“Idon’t mind speaking to the Italians.” The words are barely out of my mouth when Cormac reaches across the car and takes my hand, half his attention still on the road as he drives us to my mother’s house.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” he says. “You’ve already done so much for me, especially with Holly. Besides, I’m not going to hand over the only witness to the people who might be behind this whole fucking thing.”
“You’ll protect me, though.”
Cormac’s grip tightens around my fingers. “I will. But I’m not going to walk you into the wolf’s den. Not until I know exactly what’s going on.”
I settle back in my seat and stroke my fingers over Cormac’s knuckles, watching familiar streets flash past the window. He insisted on driving me to my mother’s house, taking a simple car so that we could drive without being noticed. His guards sit back in the car behind us so if I squint, I can block out most of my thoughts and pretend that we are simply a real couple out for a drive.
We learned so much from Holly, but it all fades from my mind when we reach my mother’s apartment. She’d been blowing up my phone since we landed and it’s been tough to balance that and Holly. I hadn’t planned on Cormac ever meeting my mother, but I don’t have time to tell him to wait in the car. As soon as I climb out, he follows and the front door opens before I reach the steps.
“Evelyn!” My mother squawks from the doorway. “Where the hell have you been?”
“I’m so sorry,” I say, hurrying up the steps. “I was traveling, and I got caught up… it doesn’t matter. I’m here now. What’s the emergency? What’s wrong? Are you alright?”
“Would you even care if I wasn’t?” she snaps, looking me up and down. “Why do you look so filthy?”
“What?” I glance down at my T-shirt and jeans. “I look… normal?”
“Hardly. I don’t hear from you in weeks, you bail when I need you, and you take hours to come to me when I call you. What if there was a fire?”
I fight not to roll my eyes. “Was there a fire?”
“No,” she snaps. “But my apartment has lost all power! I have no heating, no hot water. I can’t even make a hot meal. I’ve been living with my flashlight and not even my own daughter can come home and help me.”
“Mom, I’m sorry, can we—”
“Maybe I can help.” Cormac stands at my back, drawing my mother’s attention. Her eyes widen and she glances between the two of us.
“Who are you?”
“This is Cormac.” I introduce him with a smile.
“Your block still has power, so I’d guess this is a fuse issue. Where’s your box?”
Mom looks at him with narrowed eyes, then points down the dark hall with her flashlight. “At the end.”
“Excuse me.” He slides past us with impressive agility for a man of his bulk and heads down the hall. I stare after him until my mother catches my wrist and pulls me inside. The door slams and she jerks me into the lounge where a few battery-powered lights litter the shelves.
“Is that why you are late?” she scolds. “You were playing with a man while your poor mother lives in the dark. To think I was worried about you and instead, here you are flouncing around with a man.”
“I wasn’t flouncing,” I say, feeling my stomach twist into knots. “You refused to tell me what was wrong, so I came as fast as I could.”
“Not fast enough. I fell, you know!” As she barks at me in the dark, the light suddenly blooms above as Cormac fixes whatever is wrong with the fuses. We both blink quickly at the sudden change, then my attention drops to my mother’s ankle. She winces and sits immediately, rubbing at her apparently fine ankle.
“Mom,” I sigh softly. “Why didn’t you call 911?”
“Why on earth would I waste time doing that?”
“Because you lost power and you fell,” I reply, hurrying into the kitchen for the medical kit. Locating it, I bring it back through and kneel in front of her. “Calling 911 would have been the best thing.”
“Are you calling me stupid?”
“No, I—”
“You think I can’t think for myself?”
“No.”
“Then why do you say these stupid things? I will not waste the time of others when I have a daughter who is supposed to take care of me!” She clicks her tongue sharply when I apply a cold compress to her ankle.
“There’s no swelling,” I say. “How long ago did you fall?”
“I don’t know,” she replies shortly. “It was dark.”
“An hour? Two?”
“I don’t know, Evelyn.”
