Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (46 page)

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Your dinner’s ruined,” she stated haughtily.

I nodded, trying to ignore how the smell of the takeout made my stomach ache with hunger. “I figured that, sorry.”

She sighed again, her shoulders loosening as he arms unfolded. “I guess I can see if I can salvage anything from it. Maybe the noodles will heat up nicely,” she suggested, offering me a small smile.

I grinned. “Yeah? Awesome, thanks,” I chirped. I had no idea what had changed in her to make her so laidback lately, maybe it was the fact that I wouldn’t see her for a year. Whatever it was, I was grateful for the change.

She rolled her eyes and headed into the kitchen. I peeked into the lounge to see my dad sitting on the sofa watching TV. “Hey,” I mumbled, walking over and plopping down next to him, smiling sheepishly, waiting to be scolded.

“You’re in trouble,” he whispered, leaning in and flicking his eyes to the hallway. “Mom’s maaaaad,” he added, drawing out the word for dramatic effect, chuckling quietly.

I cringed and nodded. “Yeah I know. Sorry.”

He smiled and shifted in his seat so I could settle myself against him while my mom banged around in the kitchen. “Have a good night, Pumpkin?” he asked.

I didn’t really know what to say to that to be honest. Parts of my night were great, but some of it was a nightmare that I would probably relive once I was in bed alone. “Yeah I guess.”

My mom came in then, carrying a plate that had steam swirling up from it. The smell made my mouth water; I was so hungry that I could easily eat a horse. “Not sure what it’ll taste like heated up, you should have come home on time if you wanted it to taste good,” she stated, shrugging.

I smiled at her gratefully. “Thanks, Mom,” I muttered, already loading my fork with egg fried rice and kung pao chicken. She smiled back tentatively and I started shovelling in my food like it was my last meal. I moaned at the taste of it - Jamie would love this, this was his favourite and what he always ordered.

I hung out with my parents for a little over half an hour, making small talk about the party and stuff.

No one mentioned tomorrow because every time I talked about going away, my mom would go quiet and look in the other direction. I had the distinct impression that she was going to miss me a lot more than I first thought she would.

“I guess I’d better go finish packing,” I muttered when I couldn’t leave it any later. I had everything sorted into piles but I hadn’t even started putting it into a case yet. Jamie and I were taking a case each, and also a bag that would hold a few days’ worth of stuff too. The plan was to store the larger cases at the airport as we arrived there, and just use the lighter bags because we would be moving around a lot. We could then just swap the clothes and stuff every couple of weeks so that we weren’t wearing the same things all the time. It was genius really, and was a total brainwave of Jamie’s - though I tried to take the credit for it of course.

My mom frowned and nodded at the same time. “Want me to help? You know you’re not too good at packing,” she offered.

I smiled gratefully. I actually sucked at packing and could never manage to fit everything in that I wanted. I was praying that Jamie was better than me because he’d have to sort mine for me in each new place we went to. “Thanks, that’d be great.”

My dad grinned at me, looking grateful for some reason as he kissed my forehead. I smiled and stood up, noticing how my dad winked at my mom and squeezed her hand supportively. She followed me up the stairs and into my room, looking distastefully at the mess that was all over the place. Well, it wasn’t really a mess but my drawers were emptied, everything I wanted to take was in piles covering the carpet. I smiled sheepishly and pulled out the empty case, setting it on my bed.

“You haven’t even started? Ellison, you shouldn’t have left this until now!” she scolded, immediately picking up my clothes and stacking them on the bed.

“I guess I was waiting for you to offer your awesome packing skills,” I teased, trying to connect with her again. I’d been making a real effort lately, and so had she. It was nice in a way that we’d started to bond - it was just such a shame that it took me leaving to get us to be more than just ‘housemates’.

A smile twitched at the corner of her lips as she picked up more stuff. “I guess you’re lucky I offered then,” she replied.

I grinned and sat down on the bed, deciding to let her do it all because she was a bit of a control freak anyway and I’d only end up doing it wrong if I tried to help. She smiled sadly to herself as she refolded all of my clothes, setting them in the case carefully, along with all of my hair stuff and make-up that I was taking.

