Putting the phone to my ear, the sound of ringing on the other end intensified all my worries, my stomach clenching in anxiety. What if she’d had another bad episode and gotten drunk? What if she’d fallen and hurt herself again? She’d already torn the ligament in her knee and needed physical therapy,which we couldn’t even afford in the first place. If she ended up needing surgery… I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.
“Hey.” My sister answered the phone.
“Hey,” I said quickly, trying to keep my voice down so it wouldn’t carry through the door and wake up Caelyx. “What’s wrong, Kristen? Is Mom okay?”
“She’s fine! Sort of. I mean, sheis, but… God!” She let out an exhausted sound. “I don’t even know where to start. Why haven’t you answered my calls!?”
“I… I slept in. I went out last night. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, just… It’s so weird, I don’t even know what to say. So, this guy came to our house yesterday and said he was taking Mom to some… Luxury rehab facility. He had all this paperwork and credentials, and… Aspen, it was crazy! It’s all expenses paid, they’re going to be doing detox and counseling and drug therapy… And then there’s this spa thing they’re doing for the physical therapy for her knee. I-I don’t even know what to say, I’ll have to forward all the stuff to your email or something. But they’re taking care ofeverything.”
I swallowed hard, the outrageous rate of my heartbeat slowing a bit, but… Not much.
“W-who’s paying for all that?” I asked, even though I already knew.
“I have absolutely no freaking idea!” She answered, obviously still in complete shock. “He said that his boss wanted to stay anonymous! Can you believe that?”
“No,” I lied, gripping the sides of my phone so hard I thought the bones in my fingers might crack. “That’s… That’s really insane. Are you sure he was… Telling the truth?”
“I swear to god, Aspen, he showed me all these receipts of how all the expenses are being billed to this one account, and… And that’s actually not even the craziest thing!”
“What else?” I asked. A drop of sweat formed between my shoulder blades, slipping down my spine. What the fuck had Faulkner done?
“So, somehow he, like… Knew all this stuff about us, and Mom’s address and everything. And, well, basically he said his boss knows that her situation is precarious, what with being out of work, and so he made sure that housing wouldn’t be a problem.”
“What does that mean?” I asked. “He paid her rent in advance or something?”
“He… Orshe, because we really don’t knowwhothis guy’s boss is, but… Anyway, they bought the whole park.”
“The… The whole trailer park? And all the houses in it?” I repeated.
“Yeah! And he gave the deed to Mom’s house right to her! He said don’t even worry about property taxes or anything! Like… I seriously thought we were on some prank show or something.”
I was going to kill him. What if Caelyx found out? What if he thought there’d been some secret deal I’d cut with Faulkner to take care of my mom in exchange for us being together? Would he… Break up with me? I wouldn’t blame him. Who would want to be with someone who they couldn’t even trust was genuine? And then… Everything we’d done together, all of those memories would be ruined and tarnished and he’d only think of me as this horrible person who’d used him for his money.
“How’s Mom? Is she happy?”
“Oh my god, Aspen. You know her. She’swaytoo trusting. She was crying and everything about how grateful she is. She was ready to pack it up and leave with this guy after like five minutes and I had to stop her until we could verify he wasn’t just some psycho.”
“That’s… Really great.” Fuck. I couldn’t just tell him to cancel everything. And anyway… This was obviously the best casescenario for my mom, something I could probably never provide for her even after I nabbed my business degree. “I’m just really shocked, but… That’s amazing.”
My sister went on for a little while longer about the details of everything, and how generous thisanonymous benefactorwas, saying there was no limitation on the offer to help get her healthy, and they were willing to pay for as much therapy as it took, for as long as it was needed. I knew I’d have to tell her the truth eventually, but… It wasn’t exactly a good time. I hadn’t even mentioned that I was seeing anyone, let alone the son of an actual fucking billionaire.
By the time I got off the phone with her, my blood was boiling, a cocktail of happiness for my mom, anger with Faulkner, and stress for my precarious situation with Caelyx. It was hitting me all at once how emotionally dependent I’d become on him. The thought of hurting him with this secret, of making him doubt my feelings for him, was physically painful. It slashed at my chest until I could feel tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. The thought oflosinghim was even worse.
So I would just have to make sure that he wouldn’t find out.
Creaking the door back open, my breath was coming out in harsh little pants as I tugged on my casual clothes from the day before. Caelyx was still sprawled out on the bed, blissfully unaware of all the turmoil thrashing around inside me. Those dark clouds were bunching up in my brain again, making it hard to think, but all I had to do was focus on one singular task. Get to Faulkner before hisfavorruined everything for me.
But my mom… She deserved this. From her perspective, it was this amazing miracle, giving her something she’d never imagined having. They would work with her, as long as it took, to fix whatever thing was wrong with her brain that made herneedthe alcohol, or at least make it to where she could say no to it when she felt the urge. She could be healthy again. It wouldn’tbe easy, but nothing had ever been easy for her. She’d raised my sister and I all by herself, never complaining and never making us feel like shit for all she had to do for us. If anyone deserved such a generous gift, it was her.
So of course I couldn’t say no. I had no recourse. And it was all done, anyway. There was nothing I could do, nothing I could say to reject it or stop it. I couldn’t take it from her even if I wanted to. I was stuck. Stuck in this sticky trap, just waiting for Caelyx to discover all the shit I’d done behind his back, to destroy all the times I’d opened up for him.
Slipping out of our room, I dashed down the hall, my eyes raking over all the shiny little plaques engraved with the room numbers by every door. Faulkner had mentioned his room number the night before, so that we could come and let him know when we were ready to leave and have lunch, so I knew exactly where he was at.
I banged on his door with the side of my fist, the sharp and quick raps echoing down the otherwise silent hall. It opened, with Faulkner looking wide-eyed and confused in the doorway. His expression faded into one of concern when he saw me, my chest starting to heave under my t-shirt as my breaths became more and more labored.
“Aspen?” He said my name, blinking as he took in my appearance. “Are you alright? It isn’t nearly time for lunch yet.”
