“See you two in a while, yeah?” Rory nods as he walks away.
I say loud enough for him to hear, “Yeah, Rory, we’ll be there.”
When the door shuts, I collapse on the bed. Rolling onto my side, I bring my knees up until I’m in the fetal position. God, I’m tired. “I just want to sleep.”
And I do. For about thirty minutes until Billy shakes me gently. “Time to go, babe.”
“No,” I whine. “I’m so tired.”
“I know. We’ll hurry down there and get back to the room as soon as we can. We’ll pick up food on the way back. Sound good?”
“It does.”
The ride to the police station is quiet. I suspect Billy’s wondering how the hell he got caught up on all of this, and I’m wondering where I’m going to go after this is all over. I certainly won’t be able to go home.
“Ready?” We’ve parked in front of the police station. I turn to my right and see my parents’ car parked two spots down.
“My parents are here.”
“Did you send the video to your dad?”
“I never got the chance.” Which means this is going to be bad.
Inside, there’s not many people about, but it’s loud due to the screaming banshee in the other room. “We’re here to see Rory,” I say to the woman behind the front desk. I recognize her from school. She used to be a para-professional there when I was in high school, having worked with students with special needs. She’s changed jobs. I wonder if she likes it. Maybe I should see if there are any jobs here.
Rory appears through an open door. “Jo?”
I nod, taking Billy’s hand in mine. “Come on.” When we cross the threshold, the first people I see are my parents. My dad’s face is unnaturally pale, but my mom’s is red as fire. I halt my steps, not sure what to do. When Dad looks back at me, I can’t decide if he hates me or if he feels bad. I choose the latter; otherwise, I’d run right out the door. Mom, on the other hand… if looks could kill.
“Haven’t you done enough?” she spits.
“They haven’t seen the video,” states Billy.
“Apparently not.” I turn to Rory. “Can you please show them the video?”
“I tried, but your mom refused.”
“My dad?” He shakes his head. “Let’s try now.”
We follow him over to the table where my parents are sitting. “Dad?”
He nods.
“Will you please watch this?” I point to my phone. “It’s why we’re all here.”
“Fine. Sure.”
“Stephen…,” my mom says warningly.
“I’m watching it. If you don’t want to, that’s your problem.”
Uh-oh. My folks are fighting.
“Fine.” She sniffs.
Mom 1,000,000. Dad 1.
Rory holds my phone at an angle so my parents can watch as my sister confesses all of her sins. While she’s fairly clear and quite specific, I have a hard time believing it’s going to change my mom’s mind about my sister. She’s really dug in.
