Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 50311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 201(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 201(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
“Is it working?”
A beat of silence.
Then, quietly, she replies, “Maybe.”
We don’t talk long before her mom is crying out for her to help her again. This call is just enough for me to know she’s still up. Still breathing. Still hanging on.
When I hang up, I stare at the ceiling a little longer.
Something’s pulling me toward her.
And I’m starting to think I don’t want to fight it.
FOUR
DREW
Every moment in life is a chance at an unexpected gift.
Business done. This is an easy day. This is the trip home. By the time we shower and load up to leave, I’m itching to check in on her again.
I tell Toon I’m gonna gas up while he grabs snacks for the road. I mean that is my plan, but I have a pit stop in mind.
Rather than go for food first, I head across the parking lot to her room.
I knock twice on the door and wait.
She answers after a few seconds, hoodie still on, eyes wide with surprise. “You again.”
“You disappointed?”
“Disappointed, no.” She shrugs. “Didn’t expect you back.”
“I can’t deny this pull. I told you if I come to Arkansas I don’t leave without seeing you. I gotta head to Carolina but wanted to see you once more.”
“You say a lot of things.”
I lean against the doorframe. “I don’t say anything I don’t mean.” She steps back, and to my surprise, lets me in.
The room is dark, lit only by the flicker of the old TV. Her mom’s passed out on the bed, half covered by a threadbare blanket. Cambria sits on the edge of the second bed, arms crossed over her chest like armor.
“I didn’t clean,” she says, a warning. “Wasn’t expecting company.” She pauses, “don’t get much company.”
“I didn’t come for the ambiance.”
We sit in silence for a minute. I look around—empty wrappers, bottles, the faint smell of smoke and sadness. The weight of her world presses in from every angle.
“You ever think about leaving?” I ask.
She blinks weighing her answer. “Every damn day.”
“Then why haven’t you?” I challenge. Yes, she is young in years, but what she’s been through has aged her. I may not be well-studied in school, focus wasn’t my thing, but I read people. And some people have been educated and raised by the trials of life. Cambria is one of those people.
I didn’t have anything hard in life. Seriously, my parents love each other in a freaking romance movie kind of way. Never holding back from affection with each other or my siblings. I come from a household where me and my brothers and sisters came first, even now as we become adults, there isn’t a moment where I can’t call my mom or dad and they will drop everything for me.
Cambria doesn’t have a support system, this much is obvious.
“My mom. She’s not... well. I can’t leave her.”
I nod understanding why she thinks this way, but absolutely not agreeing with her. “Yeah, you can.”
She scowls. “Easy for you to say.”
I hit a nerve which is not my intention here. “No. It’s not something I have to live. But hear me out, that woman in that very bed, that ain’t your momma, Cambria. That woman is an addict and she’s going to put her next hit above everything and everyone. You aren’t safe until she gets help.”
She looks at me again, something shifting behind her eyes. “I don’t think that is your business. What are you really doing here?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
She exhales, like she’s been holding her breath since I knocked. And in this moment, I make a decision I didn’t plan for.
I’m not going back to Catawba alone.
Not this time.
“This is going to sound crazy. I know you love your mom, that is evident. But when do you live life for Cambria? When do you get to see what the world has to offer you?”
She avoids my stare. I reach out, cupping her chin to make her look up at me. “I gotta load up. Cambria, don’t have much time. What I got is a family that will help you no matter what happens with us. Give it some thought. You wanna take a chance that will make your life better, then pack up. I’ll be back in ten minutes. You wanna ride home with me, I’ll get you set up for school, whatever you want. Take a chance on me, on this. No pressure, no obligation. Just a chance at a different life.”
“And if I don’t, what then? This, whatever it is,” she waves her hands around, “goes away before it can start? I have to leave right here, right now with you or never see you again?”
“Trust is hard. I promise you, if you take this chance, I’ll be your ride or die no matter what happens with this spark we have. You are a beautiful woman and you deserve more out of life than picking up pennies in a parking lot to eat.”