Karma by the Sea

Author:Traci Hall [Hall, Traci]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kendelle Press
Published: 2015-02-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

She left the hospital room after signing the paperwork for Rita to be in a five day detox/rehab program, where they wanted to monitor her heart and nervous system after pulling her off of decades of pills and booze.

No money. No money. Now she had to wait for Rita to be coherent enough to sign a check.

K met Joe’s sympathetic gaze and her eyes blurred. She hadn’t had an ally in so long it felt surreal. But she knew that Joe was on her side. He stood, took her elbow, and guided her out to the car parked in the garage.

Once she was seated, she leaned forward in her seat. The garage was dark, though sunlight filtered in through the cracks of the cement. “She has to be in a program for five days. Rehab. Pills and booze.”

Joe snickered. “How Hollywood.”

She knew it wasn’t his fault. He cracked jokes all the time—but this was her life they were talking about. “Not funny Joe.”

He immediately looked contrite. “Right. Sorry.”

“I have to go to Chicago.” How could she manage it?

“What’s so important it can’t wait for a week? Another high-society divorcee?”

“I have a client who needs me.” Remembering how scared and thin Jamal had been when she’d taken him under wing, how eager he’d been to embrace change, made her all the more twisted up inside. Like her, Jamal had grown up in neglect. His stormy island happened to be the Chicago back alleys.

“Reschedule.” Joe started the car.

“It isn’t that easy.” She rubbed the headache beginning at her temples. It had taken months, waiting for the court date. Getting just the right judge who had a soft spot for teens in trouble.

“Have you tried?”

She barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. “I’ll handle it.”

“Try. Trust me. I think you are supposed to be here, for Rita.”

“Wrong. I need to be in Chicago for Jamal.”

“Jamal?”

“He’s a kid that, well, he tried to steal my wallet.” She quickly explained the circumstances and Joe laughed.

“You were taken, K. Fleeced by a champion.”

“I was not. Jamal is in the Foster Center doing math as we speak.”

“He’s a con artist.”

“At sixteen?”

“It’s a matter of survival.”

“I know about survival,” she said, affronted.

“This is a different sort of jungle. I lived it for far longer than any teenager should have to. Believe me, he will let you down.”

“I won’t believe such a thing.” Her back stiffened and her jaw clenched. How could he be so callous? Oh yes. He had every reason.

“Okay. Don’t,” Joe said. “But you will get your heart broken.”

“My heart has been broken so many times it can’t break anymore.” She patted her chest and smoothed Rita’s pearls around her throat. “Bound by scar tissue.”

“Liar. You have a big soft heart hiding beneath that super body of yours and I intend to find it.”

“You’re back in your fantasy land,” K said with a reluctant smile.

“It’s not a bad place to be. You should come over to my zip code. We were meant to be together.”

“I don’t believe it.

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