Cloudburst (33 page)

He went to the minibar to look for something to eat and found a package of peanuts and some cheese and crackers.

“Dinner!” he cried, and offered me some.

We both gobbled it all.

“This is the best meal I've had in a long time,” he said. He checked his watch again. “I've got to get over to the mall, too, wherever it is, and buy a few things I'll need for the next day or so.”

“You going to stay the whole time?”

“Maybe. What do you think?”

“Might look better if you leave earlier. I'll need to give Kiera some attention anyway.”

“Right.” He poured some juice for me and for himself. Then he sat back with a wide grin on his face.

“What's so funny?”

“How wonderful you are and how great this is,” he said. “Yesterday at this time, I was about as depressed and down as I've ever been.”

“Me, too.”

“To us,” he said, raising his glass.

“To us.”

We had started to drink when we heard a knock on the door.

“Isn't she considerate?” Ryder said with a wide smile again.

“If anyone knows what goes on behind closed doors, she does,” I said. “Coming,” I called, and opened the door to face two California highway patrolmen. They looked past me at Ryder, who slowly rose.

“Ryder Garfield?” the one on my right asked.

“What's this?” Ryder asked.

“You've been reported as a missing person,” the other patrolman said, moving in quickly.

“What? Who reported me?”

“Your parents,” the first patrolman replied. “We'd like to make this easy. You're under eighteen. You're coming with us either voluntarily or otherwise. Considering who your parents are, we recommend it be voluntarily.”

“This is bullshit. I'm not missing. I'll go home when I'm good and ready to.”

“That's a bad choice, son,” the second patrolman said, and moved in on Ryder.

“DON'T!”
I cried.

Ryder tried to resist, but the second patrolman was on him as well, and in moments, they had his hands behind his back and his wrists cuffed. I pressed my fist against my mouth to contain another scream. Tears filled my eyes when Ryder looked at me with a desperate expression of helplessness.

“Let's go, son,” the first patrolman said. They practically lifted him to move him forward.

I followed them out the door. When they reached the stairway, another motel guest was coming up. He moved quickly to get by them. Ryder looked back at me. He shook his head. Did he think this was somehow my fault?

“Ryder!” I called, but they moved him quickly down the stairs. I ran after them.

Their patrol car was just at the foot of the stairway. Ryder could see that there was no point in resisting. Before I could say another word to him, they stuffed him into the rear of the car. He seemed to collapse in there. I stood watching as they drove off. He never looked back.

I felt my legs soften beneath me and sat hard on the first step.

It was as if some invisible evil spirit had put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me down.

I felt as helpless as I had been walking behind my mother in the darkness on the beach, looking for the safety of a home.

16
A Ruined Weekend

I
was still sitting on the step when Kiera drove into the motel parking lot. She got out slowly and stopped when she saw me. I imagined she couldn't believe her eyes. I saw her look about with confusion. Ryder's car was still in the parking space he had taken. She raised her hands to ask what was happening. When I didn't respond, she started toward me.

“What's going on? Where's Ryder?”

“His parents called the police. They came to the suite and put him in handcuffs and dragged him off.”

“Handcuffs?”

“They said he was considered a missing person, and because he was only seventeen, they could do it.”

“Bummer,” she said.

“It was horrible.”

“Well, there's nothing you can do about it now. Let's go upstairs and get ready to go out. We can still have a good time.”

“What? Didn't you hear what I said? They put him in a police car like some sort of criminal and dragged him away.”

“I heard you, Sasha. So what are you going to do, mope in the room all weekend?”

I looked up at her. She turned away for a few moments and then turned back to me.

“They'll take him home. That's all. He's not going to jail or anything. Famous movie stars can get the police to do lots of things for them to cover up their family problems. It's the way it is. Maybe he'll run away again and call you from someplace else.”

“You didn't see his face. He was devastated. I'm worried for him.”

“So distract yourself, otherwise you'll go nuts,” she said. She started up the stairs.

I stood up. Something occurred to me.

“How did they find him so fast?” I asked. She paused. “I mean, they came right to the door.”

She started to turn away and then smiled. “You're the valedictorian, not me, but it seems quite simple.”

“How?”

“The school most likely called his parents to tell him he was missing. They called my mother or my father, and they told them where you had gone. So they put two and two together, and
voilà
.”

She started up again.

“But you didn't tell your parents we were staying here. You told me not to say anything and that your roommates would cover for us if they called,” I reminded her.

She kept walking up the stairway. I sped up and caught
up to her in the hallway. I grabbed her arm and spun her around.

“Kiera!”

“Relax. One of my roommates obviously broke down and told,” she said. “I'll find out who it was and break her neck. Although I probably can't blame her. I'm sure my mother was hysterical on the phone.”

I thought for a moment and then hurried into the suite to get my cell phone. I saw there was a message on it. Kiera came in behind me. I held it up.

“I have a call from your mother.”

“I'll talk to her and explain that it was my idea to come here.”

