Free Break of Day by Mari Madison Page A

that she’d buy me a new pair.”
    â€œDid she?”
    I shook my head. “We never got to Grandma’s,” I told him. “I don’t know if plans changed or that was just my mom’s story to get me packed and in the car. In any case, she drove me straight here and dropped me off at the front door. She had some story—like she was going to go pick up her boyfriend and that she’d be right back. But I knew. Somehow, as I watched her drive away, I knew she wasn’t coming back this time. That she’d dumped me here yet again.” I gave him a rueful look. “And man, did I wish then I’d packed some freaking toys.”
    My voice cracked. I stared down at my feet, the memories coming hard and fast. The disappointment I’d felt. The hopelessness. The knowledge that my own mother didn’t want me around.
    And why would she? Because of me, she’d lost her precious Michael. And even today I wondered, when she looked at me, if she still saw his face. If she didn’t need me so much—or at least need my paychecks—would she even want me to come around? Or would she have banished me from her life long ago?
    Lost in my troubled thoughts I almost didn’t feel the hand on my arm. I looked up to see that Jayden had come to stand next to me, a concerned look on his face. It was funny—here I’d been trying to comfort him. And now he was turning the tables on me. “But she did come back, right?” he asked. “I mean, you just brought her groceries yesterday.”
    â€œYeah,” I said. “She did. Years later. But it was never the same. From that point on I felt like I couldn’t trust her anymore. That I couldn’t trust anyone at all.”
    â€œExcept me!” Jayden broke in. “Miss Piper, you can totally count on me!”
    I looked up at him through eyes veiled with tears. He looked so fierce. So protective. So affronted on my behalf. I smiled at him.
    â€œThank you, Jayden,” I said. “I hope that you feel the same way about me.”
    He threw his arms around me and I hugged him tight. For a moment we just stayed like that, holding one another,both lost in our own memories. His raw and fresh, mine old and scarred, but no less painful. Finally Jayden broke away.
    â€œThanks,” he said, looking a little sheepish. “And I’m sorry I trashed my room.”
    â€œMeh,” I said, waving a dismissive hand. “If we work together we can clean it up quick. And then I’m going to finish that cake!”
    â€œWait!” he protested. “What about me?”
    I gave him a skeptical look. “I thought you said you weren’t hungry.”
    â€œWell . . .” He shrugged. “Maybe a little.”
    I pushed the cake in his direction. “Eat it,” I told him. “And then start picking up. I’ll go forage for a second slice. I think we both deserve our own, don’t you?”
    He grinned. “Absolutely.”

eight
    Â 
PIPER
    I ’d love to say the little heart-to-heart with Jayden turned out to be therapeutic for me as well as him. But that would be a lie. That night I tossed and turned, the nightmares tormenting me without mercy. Nightmares of me, splashing through dark waters, desperately scanning the sea. Of frantically searching, but never finding. Of the icy waves, smacking against my skin, soaking my clothes. Of my mother’s voice, screeching in my ears.
    You horrible girl.
    This is your fault.
    You were supposed to be watching him.
    I trusted you to watch him.
    Where’s your brother, Piper?
    Where’s your fucking brother?
    I jerked up in bed, bathed in sweat. Sucking in a breath, I reached for the light, trying to still my pounding heart. Screw it. I’d rather be exhausted at work tomorrow than tortured in my sleep tonight.
    After doing a few breathing exercises, trying to catch my breath, I grabbed my laptop off my nightstand