“Well done.” She clapped. “You jumped right in and asked the question on everyone’s mind. I have to give you credit for that.”
A few people on the other side of the conference room glass stared at us but I couldn’t back down or walk out. Not yet. “Answer me.”
“Do you really care about me or my life, Marni?”
“I loved... love your mother.” I had no idea what tense to use. Around Aubrey I needed to be careful. On guard. Ready to strike.
“Right.” She rolled her eyes just like she used to do as a petulant teenager. “You sure acted like it back then.”
Chilling. Terrifying.
How much did she know? What did she see and remember?
“It’s a pretty ring.” She glanced at my bare finger.
I’d never been married. Never thought of having kids. Despite teaching them I didn’t particularly like being around them. Not for long periods of time, anyway. The talking back. The bad decision-making. The smells.
I’d taught younger and older kids over the years and one reality never wavered—the thrill of change. A few of them lit up when they discovered an idea that challenged their family’singrained worldview. Those instances made me believe a full life do-over was possible. That I could wake up to find the self-doubt and anxiety gone or at least lessened. That I could re-center and move forward, leaving behind the person I never wanted to be.
But this was Aubrey. As a child she rebelled at being reprimanded. Worse, she’d stand there and listen to the scolding and her punishment with a blank look as if she didn’t feel or hear a thing. As if her mind was too busy working on revenge to understandshewas the one in trouble.
More than once, Victoria yelled at Aubrey for pushing another girl at school or for openly questioning her teacher’s intelligence in front of the whole class, and the next day something Victoria cared about or collected or inherited from the aunt who helped raise her disappeared. Obvious retribution that Aubrey denied. A constant reminder that Aubrey could strike whenever and however she wanted.
As an adult, she smirked and snuck around. I didn’t like either version. “I don’t know why Xavier gave me—”
“The ring? Yes, you do,” Aubrey said in a soft voice.
My mind fought back. Walled-off memories lurched forward. Even as the air drained from my lungs, I struggled not to let my cycling panic show. “As a keepsake, I guess, but I understand if you want the jewelry as a reminder of your mom. It should be yours.”
“I don’t care about that.” Aubrey shrugged. “Besides, you earned it.”
The words took a sledgehammer to my fidgeting. No more shifting my weight from foot to foot or looking for the right time to blow past this bitch.
“Yeah, I know what you did.” Aubrey smiled. “Wait until everyone else finds out.”
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Pithy responses ran together in my head. I fought to push a few out. “You’re threatening me? You should be in jail, or at least with the police, telling them where your parents are.”
Aubrey’s head fell to one side, making her look younger. Less dangerous, which was a lie. “Why me?”
What the hell?“What kind of question is that?”
“You know what happened back then and you didn’t tell.” That creepy smile of hers returned. “Why should I?”
Nervous energy bounced around inside me. My body rocked from the force of it. “That’s not true. If I knew anything I would have told the police. Tried... or, you know, attempted to—”
“I was younger when it all happened, but I could still see and hear just fine.” Aubrey didn’t look around or lower her voice. She verbally dove in, throwing out one-liners polished and sharpened to sting.
Every sentence in my head vanished, taking my balance with them. “You don’t know—”
“You’re funny. And by that I don’t mean humorous. I mean pathetic.” The smile disappeared as Aubrey’s voice grew stern. “Are you still waiting around for Mr. Right to knock on your door and sweep you away into that dark night?”
Never. I learned the all too familiar and yet truly hideous lesson about how men lie and cheat. I had no intention of returning to that disaster. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” Aubrey glanced at my hand one last time. “Enjoy the ring. You wanted it to be yours. Now it is.”
Chapter Eighteen
