Free 05.A.Descent.Into.Hell.2008 by Kathryn Casey Page A

Jennifer’s potential wasn’t using it. But Jennifer insisted that college wasn’t important. “I’m fine and I’m happy,” she said. “I’m living the way I want to.”
    To get her point across that Jennifer was on the family payroll only if she was moving ahead with her studies, Sharon told her that from there on out, she was on her own. She’d need to pay her own bills, including her rent, until she proved that she was serious about school. It was time for Jennifer to understand, Sharon decided, how hard it was to make ends meet and how much a college degree could help.
    After dinner, as always, Jim and Jennifer took plates of pie and their cigarettes outside. They stood on the patio, eating and talking, Jim trying to explain why Sharon pushed so hard, that she wanted her children to be independent, to live good, prosperous lives. Jennifer was angry and hurt.
    “You have the desire and the ability to do well,” Jim said. “You have all the ingredients. You just need to apply yourself.”
    “I do know what I want to do,” Jennifer said.
    “What is it?” Jim asked.
    “I want to go back to school. I want to get a degree.”
    “Then do it, Jennifer,” he urged. “You’re the only one standing in your way.”
    “I will,” she said.
    Jim knew that Jennifer craved their approval, and he wanted to believe her, but he couldn’t. He’d seen her make plans too many times and then not follow through. He wondered if this time Jennifer meant it or if she was just “blowing smoke up my ass.”
    Off and on, Clayton and Jennifer had some alone time to talk. The brother and sister had always been close, and he confided in her that he’d been to a high school party where kids pushed him to drink and take drugs. “Don’t let anyone talk you into anything. If you don’t want to, don’t do it,” she said. Then she got quiet and intensely serious. “Once you start, you may not be able to stop.”
    With no money coming in from Sharon, Jennifer had only a small monthly stipend from her grandparents’ trust fund, which was supposed to pay for college. Worried about money, Jennifer gave up her apartment and moved with a friend, Kristina, into a less expensive one in Austin. Lauren came to visit one weekend, and the two sisters stayed up all night, sharing stories as they had when they were children. “I always thought that if Jennifer knew I was there for her, she’d clean up her act,” Lauren says. “But in the end, I guess it wasn’t enough.”
    The arrangement with Kristina lasted for a few months. When Jennifer couldn’t pay her share of the bills, Kristina kicked her out, keeping some of Jennifer’s possessions to sell to pay the electric bill. Jennifer’s world was shaky, but she hadn’t hit bottom. Soon something would happen that would throw her life into chaos, and Sharon’s deepest fears would come true, as Jennifer’s life spun further out of control.
    In the Cave family, 2004 would forever be known as Jennifer’s “dark year.”

Seven
    In Little Rock, the Pitonyaks moved that spring. They sold the house on a cul-de-sac they’d purchased when Colton was a senior and bought a more expensive home in their old neighborhood, Pleasant Valley. It wasn’t as grand as the house across from the golf course they’d sold three years earlier, but it was a charming English Tudor with a wood shingle roof.
    In Corpus Christi, Jim and Sharon made changes as well, finally selling Jim’s old house and moving into the remodeled home. Sharon had done an amazing job, and the thirty-year-old house looked modern. The fireplace area in the bedroom was perfect for a small sitting space, and nearly every room had a view of the pool. The kitchen was bright and airy, and the living room warm and cozy. Sharon decorated the two extra bedrooms, one for her girls and one for Jim’s. She hung a collage for each of the girls, filled with photos and mementos, and in the Cave sisters’ bedroom, she included a print of