“Because I have something to say to her,” he huffs. I hear Mom’s heels clicking up the steps and I suppress a groan.
The moment she walks into my room, the area feels smaller. Her eyes fall to the bags packed on the floor, and she shoots daggers at me when our gazes lock.
“Did you think you were going somewhere, Sage?” she hisses.
“She’s going to go wherever she wants because she’s an adult,” Dad says with his arms folded.
“Did she tell you she wants to run off with that hillbilly, Mars?” Her top lip curls in disgust as she looks at me.
“You mean her brother, Eleanor? The one she didn’t know anything about because you did what you do best and bury everything?” Dad shakes his head at Mom, and I see the corners of her lips turn down.
“I just wanted what was best for our daughter, Charles. If that meant burying the unsavory bits of my past then, so be it.” Mom tips her nose in the air and folds her arms.
“At what cost though? Your secrets are causing so much trauma. At what point do you accept your fault and let the consequences be what they’ll be? You’re going to push Sage away forever if you don’t stop all of this.” Dad’s voice is a deep grumble I’m not used to hearing.
I wait for Mom to lash out at him but she never does. Maybe he’s the only person on Earth who can get her to shut up. Go, Dad.
Mom stares me down until I wonder if she sees herself staring back in the reflections of my eyes. “Don’t expect any help from me if you run off to be with him,” she says.
I don’t respond. I watch her leave my room and count down the seconds until I hear her and Dad’s bedroom door slam. Once the toxic energy in the room is gone, my shoulders relax.
“Stay right here, kiddo. I’ll be right back.” Dad walks out of my room and I expect to hear a rumble of arguing between him and Mom, but everything is silent. When Dad comes back, he’s holding his checkbook.
He takes his seat beside me and flips the checkbook open. “I want you to take this and start a life you’re happy with, Sage. Not a life your mother has designed for you. If that means you’re going to start a life with Mars, then go with it.” I watch in shock as he writes a generous check.
“But…we’ll have to always lay low. Being with your brother isn’t exactly legal,” I say with a sigh.
“That’s true.” Dad strokes his chin, but he’s smirking like I’m missing the big picture. “However, Charles and Eleanor Emerson’s names are the only names on your birth certificate. You’re free to love whoever you want, kiddo.”
Tears roll down my cheeks and I almost knock Dad over with another hug. “Thank you,” I whisper into his shoulder. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to repay you, Dad.”
“Just invite me to the wedding and we’ll call it even,” he teases. When we break our embrace, he winks at me and just like that, Dad has restored the calm again.
I say bye to him and give him one more squeeze before hopping into the back of an Uber. I don’t bother to tell Mom goodbye because I know she’d only find a way to manipulate me into staying.
I give the driver the Maple Grove address and send Mars a text telling him I’m on the way.
I need to see Mars.
I need to jump into his arms so I can feel like myself again.
Time can’t move fast enough.
Mars
I look around the dinky motel room and my nerves get the best of me.
You’re not good enough.
You’re taking her from her fancy life and giving her this shithole.
She can do better.
The negativity is always in Dad’s voice. It’s his glowing green eyes I see when I close my own. His words that rattle inside my mind cut me deep each and every time.
But it’s always Sage who seems to find me in the dark. With her sweet words and disposition, she bandages up all the inner wounds my father creates.
I scrub my palm down the front of my face and sniff the air. Stale smoke. Mildew. The motel room is ancient but it’s what I can afford in a pinch. And, thankfully, it’s far from Duncan.
A soft rapping on the door jerks me out of my sour thoughts so fast I nearly get whiplash. When I pull open the door, Sage flies at me. Her bags are abandoned at our feet as the door closes behind her, and she launches herself into my arms. I squeeze her tight, inhaling her sweet scent. All the worries that were clawing at my mind have dissipated.