Chapter Twenty-Three
Preston
A loud banging sound interrupted my dreams. I tried to block it out. I wasn’t ready for this dream to end. Amanda was laughing and running down the beach while I chased her. She didn’t hate me. She still loved me. The banging was joined with a ringing noise and some yelling. I peeled open my eyes and glanced over at the clock. It was four in the afternoon. I’d slept all day. I hadn’t gotten home from work until almost four this morning. Then I’d been too jacked up on coffee to sleep. It had been almost seven before I crashed. I had to go back to work at eight tonight.
The banging reminded me of why I was awake. I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the door before whoever was on the other side beat it down.
I jerked it open to see Marcus standing on the other side. “Shit, man, I was getting ready to break the door down. I’ve been calling you, and then banging on this door for over ten minutes when that didn’t work.”
“I was sleeping. I’m working nights now, you know.”
“That’s right. I forgot you worked last night. Listen, I need to tell you something, and I don’t know how you’re gonna take it, so you might want to sit down.”
This was not something you wanted to wake up to. “What is it?” I demanded. I didn’t need to sit down, I just needed to know.
“It’s your mom. She overdosed.” He paused and waited for a reaction from me.
“Did it kill her this time?” This wasn’t her first overdose.
Marcus placed his hand on my shoulder and let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, man. It did.”
I turned and headed for my room to put on some clothes. The kids would need me. I slipped on some jeans and tried to figure out how I could fit all three kids in here and take care of them when I was working nights. Without my mom’s rent and utilities I’d have a little extra to hire a sitter.
“You okay?” Marcus asked from the doorway of my room.
“She was junkie, Marcus. It was bound to happen. I just need to get to the kids. They’re probably scared.”
The tightness in my chest surprised me. I wouldn’t grieve for this woman. She’d done nothing for me in my life. I swallowed the weak emotion from the little boy deep inside who had wanted his mother to love him. Even a little. I’d figured out long ago she never would. I wouldn’t shed a tear for her now.
“The kids are fine. Amanda has all three of them. They’re getting ice cream, then going to the park. She sent me to find you. There are custody issues you have to deal with.”
Amanda had the kids? How? Why? No matter how much they liked her, they would have called me first.
“How did Amanda know to get the kids?”
“Your younger brother called her. Told her your mom hadn’t woken up in two days, and Amanda left school and rushed over there. She also had him call 911 while he waited on her to arrive. They couldn’t reach you, so they called her.”
Brent had called Amanda. My chest hurt. All three kids had been upset when I’d had to tell them I wouldn’t be bringing Amanda around anymore. Daisy had even cried. But they’d known they could count on her when they couldn’t get me on the phone. A lump formed in my throat, and I grabbed my keys and headed for the door.
“I know she left you for the Stone guy, and I’m sorry about that, man.”
So that was what she had told him. She’d left me for Jason Stone. Was she even dating him, or had it just been her way to cover up the truth?
“You were right. I wasn’t good enough for her. She finally wised up and saw it too.” I opened the door and headed down the stairs. I couldn’t talk about this with Marcus. Not right now.
“For what it’s worth, she still cares about you. She was really upset about this, and she was worried sick over those kids.”
“The kids love her” was the only reply I had.
“But you don’t?”
I stopped and looked back at him. I’d told enough lies. I wasn’t going to keep on telling them just to make everyone feel better. “I’ll always love her. Always.” I jerked open the door to my Jeep and jumped inside. “Where am I going?” I asked.
“DHR is waiting on you at the trailer.”
I shifted into drive and took off.
I wouldn’t have to fight Momma for the kids now. She’d made it easy. I wasn’t exactly the best option as a parent, but anything was better than her. And I didn’t want them separated. I couldn’t let them go. I’d figure this out somehow.
Amanda
I held Daisy’s cotton candy ice-cream cone while she ran over to the slide to go down it another time. She alternated between taking a lick of her ice cream and sliding. The ice cream wasn’t going to last too much longer. The sun was getting the best of it.
“Has Preston called you yet?” Jimmy asked, taking the seat beside me.
“No, but my brother did find him, and he is at the trailer talking to the people who determine where you go. He’s an adult and your closest relative, so he should have no problem getting custody,” I assured him. Brent and Daisy were too young to think about the legal issues. But it was bothering Jimmy. He understood the courts had rules.
“What if he doesn’t want us full-time?” Jimmy asked.
“He will.”
“He never tried to take us from Mom.”
“Because she would have fought him on it, and he’d have lost. He was also afraid that he’d draw attention to the situation and they’d take all of you away from him and each other.”
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, he explained that to me. I’m just worried that they will do it now.”
. My daddy was buddies with two of the three judges who could possibly hear this case. They played golf every Saturday morning and had since I was a little girl. If I had to go to my daddy and beg and plead with him for their help, I would.
“I promise you this will be okay.”