BRIDGER (7 page)

He laughed.
 
“Look who’s talking, Midget.
 
You’re the one who causes all the problems.”

This was true.
 
However, from the looks of things, it seemed like Memaw and I were on the mend.
 
That was the source of most tension around the house.
 
That would be a nice change.

Changing the subject, Chris looked at me with no hint of jest in his eyes.
  
“Be careful in Ireland.
 
I’m serious.”

Chris being paternal was cute.
 
“I already did a Wikipedia search and it turns out there’s more sheep than people in Ireland.
 
I’m safe.”

“Unless it ends up that you’re allergic to wool.
 
Then you’re just screwed.”

I puckered my lips, giving him a stink eye for good measure.
 
We laughed, walking into the kitchen where everyone was eating again.

Jamie was going over our itinerary with Mom.
 
Memaw was even sitting across the table, looking over the printout Jamie had given her with our flight details. Impressive.

Mom was clearly questioning her sanity at this point for allowing us to leave the country. “Now, how are we going to be able to get a hold of you?”

“Well, I have Skype on my computer,” Jamie said.
 
“We could install it on yours as well and then we can chat on the Internet.”

Always looking to throw the worst-case scenario out there, Chris chimed in. “What if you’re kidnapped and your kidnappers won’t let you stop at a Starbucks to use the Wifi?
 
Then you’re kind of screwed, aren’t you?”

Horrified by this revelation of non-Starbucks going kidnappers, Mom snapped her attention back to me.
 
“You need a cell phone that works in Ireland.
 
I would feel so much better if you had one while you’re gone.”

Leaning forward in her chair, Memaw joined in the conversation.
 
“Sarah, I have one that works over there.
 
She can take it.”

Relieved, Mom went back to being thrilled with the upcoming trip.
 
She was so easily convinced.
 
It was one of the things that made living with her easy.
 
“Great, Emily.
 
Thanks so much.”

Memaw rose from the chair, grabbing her walking cane.
 
“I’ll go get it while we’re thinking of it.” As she hobbled off, I followed after her, leaving Jamie and Mom to their planning.

Putting my hand on her shoulder so she wouldn’t be alarmed, I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close as we continued to walk.
 
“What did you need to explain?
 
And why do you have a phone that works in Ireland?
 
How long has it been since you’ve been there?” I was unsure as to why I was whispering, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
 
It certainly gave the conversation a 007-esque feel.
 
I chuckled at the internal joke.
 
Memaw, my super spy.

Continuing her hobbling pace, Memaw looked at me surreptitiously from the corner of her eye.
 
“Not right now,” was all she said, rejecting all the questions with one answer.

Shrugging out of the embrace, she walked back into Dad’s study and went to his old computer desk, pulling out drawers one by one.
 
On the third drawer she found what she had been looking for: a black, rectangular cell phone.
 
Holding it out to me, she dropped it into the palm of my hand.
 
“Keep that on you, just in case of emergency,” she said.
 
“You never know when something might come up and you won’t be able to skip or scotch or whatever it is you do on that laptop of yours.”

Memaw loved to butcher words.
 
Shaking my head, I smiled.
 
“Sure, Memaw.”

“The home number is already programmed in there.”

“Thanks.
 
I’ll have to put Reese in as well.
 
I should keep in touch with him while we’re gone.”

She was grinning. “When are you going to admit that Reese is a love interest?

I sighed.
 
Everyone thought we were going to fall madly in love at any moment.
 
“Never.
 
He’s definitely just a friend.
 
After you see someone streak down a football field, you just can’t look at them the same.”

She laughed.
 
“Just checking.
 
You know, sooner or later a boy is going to woo you.”

I attempted to sound offhand.
 
It didn’t come off very well.
 
I wasn’t one of the most asked-out girls in school. Actually, it was a rarity. A rarity as in a girl with an infectious skin disease would probably have a better shot than I did. “I think to be wooed, you need to be woo-worthy.”

Memaw smiled, putting her hand on my shoulder this time.
 
“Don’t worry, you are.”

Sticking the phone in my pocket, I returned Memaw’s smile.
 
“It’ll be nice to meet the family and see where you’re from.”

“You’re from there, too, Ash.”

Something was on Memaw’s mind by the look on her face, but I didn’t want to bring it up right now.
 
No need to push her when she was already being entirely too nice.
 
If she continued to be this sweet, she might just melt.

SEVEN

Four a.m. came entirely too fast.
 

It took five minutes to have my life packed back into a duffel bag and carry-on.
 
I brushed my teeth, yanked a hoodie over the baseball t-shirt I had slept in, and pulled on a pair of old jeans before Jamie even began to move. After pulling my auburn hair back into the trademark ponytail I was known for, everything was set.

