The Reckless Oath We Made - Bryn Greenwood Page 0,151

table. Then she leaned over and whispered to me, “Will you ask your mom if she wants something?”

“Do you want something out of the vending machine?” I didn’t look at her when I said it, though.

“No, baby. All I want is a hug.”

I didn’t answer her.

Aunt Zee slid the coins off the table into my hand and said, “Get whatever you want.”

I walked all by myself to the other side of the room where the vending machines were. I could have run there—I was a fast runner—but I walked as slow as I could. Heel, toe, heel, toe. I put the coins in as slow as I could, too, using up all the nickels first, because the longer I took, the quicker the ten minutes could be over.

CHAPTER 60

Zee

When I was recuperating from my motorcycle wreck LaReigne had given me this book about Mount Everest. I guess it was supposed to be motivational. People rising above difficulties and challenging themselves to climb the highest mountain. All I remember about Mount Everest is that the altitude is so high, there’s not enough oxygen, and it’s like one hundred degrees below zero. It’s so dangerous that when people die on Mount Everest, they leave them there. There’s one body they call Green Boots, and he’s right on the main route to the top of the mountain. Everybody has to walk past his frozen, mummified corpse that’s been there for two decades. How’s that for motivational?

I thought it was a pretty good description of how relationships are. Everywhere you go, you leave behind the corpses of your failed relationships. If you’re lucky you can shove the body down into a crevasse, so you don’t have to look at it, but some bodies you can’t get rid of. You have to walk past them all the time. I doubt that’s what I was supposed to get out of the book, but there it is.

That’s what I thought about bringing Marcus to visit LaReigne. He would be twenty-six years old before she was eligible for parole. I didn’t want her to be a corpse he had to walk past for the next twenty years, but I didn’t know what the answer was. I thought about how I had promised him we would all be together again, and there was no way to keep that promise. I didn’t agree with Mom that it was my duty to make sure LaReigne had a relationship with Marcus, but I did think he needed to have a relationship with her. I just thought it should be on his terms, which was why she was pissing me off so much.

As soon as he was on his way to the vending machines, LaReigne said, “I don’t see why he can’t give me a hug when I haven’t seen him in so long.”

“Do you have amnesia?” I said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Do you not remember how hard this was when we were kids? Because I remember being terrified, and you’re acting like he’s supposed to be thrilled to see you.” I was trying not to lose my temper with her, but she wasn’t helping me.

“And what’s this nonsense about Sir Gentry’s dog? Isn’t Gentry in prison?”

“Marcus knows Gentry’s in prison. Just like his mommy and daddy.”

“If it weren’t for me, his Aunt Zee would be, too,” LaReigne said.

“Yeah, and I’m the only one who’s ever going to bring Marcus to see you, so stop wasting your breath threatening me.”

For a minute, we looked at each other, and then LaReigne blinked and smiled like everything was fine. I’d seen her swallow her feelings like that a hundred times with Loudon. I didn’t know what to think about her doing it with me.

“I was starting to think you were never bringing him to see me. Mom says you’ve had visitation for three months.”

“Did she tell you I only get him every other weekend?” I said.

“That’s six times he could have come to see me.” She was still smiling, but it was fake.

“I tried to bring him two weekends ago, but he cried so much I felt like shit, so I didn’t make him come inside. He cried this time, too. Seriously, do you not remember that?”

“I was older than you,” LaReigne said.

“He’s almost the same age I was.”

“How’s money? I know Mom’s phone bill is a lot, but it’s hard to get her off the phone once she gets started.”

Like that was all on Mom. She only accepted the charges when LaReigne called. I