Tomorrow's Lies (Promises #1) (9 page)

“Anyway,” Mandy says, “we’re only allowed in town if Mrs. Lowry or Allison accompanies us. And that rarely, if ever, happens.”

I pick at a tear in the arm of my sweatshirt. “Yeah, but how can they really stop us?”

Mandy laughs, but it’s a bitter sound. “Go ahead and hike around the property, Jaynie. Walking around up here, at least, is permitted. Go as far as you can, in all directions. Check out the property lines. You’ll have no trouble finding them. There’s high fencing around the entire perimeter, with barbed wire on top.”

“Barbed wire?”

“Yep.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” I reply dismally.

Mandy continues, “The only open area is way up in the deep part of the woods, north of the house. But even that area ends at the edge of a cliff overlooking a river. It’d be a damn steep drop to the water.” Her eyes meet mine. “It’s doable...but dangerous.”

Not sure I heard her correctly, I say, “What? Jumping off the cliff? That seems a bit extreme, Mandy.”

She shrugs and stares down at the covers. “Just remember, it’s an out.”

God, she’s serious. Could things ever really get
that
bad?

“Listen, Jaynie,” Mandy says. “It’s like what we talked about earlier in the craft barn. The bottom line is we’re all trapped up here.”

I nod slowly as I envision the fortress-like gates at the entrance to the property and the wire fence in the front. Guess it extends everywhere. God, I really am a prisoner in this place, more so than I thought. We all are.

“Mrs. Lowry tells us all these measures are to keep us safe from possible intruders.” Mandy rolls her eyes. “Don’t believe her crap. Every inch of fencing and every locked gate are nothing but devices to keep us from running away.”

“Don’t the townspeople question what’s going on up here?” I’m still trying to come to grips with how trapped I really am. “They must find it odd to never see any of us around town.”

Mandy laughs. “Don’t be naïve. Those people have their own problems down there. You drove through the town on the way here, right?” I nod. “Then I’m sure it was clear most of those people have no jobs and no money. They’re as desperate as we are.”

I think of the boarded-up buildings, the cars on blocks in the yards, and the young girl crying in the middle of a muddy mess. I sigh. “I see what you’re saying.”

“There’s more, too, Jaynie.”

“I think I’m afraid to hear anything else,” I mutter.

But Mandy goes on. “Mrs. Lowry gives the small handful of influential people in Forsaken a lot of money to leave her alone. End result, no one cares what goes on here. It works out well for all those involved. We kids stay out of sight, and the people in town pretend we don’t exist. Bu the way, don’t think that doesn’t include our social workers. You’ll see.”

I’m quick to retort, “Saundra said she’d stop in and check on me from time to time.”

“Did she check on you at your last home?”

I swallow the lump that forms in my throat. “No.”

“Then don’t count on things being any different now that you’re here, especially with Crafty Lo calling the shots.”

I know she’s right, and it makes me ill.

“So, what are we supposed to do?” I ask. “Just count the days till we turn eighteen?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

I glance over at Callie, resting peacefully. She’s as much of a prisoner as we are. And she’s only eight.

“What about the twins?” I ask. “After we’re gone are Callie and Cody going to end up being stuck here for ten more years?” I shudder. “What kind of life would that be for them? Working all the time, never being allowed to play?”

“It’s already like that,” Mandy reminds me. “And it
is
a terrible life for them.” Her voice cracks and she looks away, swiping at her eyes discreetly. She loves those kids, no doubt about it.

“We should do something once we’re out,” I whisper.

“What would we do, Jaynie? Report the fabulous Crafty Lo? No one will ever believe us. Everyone around here loves that lady. There were kids here before us, you know. They turned eighteen, left, and never looked back. Sometimes it’s easier just to not make waves.”

It sounds harsh, but I have to ask, “Is that what you plan to do? Leave at the end of July and never look back?”

“No fucking way.” She shakes her head. “I have a place to go, and I’m going to work my ass off to change the things I can.”

She doesn’t appear to be joking, but I have to ask, “How can you change anything? You just said it was impossible.”

Mandy bites her bottom lip and stares over at the sole window in the room. It’s raining like crazy and sheets of water are beating against the glass.

I’m waiting to hear Mandy’s grand plan, but she doesn’t say a thing.

