Bad Boy Blues(103)

I’m at the kitchen island when I hear the news and I’m already off the bar stool when Maggie comes and stops me. “You’re not going anywhere. You have to take care of yourself.”

“But –”

“He’s going to be fine. We went down to the station, all the senior staff members, and gave our statement about how Mr. Prince has been abusive for the past few years. They won’t hold Zach for anything. They’re just trying to throw their weight around.”

I look at her in disbelief. “You knew about the abuse?”

Sighing sadly, she sits me down. “Yes. All of the old staff members. We knew.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because we’re just… the staff. No one would’ve believed us. Plus, Mrs. Prince never came forward and pressed charges. It’s us against them. They own this town. This time though, there were witnesses, evidence. There are marks on her skin. I’m not sure if it will amount to anything but it will arouse suspicion.”

Then something occurs to me. Something horrifying.

“Do you think h-his dad would press charges against him?”

Mr. Prince is in the hospital but they say he’s going to be okay. I don’t even want to think about what would happen to Zach if he weren’t.

This time around, Maggie’s smile is even sadder and that gets my tired and hurting heart racing.

“You don’t understand these people, Cleo,” she explains. “All they care about is appearances. When Master Zach came back, they threw a party when they were the ones who kicked him out. They lied about where he went. They’ve been lying about the abuse, Mrs. Prince’s illness. They’ll lie about this too. So it’ll be Princes’ word against the world. And this is their world.”

She’s right.

This is their world. They control it. They write the story. They spread the rumors.

I want to cross the boundary, the line that separates me from them. That takes me far, far away from this shitty town and its shitty people.

In all the craziness, I forgot to tell everyone that I quit.

When Tina comes back from her shift, I sit her and Maggie – she’s been my babysitter all day while everyone visited me – down and tell them. They’re both happy for me. They’ve been wanting me to go and explore. Do the things I wanted to do before I lost my parents. Only they didn’t know that I’ve been afraid to do them for so long.

Only he knows.

I spend the night packing. Not that I have a lot of things with me, but still. When I go to pack the black t-shirt Zach threw at me when he kicked me out, I realize that my mom’s nightie is up in his room.

Somehow, I forgot about that.

I thought getting parted from one last thing that belonged to my mom would devastate me. It’d be like she died all over again.

But I’m okay.

Her nightie is not her and neither is our house.

Besides, I feel kinda content knowing that Zach has something of me. His instinct would be to throw it away. But still.

When I’m done packing, I sit down and write a letter.

It’s unplanned and impulsive. But when I start, I can’t stop.

The next day, Sunday, is spent saying goodbye to everyone and collecting my last paycheck. Mrs. S is stern, as usual. But still, she says I did a very brave thing, coming to Mrs. Prince’s rescue. She doesn’t say anything about how Zach came to my rescue but whatever. She doesn’t have a right to say anything anyway. I don’t work for her anymore.

Leslie and Grace both hug me and fuss over me and tell me to send them pictures of all the places I visit.

“I always knew he liked you,” whispers Grace.

Tears fill my eyes and I nod. “Yeah. He liked me.”

Then the time comes to say goodbye to a little boy I’ll miss the most: Art.

I spend my last evening with him. We watch movies. I make him his favorite pancakes. I read him his favorite story.

“Where’s Zach?” he asks.

A lump forms in my throat and a tiny little gasp comes out that I manage to cover up with a cough. “He’s out. But he’ll be back.”

“When?”

“Maybe tomorrow.”

“Will he leave like you?” he asks, staring at me with innocent, sad eyes.

I can’t stop my tears then.

Technically, Art’s nothing to me. We don’t share a blood relationship. I didn’t even know him before last year, but I feel like I’ve known him forever.

He’s my little brother. My baby. Orphaned and bullied like me. And like me, totally enamored with Zach.

I grab his hand and play with his tiny fingers. “Yeah. But you know what?”

“What?”

I kiss his first finger. “One day you’re going to leave too.”

“Me?”

I kiss his second finger. “Yes. You’re going to leave this town and you’re going to go somewhere real nice. Maybe a city or another town where they have lakes and mountains and there’s just so much sky, and winter. Snow, maybe. Do you like snow?”

He beams. “I’ve never seen it.”

“I know. We live in a hot place, huh?” I’m at his third finger now. “Well, then you’ll go to a snowy town and you’ll love it there. And you’ll meet all these interesting people and you’ll make all the friends.”