Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
“I’ll handle this.” Mom got up and headed into the office.
“I’m suspended for four days,” I called out after her.
“Over my dead body,” Mom replied.
Age 19
“I’m sorry, but what?” I asked, speaking into the cell phone.
“I need you to come pick me up,” Everest pleaded. “She fuckin’ called and said that I’d been dealing drugs!”
I pinched the bridge of my nose between two fingers and asked, “Where are you?”
After getting directions to where he was, I called to my boss and said, “I’m so sorry to do this, but I have to go. Everest’s in trouble.”
My boss, the sweetest candy maker on the planet, with a smile in her voice said, “Go, dear. Let me know what Sage did this time.”
The worst thing was, she wasn’t exaggerating.
Every single time something happened and I was called away from work, it was Sage related.
Going so fast over the posted speed limit that she was arrested? Yep, Sage.
Caught stealing candy from the convenience store? Sage.
Out past her curfew, and caught by the chief of police trying to sneak into the school? Sage.
Sadly, it was a never-ending story with Sage that I felt like I could never wake from.
Today was no different.
When I got to the place that Everest said he’d been pulled over, I was angry.
I walked right up to the police officer, a man we knew well because he was a regular at my dad’s diner—or he had been before he’d gotten married years and years ago—and asked, “What happened?”
“We had a tip that this driver was seen at a drug deal on Methvin Street,” Downy said. “Was given the car’s make and model, and the description of who was driving. I was in the area, so I took the call.”
Lachlan Downy was the assistant chief of police for Kilgore Police Department.
He and his crew were regulars at the diner my father owned, and we knew them fairly well.
Downy knew our family so well, in fact, that he’d arrested my sister four times for theft.
The first couple of times, he’d done my dad a favor and called him to deal with it. The second and third time my father told Downy to arrest Sage and he’d bail her out when he felt like it.
Truthfully, I knew at this point that Sage was never going to be a good person.
And since she wasn’t a good person, she was going to bring everyone down with her.
She was a pathological liar.
She was an attention seeker.
She also went out of her way to make everyone look bad—or at least worse than her.
It worked in the beginning.
Now, my parents were well aware of her tricks.
“You know that Everest is a straight-A student,” I said. “He has a steady girlfriend, works at Chick-Fil-A, and is taking eight dual credit college courses. He has no time to do drugs.”
Downy nodded solemnly.
“I know,” he looked at my brother. “I confiscated the drugs. They were prescription pain killers. Not enough to do anything more than get a slap on the wrist for, but I’m taking them anyway.
“Feel free,” I said. “Can he drive?”
“He can,” Downy said. “Where are your parents?”
“It’s just me this week,” I admitted. “Mom and Dad went on a long-needed vacation. I’m pulling double duty at the diner and at the candy shop.”
Downy patted my shoulder. “Try to keep her in line the best you can, Pepper.”
Downy left, and I walked over to my pitiful looking brother.
“It’s okay,” I said to him. “He’s going to let you drive home.”
Everest took a deep breath. “Good.”
“I’ll deal with her when I get home,” I promised.
Everest looked away. “I’m thinking about going into the Army.”
I grinned. “You said you weren’t sure that you wanted to go.”
“Anything to get me the hell out of here,” he said. “Anything.”
Sage knew how to ruin people’s lives, that was for sure.
“I’ll fix it.”
Everest looked at me. “I don’t think she’s fixable, Pepper.”
Yeah, I wasn’t too sure she was, either.
Age 22
“I’m sorry, but can you repeat that?”
“She’s telling everyone that she was raped,” my mom whispered into the phone, her voice shaking from unmitigated rage. “I swear to God, Pepper. I’m getting a bunch of nasty reviews on the diner’s page because of our ‘lack of concern for our child’s safety.’”
I stared down at my lap, wondering what kind of time I would get if I killed my sister in cold blood. Surely they would give me some leniency after everything she’d put our family through… right?
“What happened?” I asked.
“That’s the thing, nothing happened.” She sounded tired, worn out from years of having to deal with a psychopath in her own family. “I was there. I know exactly what happened. We were out to eat with Pan and Merrily. Sage had come with us when she heard Merrily’s son was in from college visiting. We checked out the new restaurant they just put in downtown. We were there for maybe an hour. We all walked out to our cars, and then Pan and Merrily left. The son drove himself, so he stayed for a bit longer and spoke with us. Your dad and I left, leaving Sage and him talking in the front of the restaurant. But your dad forgot his leftovers, so we turned right around and went to grab them. They were both still talking when I ran inside. When I came back outside, Merrily’s son was gone. But Sage was still in front, playing on Snapchat. I didn’t say anything because your dad really had to use the bathroom. We pulled out right after Merrily’s son and followed him almost all the way to their house before we pulled into our driveway.”