I watched her in silence; she took so much care over it all, lovingly placing everything in there, seeming to coo over each item of clothing. When I passed her my photo of us all from a family vacation a last year, she smiled at me strangely. “You’re taking this with you?”

I nodded in confirmation. “Of course, can’t go forgetting what you look like, can I?” I joked.

She looked a little taken aback for some reason. She chewed on her lip as she looked at the photo.

“You know, I loved this vacation. You taught Kelsey to dive that year, I was so proud of her for learning to do it, and I was so proud of you for being able to teach her so well,” she said quietly, tracing her thumb over the picture carefully.

My breath caught in my throat at her words. She’d just said that she was proud of me. I’d never heard anything like that come out of her mouth before, she was always so prim and proper, she wasn’t one for affection or declarations of love, it sounded so strange to come out of her mouth now, and I wasn’t sure if I heard her right.

“Kels is a quick learner,” I choked out around the lump that was rapidly forming in my throat.

“And she had an excellent teacher,” my mom added, smiling down at me nervously. She looked away quickly, putting the photo inside a t-shirt so that it wouldn’t get damaged or creased by anything during the flight. “So, are you excited?” she asked.

I grinned. Excited didn’t quite cover everything that I felt about this trip. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna sleep tonight,” I admitted.

“Me either,” she muttered. She looked at me then with teary eyes, but she was fighting the emotion as best she could, she obviously didn’t want to show me she was upset. “I’m going to miss you, Ellison. But I know you’ll have a great time with Jamie. He’s…. well, he’s good for you. I know I’ve been down on him a lot in the past, and that’s my problem, not yours. But I want you to know that I…. I like him,” she admitted, nodding. A single tear fell down her face as she spoke and she quickly swiped it away as if she was ashamed of it or something.

The lump in my throat got bigger as I tried to think of something to say to that, but no words were coming to me, so instead I reached out and placed my hand over hers on top of the shirt that she was putting in the case. I squeezed her hand softly and she looked at our hands, almost seeming confused, before she moved it slightly and squeezed my fingers back. It was nice. Probably the nicest moment I’d ever had with my mother in my whole eighteen years of life.

She cleared her throat then and moved her hand away, obviously uncomfortable with the intimacy and I knew the moment was over, but it was already ingrained in my memory, nothing was making me forget that. “You’re really taking these shorts, Ellison? Look at the state of them,” she stated, holding up a pair of worn old jean shorts that I’d loved to death. “You’ll look like a homeless person, really, they’re disgusting! No daughter of mine is walking around in shorts with a grass stain on the rear of them.”

I grinned - we were back to normal.

As I watched her throw them in the trash in a stunning three point throw that would have made my dad and Jamie cheer in congratulations, I realised that I was actually going to miss her.

I breathed a little sigh of relief and watched her back as she walked out of my apartment. What had transpired in the last two hours had been terrifying. I felt so vulnerable; it was awful having to relive all of that again. That was the first time I’d ever let any of that stuff out, no one knew most of that, not even my mother. I’d never wanted to talk about it before, always supressed it, pushed it down and tried to bury it, but right now, after telling all of that to her, I kind of felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I guess that saying is true, a problem shared really is a problem halved.

Ellie was probably the last person that I wanted to know my deepest darkest secrets, but now that she knew it was almost like it had brought us closer. The acceptance, the understanding, the support and unconditional love from her just blew my mind. The strength of Ellie’s character was something that left me in awe of her, I silently prayed that she never stopped looking at me the way she did because I wasn’t sure how I would cope without her - hopefully I’d never have to find out. My love for her was terrifying; she literally was the most important thing to me in the world. The only wish I had was that my little sister was alive to meet her too, because I know she would have idolised her like I do.

When the door closed, leaving me on my own again, I realised that I was going to have to hurry if I didn’t want to be late. I headed into my bedroom, zipping up my suitcase that I’d had packed for almost two weeks. I guess I was a little overeager to start my new life with her. I smiled as I lifted it off of the bed and put it by the door so I could grab it easily tomorrow when I had to go pick her up for the airport.