“What?” I say, puffing up the pillows behind me to sit up straighter. “Are you afraid I’ll blab your plan to someone? I’d never say a word to anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Mandy sighs, her eyes remaining on the window as a flash of lightning brightens the room to a silvery-blue. “Yeah, I guess not,” she says, at last.

She’s still quiet, so I try to prod her along. “So, where are you planning to go when you leave?”

“As soon as I get out of here, I’m heading straight to Morgantown.”

“Why Morgantown?”

“Before I was sent here, that’s where I was living.”

“That’s in a different county, though.”

“Yeah,” Mandy replies as her gaze finally returns to me. “I wasn’t in foster care at the time. I had run away from the home I’d been placed in. It sucked, and I wanted out. I’d always heard you could make money in Morgantown, enough to get by on your own.”

“You got a job in Morgantown?” I ask.

Mandy laughs. “No, Jaynie, not money from a real job. I’m talking about panhandling for cash. I was too young to work, and I was a runaway from the system. Begging for money was my only real option.”

I nod knowingly. It’s never come to that for me, but it could.

“Anyway,” Mandy says, “the students up there were surprisingly generous. It seemed the ones I ran into had a lot of empathy for my situation.” She shrugs. “Or I don’t know, maybe they were just glad they weren’t in my shoes.”

“How old were you at the time?” I ask softly.

“Fifteen,” she says.

“Oh, wow. I can’t even imagine.”

“It wasn’t that bad, not really. I wasn’t above begging. And panhandling was definitely better than the alternative.”

“What was the alternative?” I ask, even though I suspect I already know the answer.

“Prostitution,” Mandy says, confirming my suspicion.

“Damn, Mandy.”

She pauses for a beat, looks away. In a soft voice she tells me, “I have to be honest, Jaynie. I thought about it more than once.”

“Hooking?”

She nods. “Yeah. There were times when I was so hungry I couldn’t sleep. Those nights, hooking didn’t sound so bad.” She takes a breath, while I hold mine, imagining a fifteen-year-old Mandy contemplating selling her body.

“I always came to my senses, though,” Mandy says. “I’d remind myself how there’s always a pimp who shows up and takes a cut of the money you earn lying on your back. Then, if you refuse to work for him,”—she makes a fist and punches the air—“you get your ass handed to you. Hell, even if you
do
agree to work for the dickhead, he still lays you out from time to time. So, yeah, hooking was out.”

“That’s crazy,” is all I can think to say.

Mandy has clearly lived much more than me. Sure, horrific things have happened in my life, but there are far worse things that could still occur. I sure as hell don’t want to end up selling my body to untold numbers of men. One man taking what he wanted damaged me enough. But the worst could still lie ahead. Living in the world of the unwanted is like living on thin ice. It could crack open at any time, and God help you if you fall in.

I feel the blood draining from my face, and Mandy asks, “Jesus, are you okay?”

Shakily, I reply, “Yeah, I’m good.”

Clearly, I am not, and Mandy stares at me like she’d like to ask more. I know she’s curious to hear my full story, but I’m not ready to get into what I went through. Still, my reticence to speak about myself doesn’t mean I’m not curious about how Mandy ended up where she is. Like, how’d she land in foster care in the first place?

I don’t have the courage to ask, not now, so I focus on the story at hand.

“So,” I begin, “what great thing happened in Morgantown that has you so set on returning when you get out of here?”

Mandy lights up, and not from the fresh flash of lightning illuminating the room. “I met this guy when I was there,” she says softly.

“Ahh, it’s always a guy.”

She smiles. “Seems that way, huh?”

I can’t believe it, but the unflappable Mandy is flustered. “Are you blushing?” I ask.

I feel so normal all of the sudden. I mean, here we are in a crappy situation, but we can still smile and blush over a boy. Emboldened, I take a chance and nudge Mandy with my knee. I wait for the panic to set in, but everything is fine. I feel good. Maybe there’s hope for me yet.

Mandy glances down at my knee, then back up at me. I know she’s surprised I made contact with her, but, to my relief, she says nothing. Instead, she treats me like I’m normal, nonchalantly smacking me with the edge of the top sheet.

“Shut up,” she says. “I am
not
blushing.” She ponders for a few seconds, and then qualifies, “Though I have to admit that Josh is certainly a blush-inducing kind of guy.”