It wouldn’t be the first time she’d be lying in order to lay the guilt on thick, but strangely, I don’t feel as guilty as I usually do. So often, she would reduce me to tears trying to reach impossible expectations, but something about her tone doesn’t quite hit the same now. Maybe it’s because of everything I’ve been through or because Cormac is somewhere nearby. I’m not sure, but when I apply a compression bandage to her ankle, none of her comments about my cold touch faze me like they used to.
“I’ve done all I can.” I pack up the kit. “But you should call a doctor tomorrow.”
“It wouldn’t have even happened if you’d been here.”
“Maybe, but if you fell in the dark and the dark was your emergency, there’s no way I could have gotten here in time.”
“Of course not,” Mom scoffs. “No time for your mother. You brush off responsibility like a duck brushes water. And then you bring strange men into my house!”
“Cormac isn’t strange,” I reply defensively. “He’s my…” Boyfriend? Partner? No word seems right to describe him. “I don’t know. But he’s not strange.”
My mother’s eyes suddenly light up. “Tell me, is he to be your husband?”
“Mom…”
“I told you to be careful, didn’t I? That no one would like you as you got older.”
“I’m only twenty-four.”
“Past your prime.” She sniffs with disdain. “But if he can look past that, then I will make sure you don’t let him go!”
“I thought you didn’t like strange men.”
“Well, you can’t afford to be picky at your age, so what can I say?” Mom rests back in her chair. “You’re already running out of time.”
Standing, I fight the urge to sigh deeply and instead clutch at the back of my neck. “Please call a doctor tomorrow, okay? Get your ankle looked at. And I’ll call the building super about your fuses.”
“Is that it?” Mom glares at me. “You’re leaving already?”
“I have to,” I reply. “I have things to do.” That and I just want to crawl into bed and sleep. Holly was more draining than I expected, and time with my unhappy mother always takes years off my life. “But I’ll call you.”
“No you won’t.”
It takes me an hour to leave my mother. Each time I try to slip away, she comes up with another thing to nit-pick about my appearance or lifestyle and always ends with a guilt trip about leaving her all alone in her apartment. In the end, Cormac is the one who pulls me away because it’s so late, but he promises to send someone tomorrow to take her to the doctor. She’s so shocked at his offer that we’re able to slip away, and I don’t breathe until we’re back in the car.
“Wow,” Cormac groans as we start driving. “The way she was talking, I thought she’d make me inseminate you right on the coffee table.”
“I’m so sorry. She’s convinced I’m too old and that I’m wasting my life by not being married and having kids. She’s… old-fashioned.”
“Or backward.” Cormac snorts. “I didn’t think people still held those views.”
“I’d try to say she’s traditional, but she didn’t exactly embrace the role of mother.” Facing her after a lovely few days with Clodagh just highlights how cold and empty my childhood was. Is it any wonder I turned to material things for love?
Maybe it’s why I’m so enamored of Cormac. He’s shown so much care for me in such a short time. By comparison, his actions are more loving than my mother’s ever were.
“I’m sorry you had to grow up with that,” Cormac says gently. “I can’t imagine what it was like to experience that.”
“That’s kind of why I didn’t want you to come,” I murmur. “It’s embarrassing.”
“Evie, there’s nothing—”
“Cormac!”
We see the lights too late. As Cormac pulls out of the intersection, a horn blares and a gigantic truck runs the red light. I clutch at Cormac’s hand for a split second, then the truck collides with us with an almighty crash and scream of metal. My head whips to the side, cracking into the glass, and then darkness takes me as warmth trickles down from my hairline.
“Cormac!” I jolt awake, my head pounding and my vision swimming. Everything is bright, too bright, so I close my eyes again and groan softly. My throat is so dry that the groan catches and I immediately start coughing.
“Easy,” says a voice, and a cool hand lands on my bare arm.
I crack open my eyes once more and lock eyes with someone above me. Someone who makes my confused heart sink.
“Evelyn,” says Detective Cogs. “You have some explaining to do.”
