Page 18 of Valley Girls
“You’re going to be okay, baby. I know it. Don’t miss me too much.”
“Love you,” Rilla said.
“Love you too.”
Mom hung up. Rilla handed the phone back to Thea.
“What did she say?”
Rilla shrugged.
Thea’s eyes narrowed. “You okay? Where were you at?”
“Not in trouble,” Rilla snapped.
“Did I say you were? I asked where you were.”
“I don’t know. In the woods. With Walker and some climbers.”
Surprise flickered on Thea’s face. “Rock climbers? Walker?”
Rilla nodded.
Thea pushed back her hair, eyes narrowing. “Hmm ... well, you have all that schoolwork to catch up on.”
“I know.”
“Don’t forget about it. If you do a little every day, it won’t be bad.”
Rilla nodded. “I know.”
Thea still didn’t move. “You feel okay about Mom?” she asked like she was expecting something else.
Rilla stepped over her sister. “Not everyone has mommy issues like you,” she said, heading inside and shutting the door on whatever Thea planned to say next.
Six
The next morning, Rilla opened her eyes to the god-awful sight of Thea hunched under the eaves, kitchen tongs brandished in one hand and a new cell phone in the other. “I’m cooking bacon. Get it while it lasts,” she said, tossing the phone onto the blankets.
Rilla rolled over, an involuntary moan escaping as her muscles protested every movement. The sides of her back felt as if someone had wound the length of her muscles into snarls overnight; and her hamstrings were definitely two inches shorter than they’d been when she went to bed. The cold morning air wasn’t helping. She turned on the phone and texted a friend from home, Layla.
Hey got a new phone, finally. Call me!It was mid-morning back home; Layla was sure to reply soon.
Rilla pulled on a pair of socks and climbed down the ladder to the hallway. It was a little easier today—to walk past the strangers in a strange house.
Thea was in the kitchen, cooking bacon under a wall of oppressively dark walnut cabinets. Rilla leaned on her elbows just inside the kitchen door, on the edge of the pea-green counter, logging back into social media and inhaling the smoky-salt scent of bacon. “This weather is giving me whiplash,” she said to Thea’s back, switching over to the camera to see what manner of death she looked like today.
Rilla frowned and held the phone farther away. Sorcery. Her hair looked frizz-free and tousled in a way she’d never ever be able to replicate on purpose, and her cheeks were flushed pink, making her look alive. She took a selfie and flicked over to Instagram, trying to ignore that Layla still hadn’t replied.
“It’s the desert. Cold at night, warm in the day.” Thea set a plate in front of Rilla and licked her thumb. “Did you get any schoolwork done last night?” Thea opened a cupboard next to an honest-to-god rotary phone and took out a glass.
Rilla put the #hangoverselfie on Instagram and picked up her bacon. “I looked at it.” She passed the pile of books on her way to bed.
“I can’t believe your grades wereallfailing. Don’t you remember how much you loved school?”
Rilla remembered. She remembered when Mom, Dad, and Daddy were in jail for check fraud, and Thea hid it from everyone so they wouldn’t get separated. Rilla would spend hours in the library after school, until Thea came to get her from work. Funny how Thea was doing the same things Mom always did when it came to remembering the reality of someone else’s life. Rilla decided not to answer.
“They wanted to make you redo junior year,” Thea continued. “But I told the principal about your situation, and they agreed to let you make up the work over the summer. I told her it’d be different. You’d be different here. With some stability.” Thea filled the glass and handed it over. “Right?”
