Committed by Portia Moore

Author:Portia Moore [Moore, Portia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-01T18:30:00+00:00

My anxiety is at an all-time high the next morning as I walk downstairs to meet the town car that’s picking me up for my appointment. Rose texted me this morning to let me know what time it would be there—thankfully not asking any more questions about the apartments—and when I open the door, I see that Kate and Jackson are already inside.

“Good morning, Madison,” Kate says, her voice much warmer than I expected, and it catches me off guard. I’m sure it has something to do with her excitement from thinking about her grandchild, but it’s nice to hear a friendly voice anyway, especially this morning.

Jackson, on the other hand, is cooler, just giving me a quick nod. “Morning, Madison,” he says, before giving the driver directions to the clinic.

“How have you been?” he asks once the driver is on the road, leaning back against the seat as he looks at me.

“Fine,” I say, trying to keep my voice even and not give away how nervous I am. “I went to see my family in Chicago, and stayed a little longer than I meant to—it was very much needed. I think I feel a little better now.”

“Family is so important,” Kate says pointedly, glancing over at Jackson and I. “And it’s always important to put them first before your own selfish needs,” she quips, her gaze locking onto Jackson, and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat before looking out the window and saying nothing.

“Have you said anything to Alex?” I ask Kate quickly, trying to change the subject. “How is he doing?”

“Not yet, and as well as one can expect,” she tells me, her expression warning that she’s not going to give much away about Alex. I feel so helpless and wonder how long this is going to go on, her feeding me tiny bits of information and holding back everything else until she decides it’s time for me to know.

“After the appointment, we’re going over to the apartment,” Kate continues, steering the topic away from Alex. “Since you couldn’t make up your mind, I chose one for you. We’ll go over and look at it so you can start making plans to move and decide how you want to go about settling in.”

You mean how you want me to go about settling in. I don’t say anything to Kate, and Jackson has remained silent the entire time, leaving the three of us locked in awkward silence for the rest of the drive. It’s clear that none of us are comfortable being here, and we would all rather be anywhere else—and neither Jackson or I are happy with Kate’s iron fist controlling everything.

I don’t have health insurance, so my appointment is at a public health clinic that works on a sliding scale. The waiting room is so packed that I feel claustrophobic as I check in and fill out my information, giving the sheet back to a tired-looking, overworked receptionist. The awkward silence from the car extends here, as

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.