“That's not the point,” I said. “They thought I was listening to them and avoiding Ryder. Now they'll know I lied.”

“Join the club.”

“I don't belong in that club,” I said, moving toward my things. “I think I'll just head back.”

“What? Don't be stupid. I've been through many things like this with them. They'll get over it.”

“Yes, but I won't,” I said, gathering my things.

She stood there with her hands on her hips, her eyes widening with rage. “You're actually going to leave me here alone after I planned this whole thing out, went through all this trouble for you?”

“I won't be any fun to have with you, Kiera. I can't help it. Sorry.”

“Great,” she said, and went into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

“Kiera, don't be like that,” I said. I waited, but she didn't respond.

Despite her tantrum, I couldn't change my mind. My body felt as if there were at least a half-dozen fuses all lit inside. If I was going to explode somewhere, I'd rather it be at home.

“I'll call you,” I said, and headed out. Seeing Ryder's car still parked there brought tears to my eyes. How horrible it had to be for him to be driven all the way home in a police car and with his hands cuffed behind him like some common criminal. How could his parents do this to him?

I got into my car and started out of the parking lot. When I looked back and up, I saw Kiera on the small balcony. She had another glass of vodka and orange juice in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She wasn't looking at me. She was looking out at the mountains in the distance. I wondered if she would stay there or return to her dorm.

It took me much longer to get back into Los Angeles. I hit all sorts of traffic. At one point, there was a backup because of an accident. I wasn't really hungry despite eating little or nothing all day, but when I had a chance to turn off for gasoline, I bought myself a cereal bar and some water. I started to call Jordan again a number of times but thought it was better just to arrive. However, it was getting late, and when I was about an hour away, I did call.

“Where are you?” she asked immediately.

“Only an hour away.”

“Donald is very upset. I'm very disappointed.”

“I'm sorry. I'll explain when I get there. Did Kiera call you?”

“No. I think she called Donald,” she said, “but I don't remember the time. Drive carefully,” she added. Her voice was so small and distant that she sounded thousands of miles away. Before I could say anything else, she hung up.

It took me nearly an hour and a half to arrive at the front gate. I had been so tense the whole time that it was a wonder I didn't get into an accident. This wasn't going to be very pleasant for any of us.

I wasn't happy about defying their wishes, even though I felt justified. Since Kiera had left for college, I had done everything they asked of me. Although I wanted to succeed in school to please myself and for my mother's memory, I was also aware of how well it reflected on them. Until now, I had never done anything to displease either of them. I didn't violate the curfews they set for me. I avoided parties that could turn into Kiera-like parties. I took good care of everything they gave me and never took anything for granted.

I was aware of how hard Jordan tried to be more than a foster mother to me. I wouldn't deny that there were many times when the three of us went out to dinner or when they had guests for dinner and I was present that I felt almost like their natural child. I wanted to feel like family. I did the best I could to overcome all that made me hesitate or feel guilty about accepting them.

But I knew that this was going to make things different. Whether Donald was sincere about not wanting me to turn out like his daughter or whether it was just a matter of his ego, I expected that his disappointment was going to have dire consequences for me. It was very possible that he would carry through with a threat and throw me out of the
March house. If anything, he would now hammer home to Jordan how smart he was not to have legally adopted me.

I parked and went to the front door, pausing to catch my breath. It seemed like yesterday when I had stood there with Ryder and taken the same deep breath that made him say I looked as if I was about to go underwater. I certainly felt I was doing that right now.

No one was standing there when I entered. The house was ominously quiet and dimly lit. I waited for a moment to see if either Jordan or Donald would come charging out of a room, or even Mrs. Duval might appear, but no one did. Practically tiptoeing down the hallway, I stopped to glance into the sitting room on my right. At first, I saw no one, and I was about to turn to head for the stairway when I heard Donald say my name.

I looked again and saw him sitting under an unlit lamp. With only the reflection of another smaller light across the room illuminating him, he looked like a shadow shaped like a man. He reached up and turned on the lamp. I saw that he was sitting there with a drink in his hand. The sight of him so quiet and so dark frightened me. I didn't move.

“Please come in, Sasha,” he said.

I entered slowly, looking to see if Jordan was sitting anywhere.

“Jordan's up in the bedroom,” he said. “She's taking all this very hard. I had to get her to take her pills to sleep.”

“I'm sorry,” I said.

“Just sit,” he replied in a very tired voice of defeat.

For a few long moments, he said nothing. I felt a great ache in my chest as I forced back my tears.

“It's very difficult, if not impossible, to predict how your children will turn out,” he began. He sipped his drink. “As hard as it might be for you to believe, when Kiera was much younger, she was more like Alena. I don't know what changed her. Maybe it was the birth of her younger sister and the attention Alena needed and got, but there were times when I wondered if someone had substituted another young girl in our house.” He smiled. “You know, like one of those
Twilight Zone
things or a horror movie.