Harder (Caroline & West #2) by Robin York

Author:Robin York [York, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780349404226
Google: C-P1AgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00IA2E50Q
Publisher: Piatkus
Published: 2014-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

From where I stand, leaning against the exterior of the school building, Frankie’s face is visible in profile.

She’s got her head bent, her hair pushed behind her ear and scattered over her shoulder. I told her to brush it this morning, but it looks like she forgot.

She’s sitting in my truck, and I’m pressing the back of my head against unyielding brick, letting the rough surface bite into the underside of my fingers.

All I can see is Frankie. The fine little-girl lines of her face. Her thin shoulders and scraggly hair and black sweatshirt.

Ten years old, alone in a cold car.

Caroline pushes my shoulder, a gentle shove. “West. I’m talking to you.”

“I heard you.”

I didn’t, though. I’m not quite inside myself. I’m set apart, noticing the pressure of the brick teeth on my palm, observing my sister, listening to a recording of everything the counselor said without feeling any of it.

Frankie needs enrichment. They haven’t got her test scores back, but she’s doing work above grade level in every subject.

She’s unhappy. She’s in his office three or four times a week. She’s walking out of her classroom to sit in the chair by his door or across from his desk, and that’s okay. She’s allowed to do that. He cleared it with her teacher. He gave my sister a safe space to go to when she needs it.

He’d like to see her make more friends.

He’d like to see her talking more at school, would love to give her more opportunities across the board, and he wants to know if I’ve thought about music or art lessons, because sometimes they help kids who are dealing with grief.

I guess that means she told him about Dad.

What else does she tell him when she goes to sit in the safe space he made for her?

What does she tell Caroline on their long afternoons together?

Obviously a fuck of a lot more than she tells me.

Caroline faces me. “West.”

“I’m going to quit at the factory,” I say.

“You don’t have to. I can pick her up every day. I don’t have any classes that late.”

“I need to be around.”

She reaches out with a fingertip and hooks my sleeve. I watch her rub the cloth between her thumb and her finger like she wants to touch me but she can’t get close enough to do it.

“You should go,” I say. Never have I felt less like I deserved her loyalty.

She takes my hand.

I let her.

“Last year,” I say.

“What about last year?”

“I was pretending.”

“Which part?”

“The part where I had a life outside of taking care of Frankie.”

“But you did have a life here. It wasn’t imaginary.”

“Look what came from that, though.”

“You didn’t cause it. You didn’t make your mom get back with your dad, you didn’t kill him, you didn’t make it so Frankie had to see it.”

“She told you she saw it?” The knowledge sweeps through me, leaving me cold.

Of course she did.

My mother lied. My sister witnessed a murder.

She told Caroline, but she didn’t tell me.

“I’m sorry,” Caroline says.

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