“Thank you.”
“Oh, for the love of Christ.” My mother spit out the words and wheeled on one heeled foot and stalked toward the waiting car.
Well, score one for me.
Maybe.
I exhaled as Archie’s dad disappeared into his car and then it pulled away.
“You all right?” Coop asked.
“Not really,” I said flexing my left hand and trying to stop it from shaking. “Thanks for coming.”
“No problem,” Ian said, and then held out his hand to me. “Come on, we’ll walk you over, or we can just ditch them and head out.”
The offer made me smile. “I would love to. I really don’t even know if I should be talking to her.”
Coop frowned. “Good point. Call Mr. Wittaker?”
“Yeah,” I said tugging my phone out and eyeing Ian’s extended hand. “Sorry.”
“Not a problem,” he replied, dropping it. It was still dark and overcast. “We’re ready when you are.”
I nodded and hit Mr. Wittaker’s contact. When I got his voicemail, I left him a quick message about my mother arriving at the school and wanting to talk to me.
After I put the phone back in my pocket, I walked with Coop and Ian toward the park. Mr. Standish’s car was already there, so was Jake.
Archie pulled in as we crossed the street. I hadn’t meant to take so long, but I also didn’t care. I needed the time. The icy hot feeling under my skin hadn’t gone away.
“The minute you want to be done, you say it,” Coop told me. “I don’t know what her plan was, but we’re not going to put up with any shady crap.”
I smiled a little. “Shady crap?”
“Showing up out of nowhere to check you out of school after being virtually unreachable for more than ten days?”
“Right,” Ian agreed, catching my hand as we crossed the street, and I gripped his fingers probably tighter than he expected. The trembling inside seemed to be vibrating its way out. “You don’t owe her anything, okay?”
“I know.” For once, that part I did know, even if I struggled with reconciling what I wanted—what I should do—and what I’d always done. Mom was Mom. I’d made excuses for her all my life. She was complicated and high-strung. But I didn’t deserve this, not right now, and especially not after the last week.
She stood outside the car by the time we arrived. Jake and Archie leaned against their own cars but hadn’t gone anywhere near her, and thankfully, Mr. Standish stayed in his car.
“You want us close or to give you some privacy?” Coop asked as we crossed the last bit of ground between us and where the benches were. I didn’t head toward my mom so much as those places to sit. Maybe I should stand, but tired kept hitting me in waves, and even with the adrenaline hit from seeing Mom in the office, it wasn’t helping.
“Stay close, but maybe give us a little space?”
It seemed like a concession, and I didn’t want to give her any. At the same time, I wanted to get this over and done with. The less posturing the better.
“You got it.” Coop ran his hand down my spine lightly. “And as soon as this is done, you take something, okay?”
I didn’t plan to argue. I hurt too much, so I just nodded. Ian squeezed my fingers once before he let me go, and I continued to the benches. Mom had to cross the damp grass to where I was standing, and her heels kept trying to sink.
Nope. Not a shred of guilt did I feel.
“Fifteen minutes starts now,” Archie called, and I threw him a smile. He held up his phone with a timer on it, and my mother scowled, though with her back to all of them it was unlikely they saw it.
“That boy’s arrogance knows no limits, does it?”
I wanted to fold my arms, but the splint made that hard, so I settled for leaning against the back of the bench and setting my hands on it. It was damp and moisture seeped into the denim, but it was better than falling, and I didn’t want to sit and let her loom over me.