I flicked the bedroom light on while pulling a pair of headphones through the collar of my hoodie.
 
Jamie was refusing to move from the bed we had shared for the night.
 
“It’s way too early to pull you out of bed by your toes. You’ve got to get ready to head to the airport.”

Jamie responded with a non-committal grunt, taking her pillow and putting it over her head. Her words muffled, I was impressed and disappointed with myself at the same time for knowing what she said. There were at least three layers dividing us.
 
“Give me five minutes, Ash.
 
Five minutes.”

Rolling my eyes, I walked upstairs to grab some granola bars to stick in my backpack for the long flight ahead. Jamie would undoubtedly complain of starvation otherwise. Memaw and Mom were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.
 
It was nice to see them enjoying a quiet moment to themselves.

Staying silent, I went to the pantry in true Ninja form, remembering to miss the creaking board under the tile right before the pantry door.
 
Grabbing the bars, I turned to go back downstairs and drag Jamie out of bed by her toes just as I’d threatened if need be.

The tail end of a conversation that I was not supposed to be hearing stopped me short.

“Are you sure?” Mom whispered.
 
She had a maternal tone.
 
That was never good.

Stepping back to the pantry but being sure to stay out of their line of sight, I drew a long breath, steadying myself for the eavesdropping that was about to ensue.

Memaw was all business. “Completely, one-hundred percent positive.
 
There’s no way there can be any other conclusion.”

“She seems fine, Emily.
 
I don’t want to think – ”

“What you don’t want to think of are the repercussions that could come of what has already been set into motion.”

“But I don’t even know if what you’re telling me is true. None of it makes much sense. Peter –”

I heard a coffee cup hit the table a little harder than necessary.
 
“Sarah, you’re only human.
 
I don’t expect you to take all of this now, but please just trust my judgment on this and believe what I’ve told you.
 
Peter tried his best to keep you all safe, but you can only run for so long before the past finds you.”

Were they talking so ominously just to annoy me?
 
Mom was only human?
 
Wasn’t Memaw only human, too?
 
What had Dad been protecting us from?
 
I was frustrated by the lack of connections, but I knew there was something seriously wrong going on.

“But why does Ashlyn have anything to do with this –”

Memaw cut Mom off before she could give away any details.
 
It was as though Memaw knew they weren’t alone.
 
“Sarah, Ashlyn has everything to do with it…because of me. Because of what I’ve done.”

Memaw had gotten me into trouble?
 
When?
 
Memaw couldn’t walk ten feet without being winded, how was she getting anyone else into trouble?
 
I gave up on eavesdropping and decided to step into their vision.
 
I closed the pantry door loudly to announce my arrival.
 
Mom jumped three feet off her chair, sloshing coffee down the front of her pajamas.

Quickly grabbing napkins to clean up the spreading mess, Mom never took her worried eyes off of Memaw. Her eyes were puffy and red; she’d been crying. “Oh, Ashlyn!
 
You’re up!
 
I was just about to come get you.”

Memaw’s face, on the other hand, was completely blank.
 
She’d had years of practice to perfect hiding her emotions.
 
Her poker face was a confirmation of my already growing fears.
 
I wanted to ask them what was going on, but there was no way I’d get any answers. It never seemed like adults would answer in a straight fashion. It was maddening on the best of days.

I dismissed myself as quickly as I had intruded in on the conversation. I opened up the pantry once more and grabbed anything in sight. “That’s fine, Mom, I was just grabbing some breakfast bars for the road.”
 
I continued to throw more bars into the bag long after there were too many, the entire plane could probably be fed at this point.
 
“I’m gonna go wake up Jamie and get everything ready.”

As I headed back downstairs, I knew two things.
 
One, something was definitely wrong.
 
Wrong enough to bring Mom to tears, and wrong enough to bring Memaw to the point she actually wanted to be civil with me.
 
Two, the plane ride was going to be too long and there was too much on my mind.
 
There was so much that had happened.
 
I was overwhelmed with half-connected information.
 
Memaw was keeping secrets, but I was no closer to knowing what they were than before this madness had begun. I sighed. Dad would have been able to figure all this out.

* * *

Chris snored through my goodbye, so it was only Mom and Memaw seeing us off at the airport.

Mom straightened Jamie’s scarf nervously, just to have something to do. “Please be careful, girls.
 
I want to pick you both up in one piece.”

Jamie flashed her most winning smile and took my mom’s hands in hers. “Don’t worry, Mrs. McVean.
 
I’ll take care of Ashlyn.”

Mom smiled back, nodding.
 
“I know you will.”

Memaw was always the silent one in conversations.
 
She looked at Mom, saying nothing.
 
Well, verbally, at least.
 
I could tell they were having a conversation without saying anything.
 
They did it all the time.
 
It was annoying.