Poison & Wine - Melissa Toppen Page 0,84
bad. You know what I don’t need? I don’t need to be up all night worrying about you. To be calling emergency rooms to make sure that no one matching your description was brought in. To drag my daughter out of bed at the butt crack of dawn to drive all over town trying to find you. So forgive me if I don’t give a shit about what you need right now!” I stomp my foot like a child. “Now tell me where the hell you were.”
“Shit, Oakley. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry, and I certainly never wanted you to have to go looking for me.”
“Where were you?” I repeat.
“Where’s Ellie?” He looks around, as if just realizing I’m alone.
“She’s with Keira. Now stop avoiding the question and tell me where you’ve been all night.”
“I was in Parkview, okay?” He throws his hands up.
“Why were you in Parkview?” My suspicion continues to mount. Parkview, our hometown. The place where all his dealers and druggie friends live. What reason could he possibly have to go back there? “You know what, don’t answer that. I already know why you were there.” I don’t want to hear whatever excuse he’s about to tell me and make up my own conclusion instead.
“Oakley, you’re being ridiculous. Let me explain.”
“Oh, I’ll let you explain alright. As soon as you take this.” I push past him and tug open the bottom drawer next to the sink where I stashed a couple of drug test kits I got from the hospital just in case I ever needed them.
I pull one out and turn, waving it in front of his face.
“You want me to take a drug test?” He seems surprised and honestly, a little pissed.
“If you’ve got nothing to hide then it shouldn’t be a big deal.” I press the kit into his chest and wait for him to take it.
“Wow.” He steps back, shaking his head from side to side. “I knew you didn’t trust me, but I didn’t realize your mistrust ran so deep.”
“Well you have yourself to blame for that.” I point to the bathroom. “Now go. And don’t even think about closing the door.”
I’m being crazy. I know that. But I’ve been burned by this man one too many times to take him at his word. Maybe had I been more insistent the last time, I wouldn’t have almost died. I won’t apologize for protecting myself, and I most certainly will not apologize for protecting my daughter.
“You know what, you want me to take this?” He waves the test in my face. “Fine, I’ll fucking take it.” His nostrils flare as he spins on his heel and takes off into the bathroom.
I watch him closely as he rips open the test, pulls out the cup, and pees into it. Twisting the cap back on, he turns around, slamming it onto the counter moments later.
“There’s your fucking test. And while I’m at it, here’s this too.” He digs into his pocket and pulls something out, shoving it into my hand.
I look down at the woven thread and pearl beads, my heart sinking into my stomach when I realize what it is.
“My grandmother’s bracelet.” I choke around the words. “How… How did you get this?”
My grandma made me this bracelet when I was eleven. It’s the last thing she ever gave me before she died. I used to wear it every day. I never took it off. But when I woke up in the hospital the day after the accident, it was gone. And it wasn’t with any of my belongings that I had been brought in with, so I assumed it was among the wreckage and I held no hope of ever seeing it again.
“After the accident, and you left town, I went back to the sight of the crash. I don’t know why or what I hoped to find. Almost everything had been cleared away. There were some small scrapes of metal and broken glass on the side of the road but that was it. And then, just as I was about to leave, I looked down and I saw that bracelet.” His voice still has a dark edge to it, and I know without a doubt that I pushed too hard. That I came at him without giving him even a second to explain. “I left it in the treehouse. In the little metal box you kept on the shelf. The other day I saw Ellie had one almost