Free When Smiles Fade by Paige Dearth Page B

wanting to be as far away from Jake as possible.
    Emma held her sister in her arms for a long time. Then she went over to Brianna’s, taking Gracie along. She explained to her friend what had happened as they sat in the living room with a drunken Pam slouching nearby and mumbling incoherently, her slurred words running into each other.
    By the time Emma finished her story, Brianna had put a comforting arm around Gracie. “Don’t you worry, little sister,” she soothed. “We’ll protect you.”
    Feeling safer now that she was with Emma and Brianna, Gracie began to relax.
    “Here’s the deal,” Brianna began, looking at Emma. “You and Gracie are going to live here with me and Pam.” She looked over her shoulder at her mother. “ RIGHT, PAM ?” she hollered.
    Brianna’s mother looked at her. “Yeah, sure, Bri, whatever you want,” she mumbled passively. “Just don’t call me ‘mom’ in front of my johns. Otherwise they’ll think I’m over the hill.”
    The girls already knew why Brianna had called her mother Pam from the time she was a small child. She had told them when they first met how Pam always lied to her clients about Brianna, claiming that the girl was the daughter of her dead sister. The motherless child, she explained, had no one else to take care of her and Pam had volunteered to take her in and raise her as her own. During one of the rare moments when she was sober, Pam had explained to Brianna that knowing she had a daughter would be a turn-off for her clients.
    “Nobody wants to fuck an old lady,” she had said matter-of-factly. “I was very young when you were born and I could probably pass you off as my sister, but we’ll just tell them you’re my orphaned niece. In fact, some of them might actually get turned on by my kindness and fantasize that they are fucking a real Florence Nightingale!”
    Brianna’s plan for her friends was finalized, and Emma and Gracie headed back across the street to pack some clothes. They found Jake at home, sprawled on a recliner he had brought from his apartment and placed in front of the television.
    “Where the hell did you two go?” he demanded to know.
    “None of your fucking business!” Emma shot back. “You don’t belong here. This is our house. So if you’re staying, we’re leaving. Fucking asshole,” Emma mumbled as she turned to walk away from him.
    Jake sprang up from his chair, grabbed hold of her neck, and jacked her up against the living room wall.
    “Who the fuck are you talking to like that?” he snarled. “I’m the man of this house, sugar bottom. You might talk to your mom like that, but there ain’t no snot-nosed little bitch gonna talk to me that way!”
    He looked over at Gracie, who was mortified as she watched the horrors that were unfolding. “And what the fuck are you looking at?” he barked at her.
    Emma kept silent, pushed him off her, and led her sister upstairs. While they were in their room, stuffing their clothes into a grocery bag, Valerie walked in.
    “What’s going on, girls?” she snapped. “Where do you think you’re going?”
    “Since you insist on having that asshole live here,” Emma told her, “we’re leaving. You may want to live with that toxic prick, but we don’t have to. We’re going to stay at Brianna’s. Her mom’s fine with it.”
    “Actually, Emma, you’re not leaving,” Valerie said authoritatively. “You are not old enough to live on your own, and even if you were, you would definitely have no right to take Gracie with you. So settle down and stop being such a drama queen. Haven’t you caused enough trouble for this family already? It’s always about you, Emma! It was the same way with your father. You just don’t know when to stop. Do you?”
    Emma couldn’t believe her ears. She was convinced now that her mother was the bride of Satan. “My God,” Emma grunted, “you’re fucking delusional! Seriously, Mom, you’re as far from reality as anyone can be. You’re