All I’d left unpacked in my apartment was the stuff that was here when I moved in, and a change of clothes for tomorrow. The most important things were sitting on my bedside cabinet. My passport being one of the two
‘must not forget’
items. Ellie had the tickets because she liked to coo over them before she went to sleep, so I didn’t have to worry about forgetting those. The other essential item I picked up and rolled around in the palms of my hands. The little black ring box containing the engagement ring that I’d bought for Ellie. I smiled to myself. It was going to be a complete surprise for her, she had no idea - at least, I hoped she didn’t anyway. I’d already asked her dad’s permission on the sly, and thankfully he’d agreed provided we had a fairly long engagement. So, as soon as I found a nice little romantic spot in Rome, I was getting on one knee. Hopefully she’d say yes. After what had just transpired between us, I was pretty confident that she wouldn’t turn me down.

Just for good measure, I checked the ring for the hundredth time. Opening the box, I looked down at the ring that I’d spent hours choosing. I was very happy with my choice, and I had every faith that she’d love it, hell, it could be a crackerjack prize and Ellie probably wouldn’t love it any less. I’d plumped for a white gold band instead of the usual yellow gold. Ellie wasn’t really a gold person, she liked silver, but I didn’t want to get her a silver ring, so white gold was as close as I could get.

The princess cut diamond caught the light as I moved it, and I couldn’t help but smile as I imagined it glistening like that on her finger instead of the box.

I really needed to go now, I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. Snapping the box closed, I winced when I realised that she could have seen that earlier and ruined the surprise. I’d just casually suggested that she sleep in here, and the whole time that ring was sat on the side plain as day. I guess it was my lucky day today.

Instead of putting it back on the side, I pushed the box into my pocket. For some unknown reason, I liked to carry it around with me; it made me smile every time I bent over or crouched down and the little box dug into my leg - it made me think of her.

I forced myself to stop thinking about her now though; I really needed to get to the warehouse before they all started calling me and panicking that I was going to be late. I grabbed my wallet and jacket, practically running out of the apartment and down to my truck. I was eager to get this night over, because once this job was done, then that just left the fun things.

The fifteen minute drive seemed to pass in a blur and before I knew it I pulled up at the warehouse.

I didn’t want to be working tonight at all, I should have finished with Brett last week but the bastard had made me do this job before I was ‘allowed’ to quit for good. Apparently he had no one else that worked like me, no one he could trust not to screw this up and he wanted his strongest team with him. Tonight wasn’t a boost like I’d told Ellie it was, tonight was something different, and not in a good way.

My hand closed around the door handle and shoved the door of my truck open, just as Brett walked out of the warehouse, looking in my direction with a stern expression on his face. I flicked my eyes to the clock on my dashboard, it was one minute past eleven, technically I was late. Damn it.

“About fucking time. Come on, Kid, where have you been?” he asked, not looking too happy with me.

I smiled sheepishly. I didn’t think ‘screwing the life out of my girl’ would be very appropriate to say. “Packing, lost track of time,” I lied, shrugging. “I’m here now, are we going?”

He nodded and most of his guys all walked out of the warehouse behind him. I frowned; looks like we were going in heavy tonight, Brett obviously didn’t want to take any risks. Ray waved in acknowledgement but stayed inside, he didn’t come to anything like this, he was just a mechanic really, not too involved in anything that wasn’t car related. I envied him in that respect. The ten or so guys all started heading to their respective cars in the lot. I spotted Terry, so decided to ride with him, I didn’t really want to take my piece of shit car to a deal like this one, that wouldn’t look too good on Brett.

“Kid, you’re with me,” Brett called as I started walking towards Terry’s car.

I sighed, but nodded, heading over to his Bentley instead. “Alright, Ed?” I greeted. He nodded in response, looking a little nervous. Usually these type of things, and the meeting with a brand new client were always a little nerve-wracking because you never knew how it was going to go down - hence why Brett was bringing along all of his heavies.