“Josh, huh?”

“Yeah,” she sighs. “Josh.”

Mandy clearly cares for this “blush-inducing” guy. I mean, hell, he’s her reason to return to Morgantown, so I feel confident in asking, “Is Josh the special someone you told me about in the work barn?” She nods, and I add excitedly, “Well, tell me more about him.”

We both hunker down in the covers. I scoot lower on my pillows and she moves an inch closer.

“Okay,” she says. “I may be biased, but I have to say Josh is really super cute.”

“Go on,” I prompt.

Smiling, she tells me, “He has wavy blond hair and the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen. And, Jaynie, he is freaking
built
.”

I nod approvingly. “Nice.”

“
Very
nice,” she agrees with a waggle of her eyebrows.

We laugh for a minute, but then things turn serious when she says, “More important than all those things, though, is that Josh is a great guy. He’s a good soul, Jaynie. Like Flynn.” She smiles at me, and I smile back. “He really helped me a lot. I don’t think I ever would have made it for so long without him. He was a runaway, too, at the time, but he’d been out on his own for a lot longer than I had. He knew things, like which fast food restaurants didn’t lock their dumpsters at night and who dumped the most food. He also knew the best places to panhandle, and where it was safe to sleep.”

“He sounds amazing,” I say. “Was he fifteen at the time, too?”

“No, he was seventeen when I met him, almost eighteen.”

Mandy stares at the wall behind me, and I know she’s lost in a memory. Maybe she’s thinking about what Josh might be doing right now, maybe she’s wondering if he still thinks of her, the way she’s thinking of him on a stormy April night.

Mandy clears her throat. “Oh, I should tell you something else about Josh. Something that kind of makes him…well, him. He’s a really talented musician.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, it is. He used to play gigs around town, mostly in coffee shops. He sang a capella, at first, since he had no money for an instrument. But once he earned enough cash, he bought himself a pawned guitar. He was really catching on about the time I got picked up.”

“Picked up? What’d you do?”

“Something stupid.” Mandy makes a face. “I got arrested for shoplifting a donut and was thrown back in the system.”

“Ugh, that sucks.”

“Yeah, it sucked big time. Josh had been saving money at the time. We were hoping to get ourselves an apartment. There’s this state program Josh knew of where you can apply for subsidized housing.”

I perk up. “Wow, really? I might be interested in that. After I get out, that is.”

“We’ll keep in touch,” Mandy says. “Once I hook up with Josh, I’ll get the details for you.”

I like the idea, and I ask, “Do you think Josh has his own place by now?”

“He may, Jaynie. I sure hope so. But if not, we’ll find one together.”

Curious, I ask, “How do you plan to get in touch with him?”

Mandy smiles a
we got that covered
grin. “We worked out a plan ages ago. After I get to Morgantown I’m supposed to wait at our secret spot every evening at sunset. He’ll find me. He knows I’ll be there shortly after my birthday.”

“Secret spot, huh?” I can’t help but smile. “That sounds romantic.”

Mandy snickers softly. “Yeah, I guess it does. We had a little home set up under an overpass, right along the river. Josh used to play guitar at night and sing me to sleep. That’s where we plan to meet.”

“He sounds really sweet.”

“He is, Jaynie, he really is. And we’re going to have the life we want together. I figure if I get a job right away, and Josh is earning money from working
and
playing music, we can apply to be foster parents. That’s my real plan, Jaynie, to foster the twins. I just want to get them out of here. And eventually I hope to adopt Cody and Callie. I want to officially become their mom.”

“The twins do love you,” I say. “I think it’s a great idea.”

Mandy’s plan
is
amazing. Callie already told me she wants nothing more than for Mandy to become her mom, and I’m sure Cody feels the same way. Silently, I send up a prayer for everything to work out for Mandy and Josh, and for Cody and Callie, especially. I send up a quick prayer for Flynn, too, just in case he has a plan, as well.

Mandy glances over her shoulder at Callie, then back at me. “Do you want to hear the twins’ story?” she asks. “I can tell you how they ended up in foster care, if you want to know.”

“Of course I want to know,” I reply. And I do. I want to learn as much about my new family as possible.

“Well,” Mandy says. “I should start by telling you the twins have been in the system since they were four.”