Under the Light - By Laura Whitcomb Page 0,52

as Mitch looked from one of us to the other.

“What did I tell you?” Mitch slammed the door.

“She’s just leaving,” said Billy. “Don’t worry. She dumped me.”

I stood up and realized my shirt was not tucked in, but I was too shy to fix it in front of his brother.

Mitch looked me up and down, and even though his fists were tight, his face relaxed as he picked up my bag. “Time to go,” he told me.

I hoped Billy would try to stop us, or at least come with us, but he sat on the arm of the couch looking exhausted as Mitch led me out on the porch.

I wanted to go back and tell him that I loved him, even if he didn’t feel the same. I opened my mouth but no words came out. I can tell him at school, I thought. Only we would never go to the same school again. I panicked at the idea of losing him. With the ghosts gone, there was nothing linking the two of us anymore. If he didn’t want me, I was lost.

Mitch shut the door and was leading me down the steps by the elbow as if I might run for it. I asked him to take me to the library and he gave me a funny look.

“My mother’s picking me up there,” I explained.

He smiled at the idea that I had lied to her about my plans for the day. On the way there he held an unlit cigarette in his mouth for a while, finally flicking it to the dashboard when there were only a few blocks to go.

“Did you really break up with him?” he asked.

“I guess,” I told him. “I’m not sure what happened.”

Mitch didn’t look at me—kept his gaze on the road and the rearview mirror. “He’s a good kid, but he doesn’t need another heartbreak right now.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted Billy. Maybe I didn’t deserve him, but it was too sad how short a time together we’d had.

“I know you’ll probably change your mind in a few hours,” said Mitch. “I’m not blind. I can see how you are together, but we don’t even know what’s happening to him after tomorrow.”

“What’s tomorrow?” I asked.

“Did he really not talk about any of that?” Mitch sighed. He reached up and caught the cigarette again as he pulled up to the curb outside the main branch. He put the car in park and took a lighter from his pocket, waiting for me to get out before he lit up.

“Is Billy in trouble?” I asked as I opened my door.

Mitch paused with the flame ready. “Nothing for you to worry about, kid. Have a nice life.”

A puff of smoke trailed after the car as it drove off.

CHAPTER 22

Helen

ALL THE WAY HOME FROM THE LIBRARY, Cathy was lost in thought. She didn’t notice that Jenny was sad. At home, the dining room table was stacked high with organized file folders, photocopied papers stapled or paper-clipped together; accordion files with titles such as HOUSE and MONTHLY EXPENSES stood beside open file boxes.

Jenny reached to open a file labeled PARENTING but withdrew her hand when Cathy came into the room.

“Dad was the one who left us,” Jenny told her. “He can’t get custody of me.”

“He says legally—”

Jenny interrupted her. “He doesn’t know how the law works.”

“He knows how to make deals,” said Cathy. “He knows how to blackmail people.”

“But you won’t let him take me.” Jenny came up and stood beside Cathy’s shoulder. “Right?”

Cathy was looking over her documents, eyes flicking nervously from one to another.

“I’m trying,” she said absently.

“You’re my mom,” said Jenny.

I wanted to sweep her away from rejection, but she needed to ask her mother for help. She needed to see with her own eyes, and hear for herself, if Cathy was not up to the task of loving her.

“Don’t I get to say who I want to go with?” Jenny asked.

Cathy put a belated arm around the girl’s shoulder. A hollow gesture, not even an afterthought. “I didn’t get your homeschooling materials yet,” she said. “I can go tomorrow.”

“It’s okay.” Jenny rested her head on Cathy’s shoulder. “Mom?”

She answered automatically. “Yes?”

“You know during the time I can’t remember . . . Did my voice sound different?” Jenny looked up at her mother, waiting. “Did I use words I don’t usually use, or did I have an accent or anything?”

“What?” Cathy separated from the girl, her brow tight and strained. “Of course not.