The sad reality was that after many temporary fixes, her car was dead. There was no possibility of reviving it. The junkyard had offered her a flat hundred bucks and she took it. That hundred dollars, however, wasn’t going to provide reliable transportation. Her only recourse was to ask for a loan—and the only person she could approach was her sister, Teri.
With a knot in her stomach, Christie made the call. Teri answered so quickly, she must’ve been sitting next to the phone.
“Can you talk?” she asked, trying to keep any hint of anxiety out of her voice.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“I’d rather do this face-to-face,” Christie told her. She felt like weeping, which was an anomaly on its own. She didn’t easily give in to emotion. Oh, she’d cried her share of tears, but generally it took a crisis like having her bank account emptied by some low-life scum she’d been convinced she could reform. She’d wept buckets over that, and her divorce, too. What upset her this time was the fact that it wasn’t a man but a stupid car.
“Come on by,” Teri said. “I’d love the company.”
“That’s…the problem. I don’t have a car.”
“What happened?”
Christie didn’t want to go into all of that now. “Has Bobby hired a new driver?”
“Not yet. Bobby’s positive James will return. I—”
“Please don’t talk about James,” she interrupted stiffly. Even his name was enough to make her stomach tense.
“Okay, if that’s the way you want it.”
“Ido.”
“Take a taxi to the house and I’ll pay for it.”
Although Christie appreciated the offer, she refused to do that. “I’ll take the bus.”
“Christie, don’t be silly.”
“It’s no problem. Buses run regularly this time of day.”
Still Teri hesitated. “I’d come and get you myself but the doctor doesn’t want me driving.”
Christie wasn’t surprised. Teri was due in May, although with triplets she’d probably deliver early. “When did he say you couldn’t drive?”
“At my last visit. Doc wants to play it safe. Okay, I know it’s for a good reason, but I have to tell you I’m going crazy sitting around the house. I could definitely use a distraction.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Grab a taxi,” Teri insisted again.
“I’ll think about it.” Actually, Christie already had and she’d dismissed the idea. She was coming to Teri for a loan as it was and she didn’t want her sister having to open her wallet for cab fare before they’d even begun the conversation. And no way was she spending fifteen hard-won dollars herself if she didn’t have to.
There was nothing wrong with the bus. She would normally have considered it for transportation to her job, but she worked the early shift at Wal-Mart and the bus schedule was extremely limited at that time of the morning.
The queasiness in her stomach hadn’t lessened as she made the long trek down Teri and Bobby’s driveway. Walking to the house, she automatically glanced at the garage and the apartment above it, where James had once lived. She chastised herself for looking.
James was out of her life, out of all their lives. Bobby might be deluding himself that his driver and best friend would return. Best friend, now that was a joke. Some friend James had been!
When she finally reached the door and rang the bell, her nose had lost feeling. Her winter jacket was little protection against the wind, which seemed to slice straight through her. She kept her hands clenched in her pockets for warmth.
“You’re frozen!” Teri shrieked when she saw her. “I told you to take a cab.”
Rather than start an argument, Christie conceded. “Yeah, I should have.”
“Come in, come in.” Teri pulled her into the house and helped her off with her coat and gloves.
Mutely Christie followed her sister into the kitchen and gladly accepted a mug of hot herbal tea. The first sip burned all the way down her throat, but Christie didn’t care. The taste and aroma of the tea revived her.
Slipping onto a stool at the breakfast bar, she braced her elbows there, clutching the mug with both hands, as she considered the best approach to asking her sister for the loan. This was even more difficult than she’d expected. It made her feel like such a failure when she was working so hard to get her life on track. Her credit had been ruined by yet another deadbeat she’d thought she could transform. There’d been a transformation, all right—a negative one. The guy had become an even bigger jerk, and he’d ripped her off, to boot. Why was it lessons like this had to be so painful, with consequences that lingered for years?
Teri seemed to be waiting for her to say something.
“I took your advice,” she said conversationally.
Teri set her mug on the counter and clambered onto the stool directly across from her. “What advice was that?”
“Remember when you said I should make some positive changes in my life? You were right. I’ve signed up for two courses at the community college in Bremerton.”
“Really?” Teri seemed impressed.
Actually, Christie was impressed with herself. “I never figured I’d be hanging around a college campus at my age.”
“You’re not old.”
Christie laughed. “I am compared to most of those kids.” Shaking her head, she sighed. “Were we ever that young?”
“We were born old,” Teri said with a sad look. “The education we got wasn’t in history or literature, it was in the ways of the world.”
That was true. Having grown up with an alcoholic mother and a series of stepdads and “uncles,” Christie knew they’d both been robbed of a normal childhood.