Status Updates From Bad Apple (Bad Apple, #1)

“I’ll just shoot him in the leg and then I can say what he said to me. ‘You’ll never walk normal again.’” “Don’t ruin your life over him,” Emily said from behind me.

“You wouldn’t shoot me, you don’t have what it takes.” I leveled the shotgun at him. “You’re a gambling man. Would you bet your life on it?” “Yeah. There are two kinds of people in the world. Victims and victors. You’re not a victor.”

“Janie must be flipping out.” “She did and they took her to the hospital.” “Good. Maybe they’ll help her this time,” I said without thinking. “That sounded mean, didn’t it?” “It seems to me that if she had done a little more mothering instead of being so self-involved, none of us would be in this position tonight,” Truly replied.

“Your entire childhood must have been a nightmare for you. I keep telling you the bad part’s over, and I feel like I’m lying.” “Not lying. You’re just mistaken because nothing in your past could prepare you for them.” Truly put his arms around me. “Joe will have to go through me to get to you.” “God, don’t say that.”

“It’s a story arc. Yes, I agree, it starts out badly but by the end there’s all the hope in the world.” “Hope is a frail foundation to base a life on.” “It may be, but it got me here.”

“Is the point that you don’t close out a day with a problem?” “Yes. Should we be expecting a conference tonight?” “No.” “You’re braver than I thought you would be.” I smiled. “You don’t survive the Kents by being a coward.”

“I’m used to living in a state of perpetual dread. The expectation of something awful happening is always present.” “What would be awful for you tonight?” The glider creaked back and forth, as the springs made their metallic chirp. “Waiting.” “The bad things are nameless and formless. You’re always blindsided by them. You never know what they’re going to be.”

I grabbed Shannon’s arm. “Do not go back for any reason.” “What about Mom?” I wanted to slap some sense into her. “Mom isn’t going to protect you now when she never did before. Save your life or you’ll wind up with the kittens.”

“It’s okay. It’s not forever.” “It’s not okay,” I told her sharply. “You have to tell the police. It’s battery. You’re not his punching bag.”

Emily put her arm around me. “Are you happy?” “Very.” It was a surprise to me that I could say that without thinking. “So am I.”

“Truly would be so annoyed with me if I got his lead singer dressed and ready to go on stage, then said something that made the lyrics stick in her throat. If you want to keep peace in the family, you’ll sing.” “Otherwise, Steve will be getting me out of bed at midnight for another family conference.” “You see how it works now.”

“How did Joe get Shannon to shut up?” Tru asked. “She’s always been terrified of him. I saw him throw her around the room more than once for a lot less.” Emily squeezed my hand tighter. “Steve, you have to arrest this guy.” “I need a reason beside he’s the spawn from Hell. I don’t have the evidence.”

“He’ll go after Maude’s money and he’ll come after mine. I don’t want it. It’s trouble.” “Why?” “You don’t know him.” “Explain it.” “He wants to punish me.”

Maude was kind-hearted and generous. They were her relatives. Of course there would be part of her that wanted to help. There was no helping them. The older Maude got, the less resistance she would have. I didn’t want to think they’d take advantage of her. That’s what I did think, and I didn’t want it to happen.

There was some part of me that was desensitized to anything to do with the Kents. How could anyone live under those conditions and allow themselves to have feelings?

“You have no idea how scared I was all the time.” “That’s where you’re wrong,” he said putting his arm around me. “I do know.”

OK. A hundred years of confinement is too good for the Kents.

They actually cared about me. I was almost a stranger to them and they had more regard for me than my so-called family did. They took me in, didn’t ask for anything from me, and were now trying to fix my life.

“I don’t want to go back to a hospital. They did enough to me already.” I picked up the pen and went back to the Revolution. “Could we make an appointment and find out if there’s anything to be done?” I concentrated on the line I was writing. “If you don’t care and have no expectations, you won’t be disappointed if there’s nothing left to do.”

“I told you I was creating problems,” I said. “We were treading water. You create solutions. You created a way forward. We’re not going to do the same material anymore. There’s no point in it.”

“You can stay here as long as you want and you don’t have to work anything off like an indentured servant. If that’s the kind of thinking they do at your former residence, you most certainly don’t belong there. You will have chores like everyone else, though. Anyone want lunch?”

“You don’t know Toby. She’s like a pit viper, poisonous and always on the hunt. They’ll find me.” “I don’t see how as long as Maude covers for you. They don’t have superpowers. They’re dangerous and mean but they don’t know where to look.”

“This is a situation none of us have been in before,” he began. “It’s accurate to say that Neal faced potential danger where she was living. That’s why she’s going to be staying here. Aunt Maude agrees and I’ve consulted an attorney.”

“So you all say what you think?” “Yes. Is this where you say ‘What’s with you people?’”

“If you didn’t find a dead body, my father wouldn’t be involved and I could have told her everything about your thoroughly unpleasant family. Once we crossed into murder, then that’s a legal thing. I’m not even supposed to know. How much did you want me to say?”

All I could think about was this family who wasn’t either screaming at each or crying over something that happened thirty years ago. They were opening their house to me, trying to help me.

Was this how she treated a balky horse? If so, I imagined those horses would wind up doing anything for her.