I chuckle under my breath. Noah’s bed is pretty damn sturdy. There’s no way we could have broken that.
Violet gets Tully to her feet and instantly wraps her arms around her. “Congratulations, baby. I knew you could do it.”
“Well, I didn’t exactly do it,” she says. “Noah was the one who applied and made me appear like some kind of shining star.”
“You are a shining star,” Violet says proudly. “But I do think you owe it to your brother to head down to the fire station and let him know. He’ll be pissed if he finds out you made him wait.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Tully laughs as she scurries around her room, searching for the acceptance letter that she knows Noah will demand to see. She looks back at me. “Are you coming?”
“I wouldn’t miss seeing his reaction for the world.”
“Alright,” Violet says. ‘”Just hurry back. I know your brother insisted that he pay for your tuition fees but I won’t allow him to do that. You need to find yourself a job and chip in. You’re not getting a free ride.”
“Ok,” Tully says proudly before grabbing my hand and hauling me out the door with Ari following along. “We’ll be back in a bit.”
We hurry out up the hallway and into the living room where we have to stop and help Ari get her shoes on, only, as usual, she insists on tying her shoelaces herself. I sit on the coffee table, waiting impatiently as Tully goes over the details of making the bunny ears.
A familiar name on the television draws my attention and I glance up to find a picture of Kelly on the midday news report. My mouth drops open as footage of what must be her home, is raided by cops and she’s led out the door in handcuffs.
I scramble around for the remote and quickly turn it up while situating myself in front of Ari so she can’t see the screen, though it wouldn’t really matter because her attention is solely on her shoes.
I listen in as the reporter tells us about the Haven Falls local being caught with an excessive amount of drugs and due to her prior arrests, court hearings, and probationary period being violated, she’ll now be heading straight for the slammer.
I can’t help but gape at the screen. I could have sworn she had gotten herself clean and she doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman to be dealing. She’s seemed more of the kind to get herself dosed up and then doze off.
I look back at Tully. “Are you hearing this?”
“Yeah, but…who is that?”
My eyes drop down to Ari before glancing up at Tully. ‘Her mom,’ I mouth silently.
Tully’s eyes go wide and she pushes up from the ground, cringing before clutching onto her hip. She steps right into my side. “Are you sure?” she whispers.
I look at her blankly. “Of course, I’m sure. She was my mom for eighteen freaking years, remember?”
“I know, but…you know?”
“No. I don’t know.”
My phone buzzes in my jeans and I pull it out as I continue watching the screen, only glancing down when it’s right up in my face. I open the text and gape down at it. It’s an unknown number, but there’s no mistaking who it’s from.
Unknown – Looks like Mommy Dearest is on her way to spend a little quality time with your other Mommy Dearest. You can thank me later.
Holy. Shit.
I knew it. Kelly was clean. Anton set her up and my gut is telling me that’s because I told him to make her pay.
What the hell have I done? I never meant for this to happen. I figure he would scare her a little, let her know what would happen if she ever came near Ari again, but setting her up and putting her in prison? No. That’s too much.
“I, um…I should head home and tell dad about this,” I tell her, flicking my gaze down to Ari. “Do you think you could hold onto her for a bit? I’ll come by later and pick her up.”
“Sure,” she says. “Whatever’s easiest.”
With that, I say a quick goodbye to Aria and head out the door, feeling like absolute shit. Kelly is an awful person who has treated my little sister like trash, but prison? I don’t know. Personally, I’d love for her to rot away there, but being responsible for putting her away for a crime she didn’t actually commit is going to sit on my conscious for the rest of my life.
I get into my car and I’m home before I even realize it. I don’t think I was able to concentrate on a damn thing on the drive over here.
I notice dad’s truck in the drive and let out a breath. He got home this morning and was exhausted which was why I took Ari out for the day. I figured he just needs some rest and time to himself to get over the craziness of the past few weeks. I mean, I know I have.