"There aretwo cops at the door, Dad."
He walks into the hallway and pauses. "How can I help you, officer?"
"Doctor Matthew Mackenzie?"
"Yes."
"Do Lincoln and Tera Ramirez live here?"
"They do. Do you need me to get the kids?" Dad asks.
"That would be helpful, yeah."
"Have a seat, officers. Give me a few minutes." Dad turns to me. "Find Lincoln. I'll go get Tera."
Ten minutes later we're all in the sitting room, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.
"All right, officers. We're all here. What's this about?" Dad asks.
"Tera, Lincoln, we know you're no longer in the custody of your mother, but tonight she was found in her home by an acquaintance who'd been trying to get in contact with her for a couple days. When we arrived on the scene, Ms. Ramirez was unresponsive on a sofa, a syringe stuck in her arm. She'd overdosed. There was nothing that could be done," the officer states, sympathy evident even though he's straight to the point.
Tera blinks.
Linc breathes out a sigh of relief. "Hell, I thought you were going to make us go back there."
"You know that would never happen, Lincoln," my dad tells him.
Linc shrugs.
Tera blinks again and I want to go ask her if she's okay, but I don't. She doesn't want that from me anymore. She's got Carter for that. Carter Winters: Star quarterback. Carter Winters: Pretty boy all the girls want. Carter Winters: The guy who's been dating my girl—Tera—for close to nine months. Carter Winters: The guy who gets all of Tera's other firsts. The fucker.
"She's dead?" Tera whispers. Mrs. Martinez rubs Tera's back.
"Yes, she is. I'm sorry for your loss, miss," the second policeman says.
"It's no loss," Tera whispers, still staring off into space.
Dad and the cops talk about arrangements for the body and we all tune them out, gathering around Tera and Linc.
Jesse chucks Tera under the chin lightly so she looks up at him.
"You all right?"
She shrugs. "I guess. It's just weird."
Kennedy lifts Tera, sits in her chair, and puts her on his lap. My hands curl into fists. That should be me. But it can't be. Not now. Maybe not ever again. It was her decision and I'm going to respect it.
"I know what you're feeling," Kennedy tells her. She rests her head on his shoulder. "When they told me about Lina, I was relieved. That's pretty messed up, right? To be relieved your mom's dead? That she can never hurt you again?"
Tera nods. "It seems wrong to feel that, but I do."
"It's okay to feel that way," Ethan tells her. "I feel the same way about my ma. It's because we don't have to worry about them coming for us now, and we don't have to worry about being put in a situation where we'll be hurt again."
"Yes. That's exactly it," Tera tells him. "Linc?" she questions.
"I'm good, T. She died the day she… well, that day. At least to me," he tells her.
Tera nods again. "Yeah. I didn't even really think much about her anymore. Only sometimes late at night or when I would feel unsafe."
