Victor couldn’t destroy his progress. He hadn’t checked the feeds since his engagement meeting with Nora. And he needed to ensure he was wholly broken of that terrible habit before the wedding.
It was only four more months now. He could make it until then.
However, the phone erupted with a FaceTime call just as he was about to re-pocket it. Victor frowned when he saw the name on the caller ID.
It was from Wayne.
What could he want? And why would he be calling him on FaceTime?
The answer to that question was, he wouldn’t.
Dawn appeared on the screen when he answered the call, not Wayne.
And she looked like she had been crying.
Victor’s heart stopped. Had someone hurt her? That old protectiveness, which he still couldn’t control, surged inside of him.
As if in answer to his unspoken question, she said, “I stole the day guard’s phone. I wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t important—and if his password wasn’t 123456—but mostly, it was important. It’s my mom, Victor. They found something on this liver biopsy she didn’t tell Byron she had to get until today. Something cancerous. And now they have to do surgery to cut it out.”
Dawn let out a shaky breath. “But she can’t get in touch with my dad, and Byron has some important thing this weekend. That leaves just me. I have to go to her. So I’m calling to ask permission…I need permission to fly down to Texas to be with my mom.”
19
DAWN
He said no. I begged him. I pleaded with Victor to let me fly to Texas so that I could at least be there for my mom during her surgery on Sunday. But after only a moment of pause, he signed over FaceTime, “You cannot leave Rhode Island without permission from me.”
Then the picture blinked out before I could answer that I had only tricked the day guard into believing that there was a raccoon loose in the kitchen so that he’d abandoned his phone and I could call Victor to ask for his stupid-ass permission.
But he hadn’t given it. He’d hung up on me. Just hung up.
And the day guard returned from not finding that fake raccoon before I could hit the redial option.
“Try something like that again, and I’ll put a real raccoon in the bed with you the next time you sleep,” he threatened before snatching back his phone.
Hate is a strong word. But have I mentioned how much I hate the day guard?
Seriously, the only person I despise more is Victor.
Victor, who would do God knows what when he found out I had snuck out.
But I had to take the chance. I had to get to my mom.
I remember all the words that came up during my conversation with Byron… biopsy…partial hepatectomy…and liver cancer.
She had never called to talk to either of us about a personal problem or a health issue before, not even when things between her and me had been good. She must have been so scared if she did so with Byron. Not for the first time, I wondered how my father could’ve done that to her. Left her all alone in a house far away from her children while he went off to do God knew what.
But who was I to talk? The only thing worse than my mother’s set up with my father was mine with Victor. Both our marriages left a lot to be desired.
I had to go to her, but I knew I didn’t stand a chance of getting out past the day guard. Especially now that he was pissed off about my phone con.
When I gave him a shopping list in hopes of getting him to leave me alone at the house so I could sneak out, he just snatched it from me and said, “You’ve got plenty of food in the fridge. This can wait till tomorrow.”
Ugh!
But I reset. I figured my best opportunity would come with the switching of the guard. I could pretend I was asleep when the night guard arrived, then sneak out when they thought I was tucked into bed.
So I laid low after the failure of Operation Shopping List. I did my part of the homework for my Advanced Character Design group assignment. I also squeezed in some pre-work on a few assignments that would be due on Monday. And when dinnertime rolled around, I ordered takeout just like I always did. Not that I was hungry. Homework, TV, eating, putting my braids up in an oversized sleep cap—it was excruciating to go through the usual routines. How could I do everyday stuff when my mom was in Texas, probably freaking out.
But eventually, night came along with the opportunity to sneak out.
I grabbed my official phone and texted someone from my project group. “Know I said I’d get those character sketches to you tonight, but I’m tired and worried this won’t be my best work. I’ll come back at them fresh tomorrow morning and get them to you then.”
