sean ««

My mother knows how to time her battles—being married to my dad and raising four kids taught her that much, I guess. I expect her to launch into an inquisition as soon as I’m up on the stepladder on the sun porch, trapped beneath the weight of the dislodged ceiling fan.

But she’s silent as I check the wiring, even heads back into the kitchen for a few minutes before returning with a glass of lemonade. “The casserole’s almost ready.”

My stomach rumbles as I fit the base of the ceiling fan back into place. “Everything looks good. Did the bulbs that blew all come from the same box?”

“They did.”

“Could be a bad batch.”

“I’ll pick up some more tomorrow.” She hesitates, then smiles, and I know she’s about to fire the first shot. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Hannah Casey.”

I’m ready for it, and I still feel like a kid who broke a window with a carelessly thrown baseball. “You told me I could bring her to Sadie’s.”

“And I meant it. I want you to be careful, that’s all.”

Jesus Christ. First Gibb, now her. At least she’s my mother, so it makes sense for her to be worried. “It’s fine, Mom. Hannah is not—”

“Cait,” she finishes, then adds pointedly, “I know that. That’s not remotely the issue.”

She doesn’t elaborate, and I tell myself not to ask. Actually steel myself against it, but the words come anyway as I finish setting the last screw into place and begin to tighten them. “So what is the issue? As far as you’re concerned, I mean.”

The look she flashes me is sheer disbelief with a touch of amusement. “Sometimes you’re just like your father,” she proclaims as she settles onto one of the wicker chairs in the corner. “He did that, too. Wanted people to tell him what he already knew so it wouldn’t look like indecision.”

Right now, Hannah’s the only thing I don’t doubt. I’m a little harder on myself. “She’s having a tough time. Tough times make people do things they wouldn’t normally do.” Things like let college slide. Things like hide out at a friend’s house.

Things like me.

I finish securing the fan, hop off the ladder, and retrieve my lemonade from my mom’s outstretched hand. She doesn’t say anything—at least not out loud—but I recognize that look. Go on, it says. There’s more.

I buy a few seconds by gulping down the lemonade and setting the glass carefully on the stepladder. “Once Hannah gets her stuff figured out, she’s probably gonna move on. I can deal with that.”

“Can you?” my mother asks quietly.

I think about Hannah—her hair wrapped around my fingers, or the way her nose wrinkles when she’s not quite sure she wants to laugh at something. About how she’s still open, even though her shitty life could have shut her down, made her bitter.

I set the Phillips head screwdriver beside the glass and shove my hands into my pockets. “I can deal with it,” I repeat with a shrug.

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