Rapid Falls(21)

“Well, maybe a little drunk by then. It was late,” I said, looking up at him with my lids slightly lowered. He nodded and wrote something down.

“Who was left?”

“Anna, of course. Wade. Most of the girls’ track team. Some of the hard-cores, like Todd Carter and those guys.”

“And how was Anna?”

“What do you mean?” I knew it was the question he had been waiting to ask.

“Was she drinking?”

I paused. I couldn’t lie, even if I wanted to. The blood work had already ensured that everyone in town knew the answer to his question.

“Yeah.” It was true. Just not in the way he thought.

“Taking pills?”

Careful, Cara. “I’m not sure,” I lied again.

He looked at me skeptically before making another note. “So you took the back way down from the Field because you knew she was impaired? Is that how you got past my officers?”

I didn’t answer. He motioned to the tape recorder, indicating I needed to speak. It was the first time I saw impatience flash on his face. I knew he was disappointed in my sister’s decisions. Maybe even angry.

“Yeah,” I whispered. She was my sister. It was still hard to betray her, even after everything she had done.

The sergeant sighed deeply. “So if you and Anna were both drunk, why didn’t someone else drive home? Why would you let Anna drive?”

Goose bumps prickled my neck. I could never explain my actions—what I’d done was unforgivable. “I thought she was okay.”

The frown on the officer’s face felt like a death sentence. I realized suddenly that this was the noose that he’d been trying to tie around my neck. I was complicit, just as guilty as my sister. She was going to drag me down with her. Suddenly something changed in his eyes, and he leaned over and clicked the tape recorder off. I remembered the time he handed me a five-dollar bill as a tip for collecting bats. I never received more than a dollar from anybody else.

“I stopped by the shop yesterday. Needed an oil change.”

I nodded, as if I wasn’t surprised by the non sequitur about my dad’s garage.

“Look, Cara. You were drinking too, right?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe Anna hid her drinking from you? Maybe you were just having a good time. Maybe you trusted your sister.”

I looked at him incredulously and nodded slowly. He was offering me a way out.

“Me and your dad go back, Cara. He needs one of you to be clean on this. Let’s try those questions again.” The tape buzzed like an angry wasp as he erased my last answer and absolved me forever.





CHAPTER NINE

July 2016

Maggie wakes up early, stirring around five thirty. Rick is snoring beside me, and for a few moments I listen to Maggie’s quiet chatter to the stuffed dog she sleeps with every night. She is an early riser, but she often wakes slowly, gently sliding between dreams and consciousness rather than abruptly jumping awake, like me. Lately I jerk out of sleep before my dreams are finished, gasping as if the bed beneath me is a sheet of ice-cold water, then wait an hour or so for Maggie to wake up. I can never fall asleep again after I dream of the river. When her murmurs turn into a call, I slip out of bed and cross the hallway. In the half light of dawn, I see her sweet smile as I walk into the room.

Rick comes out of the bedroom about an hour later. His hair is tousled, and his eyes look soft with sleep.

“Let’s go away tonight.”

“What?” I look up from the tower of blocks I am building with Maggie. Only the night before we’d been arguing about my mom’s new plan for Anna. “Where would we go?”

“Griffith Hot Springs? I’m sure your mom could stay over. Maggie, do you want to have a sleepover with Grandma?”

“Yeah!”

Rick breaks into a grin. “That’s settled then. Nice dinner, a little time to ourselves?” He looks at me and raises one eyebrow. Suddenly I notice how his thin, worn T-shirt hugs his chest. A night with just the two of us sounds perfect.

“That is a fantastic idea. I can ask James—” I stop to correct my error. “I’ll have someone book it today. Are you okay to call my mom? I’ll throw together a bag now so we can leave right after I finish work.”

Rick nods. “Perfect. Awesome.” He shimmies into a little dance as he wanders into the kitchen. “Coffee?”

I hug Maggie’s small body against mine, and she giggles. I love the life that Rick and I have built, the family we’ve made. Meeting Rick was the best thing that ever happened to me. He proved that I could leave Rapid Falls behind. He gave me so much more than I ever could have had with Jesse. He loved me best.



Sometimes I still can’t believe how it all worked out for me. One year after the accident, in between my first and second year of college, I lucked into a three-month-long summer internship for Larry. A few people in the office knew about the accident, but I was good at deflecting questions about it after having been asked several times in the first few months of school. I looked down sadly and told them that it was all a terrible mistake. Drinking and driving was no joke. They nodded solemnly when I changed the subject, respecting my need for a new start. I was Cara Piper, the girl with the sad story who had risen above it all and moved on. They didn’t see the sweat that coated me at night at the thought of feeling nothing but water beneath me.