Spotting Cassie in the passenger seat, her mom smiled softly, reached for the door handle, and hopped in without hesitation. I turned around to get a closer look at her.
Her face was sunken in, and she had dark bags under her eyes. When was the last time she slept? Cassie barely acknowledged her mom’s presence, but something told me this was normal for them.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” I said, introducing myself. “My name is Jace McKinley. I’m Cassie’s… friend,” I explainedawkwardly, not completely sure of the right word to describe what Cassie and I were. At this point, I would barely call us friends.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Cassie’s mom, Cathy,” she said weakly. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Thank you for picking me up tonight. I guess my daughter was busy spending time with you when I called,” she said, shifting her gaze to Cassie who sat quiet as a mouse.
“We weren’t hanging out. We were at Ellie and Colt’s rehearsal dinner because we’re both in the bridal party. They’re getting married tomorrow, so wherever you need to go, please just tell us so Jace can take you there and I can go home. We both have a big day tomorrow and need some sleep,” Cassie said flatly.
Cathy rolled her eyes, sat back, and huffed. I was glad Cassie couldn’t see the annoyance on her mom’s face. It would probably only make the situation worse.
“My daughter is so hospitable, isn’t she, Jace? I sure hope she’s more welcoming to you than she is to me,” she said, rolling her eyes again.
She’s not, I thought.At least not at the moment.
“Why were you out so late driving around anyways, Mom? And who was the man that kicked you out of his car? Did you say you worked with him?” Cassie suddenly sprang to life, pelting her mom with questions.
“Can you just take me back to my apartment? I live over on the other side of town, off Ashwood,” she said, pointing to the left, ignoring Cassie.
I turned back around, putting my truck in drive.
“Ashwood. You got it,” I repeated, pulling away from the curb.
I spent the short drive alternating between looking in the rearview mirror at Cassie’s mom to make sure she was okay andlooking back at Cassie, who was still asking her mom questions and getting one-word answers. Probably not the kind of answers she wanted either. Like how the guy that had been driving around with Cathy doesn’t work with her at her real job, just something she’s doing on the side at the moment for extra cash. That answer made Cassie tilt her head back and shake it slowly from side to side, silently mouthing the wordsyou’ve got to be kidding me. You could cut the tension between them with the bluntest knife on the planet.
“It’s just up ahead here, on the left,” Cathy pointed as we approached her apartment complex a few minutes later.
I didn’t know which area of town was worse: where we picked her up, or where we were about to drop her off. This place looked like something right out of a crime TV show. The air smelled of smoke and some other unknown chemicals, the stench hitting me the second I stepped out of my truck. Sketchy men lingered in the stairwells with hoods pulled up over their heads. People walked by without acknowledging each other, heads hung suspiciously low.
“Oh, you guys don’t have to walk me up, I’ll be fine,” she said, shooing us to get back in the truck.
“I’d be more comfortable if I made sure you made it inside your apartment safe and sound, ma’am,” I said, giving her a soft but stern smile.
“I’d prefer if you just let me walk up alone,” she countered, fighting back.
Cassie grabbed me by the arm, turning me towards her.
“She probably has drugs and other stuff scattered everywhere, and she doesn’t want you to see it,” she whispered aggressively under her breath, warning me. I turned back to her mom, understanding the gravity of the situation a little bit better now.
“I don’t want to come inside your apartment, ma’am. I just want to see to it that you make it to your door, that’s all,” I said, hoping she’d accept my offer.
She hesitated for a second, squinting her eyes, trying to determine if I was full of shit or not. I stood there, waiting.
“Fine. Let’s get this over with. I have people coming over later. I’ve got stuff I need to do before they get here,” she said in an annoyed tone. I didn’t have to look at Cassie to know how she was feeling. Her own version of annoyance radiated off her body like the sun off of asphalt on a hot summer day.
“Go sit in the truck and lock the doors. I’ll be right back,” I said, motioning for Cassie to head back to my truck and do what I said. She could fight me all she wanted, but this was nonnegotiable tonight.
Before turning around and walking back to the truck, she waved weakly at her mom. “Call me if you need anything, Mom. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, honey. Love you.”
Cassie left without saying I love you back. I was starting to see that their relationship was even more fucked up than I thought.
Climbing up the open-air concrete steps of the apartment complex, Cassie’s mom rounded the corner on the third floor, marching toward a door with the number 312 on it. The door looked like it had originally been a red color that had faded over the years into more of a pale pink. Thin and brittle, one kick would send it flying open, no matter what lock it had bolted behind it.
Damn, this place was a shithole.
Cathy quickly pulled her key from her pocket, turning toward me as she slid the piece of metal into the doorknob.
