Page 103 of The Complete Truth Duet
“Sit,” she ordered, perching on the edge of the coffee table. She set the bowl beside her and started tearing open gauze, prepping it with antibiotic cream.
In the last ten minutes, she’d cried, cracked a joke, and ignored me.
She’d never apologize. But this, wearing clothes she hated while offering to take care of the wound on my leg, was her olive branch.
I still needed to figure out how to get her a new birth certificate so I could check her into a treatment program. I’d highly underestimated the documentation needed to get a minor medical help. Hell, I had no idea how Cora had registered her in school. According to my research online, I needed everything including a vial of blood and a sacrificial goat to get her enrolled again.
But all of that shit could wait one more day.
And for that reason alone, I folded up the leg of my jeans and propped my boot on the table beside her.
Cora
“No,” I snapped.
“What do you mean no? You gave five grand to Jennifer. And I get two hundred bucks?” Meredith asked, thoroughly insulted.
“You got two hundred bucks and a trip to rehab,” I corrected. “When you finish there and stay clean for another thirty days of outpatient, I’ll pay for a plane ticket for you to go to your sister’s house in Virginia. And when you get a job that actually requires you to pay taxes and stay clean for another thirty days, I’ll pay your first and last months’ rent on an apartment of your own.”
“That’s not fair!” she shouted, looking around the room for someone to back her up.
Jennifer was not surprisingly silent. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks after hearing the news that I—or, really, Penn—was going to pay for her first year of college, and I’d given her five grand to buy a car and a wardrobe with slightly more fabric.
“Meredith, I’m gonna tell you this one more time and then, if you keep this shit up, you are walking out of here with nothing. I am not here to fund your life. I am here to make sure you live long enough to actually have one. So take the damn money. Go buy a toothbrush and some body wash, and I’ll text you the details on the rehab program I find for you. It’s your choice if you want to show up or not. But if you don’t, then this will be the last money you ever get off me. Do you understand?”
She was so pissed that her face was turning red.
I couldn’t have cared less.
Penn had died to get them that money. If they didn’t want it, I’d give it to someone who did. Cut and dry. End of story.
I waved the two hundred bucks in her direction. “Last chance.”
“This is bullshit,” she muttered, but she plucked the money from between my fingers and stomped out.
I wasn’t sure if she’d take me up on my rehab offer, but she needed it. Desperately. She’d been using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain for too long.
And with absolute agony burning my soul, I understood her more than ever. But I didn’t have the ability to fall into the pits of despair like so many of the girls had over the years.
I had to keep going.
Keep moving.
Keep…living.
Even when I couldn’t breathe.
One in. One out.
“Thanks, Cora,” Jennifer said softly before giving me a hug.
“No problem. Get those applications in as soon as possible, and let me know where you get accepted.”
She nodded, more tears falling from her chin.
“And stop crying. You deserve this. You’re smart, Jenn. Just keep your head up, and I know you’ll kick some major college ass.”
“I promise. I will.”
“Now, get out of here. You have some shopping to do.”
She nodded again and started out, but Drew stopped her short of the door.
“You find a car you’re interested in, you call me and I’ll come take a look at it before you buy it. Used-car salesmen love nothing more than to rip off an unsuspecting woman.”
She smiled up at him. “Thanks, Drew.”
He offered her a wink, but there was nothing flirty about it. It was sweet.
With the exception of going back and forth to the storage unit to grab me more cash and the occasional dinner, he hadn’t left our sides since the fire. I wasn’t sure if he was using us as a distraction to escape the reality that he’d really lost his brother. Or maybe he was genuinely worried about me and stayed to keep his finger on the pulse. Either way, it was nice having him around.
At first.
For the last week, we’d all been in a holding pattern. The sun rose every morning and set every night, but that was the only thing that seemed normal anymore. Everything else was foreign territory.
