My phone dings beside me, pulling me from my thoughts. It’s a missed voicemail, and I put it to my ear. My mother’s whispered voice begins. Panic rises and I quickly stand up. Hunter notices and starts walking my direction.
“What’s going on?” he asks with a concerned look. He leans against the railing of the deck.
I shake my head. “I’m not sure.” I put my phone on speaker and point it at him so he can hear better.
My mother talks about how she is stuck in a closet and scared. Something about Craig, trashing the house in a furious rage. I gasp when I hear a male scream in the background.
Hunter and I make eye contact when the line goes dead. I check to see when the voicemail was sent, and it looks to have happened sometime last night. My hands visibly shake as I stare at the phone in horror. “I have to go check on her.” I rush into the house and grab my purse from the couch.
As I walk back outside, Hunter grabs me by the arm. I yank myself free. “Stop it!” he yells. “Just give me a minute, and I’ll go with you.” He holds my stare for a moment longer and then rushes into the house.
I spot Charlie still in the yard playing and call to her. “Come on, baby.” I motion her toward the car, and she gets up from the ground.
She bounces through the yard until she reaches her side of the car. “Where we going, Mama?”
“We are going to see, Nana.”
She gasps and jumps for joy. “Yay, I miss Nana.”
“I bet you do, baby.” It has only been a couple of days, but she is at her house every day of the week and has never missed one.
I am in the driver’s seat, and Charlie is strapped into her car seat when Hunter reappears carrying a backpack of sorts. Instead of getting in the passenger seat, he walks over to my window. I roll it down.
He leans in. “I’ll follow you on my bike. Don’t speed and be safe.” He cups my cheek. “She is going to be okay, Blake.”
I bite my lip and nod. What else can I do? We don’t know that she is okay for sure, and I won’t know anything until I see her with my own eyes.
We make it to my mother’s house in record time. My anxiety has been through the roof the entire way. I don’t know what I will be walking into and the thought of her hurt—or worse— scares the shit out of me. Hunter’s bike rumbles behind me as we pull into the driveway. Her front door is wide open and there are items thrown across the front yard. The sight is a hard one to see.
“Why is Nana’s favorite chair in the yard?” Charlie asks from the back seat.
I startle. I forgot she was back there seeing everything I am with her innocent eyes. Fuck. Craig did a number on my mother’s house, and it’s all my fault.
Hunter turns off his motorcycle and walks up to my window. I crack it a little. “Are you ready?” He looks down at me.
I shake my head. “What if she’s hurt and I didn’t answer the phone to help her? What if she is dead, and it is all my fucking fault?” How can I ever forgive myself if something terrible has happened to her? There is no way I can go back to Craig now. Not after what he has done to my mother.
Hunter doesn’t wait for me to get out of the car; he just opens my driver door and leans inside to unbuckle me. Then he pulls me out himself. “Listen here—none of this is your fault. Not a single bit of what happened here. This was all on your husband, and you need to stay strong for your child.” He wipes the few tears that trail down my face as I suck in air through my nose.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
He lifts my chin. “Stop apologizing, and let’s go see how bad the situation is.”
I look at Charlie in the back seat. “What about her? I don’t want her to witness anything terrible if it is worse than it looks. But I can’t leave her in the car.”
He looks around the street and spots an old woman watering her plants next door and points at her. “Do you know that woman?”
I follow his finger and spot Mrs. Annie. “Yeah.”
“Do you trust her?”
I nod.
He walks around to Charlie’s side of the car and helps her out. Then, hand in hand, they walk over to Mrs. Annie’s house and have a conversation with her. I watch as she smiles and nods, and then she and Charlie go around the side of the house where her other plants are. Hunter walks back my way.
I raise my brow. “I could have gone inside alone, you know.”
He shakes his head. “If it is bad in there, I didn’t want you to have to face that alone.”
