Page 190 of Under the Waves
Tears welled in my eyes as the corners of my lips trembled.
I placed my hand in hers.
And I made that decision formyself.
“Thank you…justthank you,” I whispered, fearing the stability of my own voice.
With a soft smile, she opened her arms, giving me another choice. A small laugh trickled from my lips as salty tears patterned my cheeks in a ray of constellations, dripping from the corners of my eyes. I stepped into her embrace, and as I did, Vienna delicately threaded her fingers through my curls.
I was about to speak up when she said, “Don’t worry, sweetie, Jasper told me all about your curls and what not to do because he knows you hate it. That poor boy wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to you.”
The mere thought made sobs shatter my throat, spilling outof me as her motherly touch sewed together every broken thread inside my body.
I didn’t deserve Jasper Ridge and part of me couldn’t help but think I never would.
My voice broke. “What if I don’t deserve more?”
“Oh, my sweet girl,” she whispered, hugging me that little bit tighter, “you do. I promise you do.”
After a moment, I stepped backwards. Vienna used the pad of her thumb to once again clean up the mess of tears my face had become. And just like last time, I held my breath because for some reason, I didn’t want it to end.
Sighing wistfully, she clapped her hands together. “Come on then, Poppy. Let’s go and drop off these treats. Maybe we can stop by Sunny’s hut on the way back and see if they have any of their delicious signature smoothie bowls!”
I smiled. “I’d…I’d love that.”
After getting changed into some more appropriate clothes to be seen out in public, courtesy of Jasper’s mom, we placed the desert,if it could even be called that, inside the container and headed outside.
I took one step off the porch and onto the pavement before I stopped dead in my tracks.
“M-mom?” I gaped, finding myself already stepping backwards towards the safety of Jasper’s house.
As my mother angrily marched towards me, I caught a glimpse of those familiar green eyes in the driver’s seat of a bright red truck across the street.
No, no, no, no…
“Where have you been, you stupid,stupidgirl?”
I gulped as she grabbed onto my wrist, sending an excruciating wave of pain up my arm making me wince. The bandages began to tear.
“Get. Off. Me!” I screamed, attempting to tug myself free of her grasp, only to be met with her palm slapping me clean across the face. My entire body flinched, recoiling backwards away from her, just as I heard someone start yelling from behind me.
Not just someone—Vienna.
“Don’teverhit one of my kids again, you savage, ragingbitch!” Jasper’s mom yelled as she marched down the porch steps and towards us, a fierce sort of fire burning in her gaze and radiatingfrom each of her strides.
Her kids.
Jakson, Jasper, Lia and…me.
She—I—
“Who evenareyou?” My mother sneered, “This doesn’t concern you.”
“If it’s about that young girl right there, then it damned-fucking-well does.”
“Who?Poppy?” She laughed.Why?Because the thought of someone caring for me was a concept so foreign to her.
“No, yourdaughter.”