Page 93 of Rescue

“Hello?”

“Haylee.” She sounds relieved. “Sweetie, I’m so glad you answered.”

Tell me it’s not true,I think.Please, Mom.

“I need you to talk to your label,” she says. “They keep calling here, and I really can’t deal with them anymore. You know how anxious I get on the phone, sweetheart.”

“Why are they calling?”

“Because of that interview, honey. I’m sure they told you.”

“They did.” My voice is tight.Please explain yourself. Please make it better.

“Well, they seem to think it was some awful thing.” She sighs. “I don’t really see how it was such a big deal. Isn’t publicity a good thing? You’d think they’d be happy.”

“Mom.” I feel like I might be sick. Is this actually how she’s going to play this? How can she be so cavalier, so clueless? “This isn’t the good kind of publicity. You had to know they wouldn’t be happy about this. ThatIwouldn’t be happy about it.”

“Oh, sweetie, I knew you would get like that.” She sounds irritated, as though I’m acting like a bratty kid. “It’s a big story, hon. I was just trying to use it to your advantage.”

“How could this be to my advantage?”

“People love drama, Haylee! This is going to bebig. You’re a survivor, hon! You’re strong! Everyone will be talking about this.”

“I don’t want them to be talking about it!” I cry. “You know that, Mom! You know what measures the label took to protect me from this. And now you put it out there. How do you think that makes me feel?”

“Haylee, don’t be so dramatic.” She’s impatient now, tired of me. “It was ages ago. You’re fine now.”

“I’m not fine, Mom! A fact which you shared with the world!” I take several deep breaths, trying and failing to keep my voice from shaking. “How could you have told them about the panic attacks, Mom? Or the drinking. The drugs! How could you think I would want people to know about that?”

“If you don’t want people to know about it, you know the solution, don’t you? Get yourself together and stop doing those things. People love a redemption story, you know.”

“I don’t believe you,” I whisper. “I don’t believe that you could be this clueless about your own daughter.”

“My own daughter needs to put on her big girl pants and join the real world.” She’s getting upset now. “I’ve been telling you this since you were a little girl, Haylee. It’s a rough business, a rough world. You better get tough real fast if you want to do well. Enough with this sniveling around, feeling bad for yourself. Grow up. So a bad thing happened to you. You think you’re the only one? You think nothing bad has ever happened tome?”

“I don’t think your own mother ever threw the bad things in your life to the press like your pain is some kind of entertainment.”

“I can see you’re in a mood tonight.”

“I’m in a mood because you sold me out! You’re my mother!”

“And I have bills to pay, Haylee Marie,” she snaps.

There it is. Her true motivation. Of course it was about money. That’s all I’ve ever been to her—a potential meal ticket. “How much did they pay you?”

“More thanyouever send me.”

“I wonder how much I’ll send you now,” I whisper, wondering why it hurts so much. It’s not a surprise.

“You’ve never appreciated everything that I do for you,” she retorts. So now we’re starting her litany of guilt. I’ve heard it enough to repeat it by heart. Exhaustion suddenly crashes over me. I’m so tired of feeling like this.

“I have to go.”

“Sweetie, don’t be like that,” she croons, switching tactics like lightning. Now she’ll be all buddy-buddy. “We’re a team, you and I. There’s no reason to get upset—”

“The lawyers from the label are going to call you back tomorrow.” My voice is flat. “I’d listen to them, if I were you.”

“Are youthreateningme?” she shrieks. “I’m yourmother—”