Hold On Tight(48)

Sienna laughed. “I think he might have seen a side of me he wasn’t crazy about.”

She was referring to our argument in the parking lot. She’d been all fired up and gorgeous that night. I couldn’t even remember it fondly, though, because the memory of my hurting her arm was too painful. I hated myself for that.

“Then Uncle Dewayne can take you out on a date. You think Momma is pretty, don’t you?” Micah said, and I watched Sienna freeze.

A panicked look came over her face, and then she looked at me. I wasn’t sure what to say to the kid. I thought his momma was gorgeous, but I didn’t think saying that would help get him off this idea.

“Um, well, see, Uncle Dewayne is family. You don’t date family,” Sienna said to Micah, and took a seat across from him.

Micah frowned, then shrugged. Luckily, he let it go while he took a bite of his burger.

“How’s the mac ’n’ cheese burger?” I asked him, wanting to ease the sudden awkward silence.

Micah gave me a thumbs-up.

“I can’t believe you got them to put mac ’n’ cheese on the burger,” Sienna said with an amused smile.

“My boy wants a mac ’n’ cheese burger, he’s gonna get one,” I told her.

There was a flash of something in her eyes, and then she looked down at her own burger and studied it a moment before she picked it up and bit into it.

I wasn’t sure what I’d said, but she got quiet after that. Micah didn’t. He started telling me all about the Heat’s lineup this year and how they were going to beat each team. Or how LeBron James was going to beat each team. I didn’t have anything to add to the conversation because basketball had never been my sport. But I listened.

SIENNA

After I finished my burger, I excused myself and went to the safety of my bedroom while Micah took Dewayne to the living room to make him watch Return of the Jedi. It was a school night, and I knew Micah would end up falling asleep twenty minutes into the movie. He was like clockwork with his sleeping pattern. The kid required serious sleep.

I would need to be out of the bath and dressed when Dewayne left, so I could make sure Micah was tucked into bed. I sat down on the bed and reached for my phone. It was time I made a call.

I’d been putting off calling my aunt Cathy for two reasons. One, I wanted to see if she’d ever call me and check in on us. She hadn’t. Two, I was thankful for my aunt Cathy’s willingness to let me live in her house for so long, and I didn’t want to hear she’d had anything to do with the Falcos not getting my letters. But I honestly didn’t see any other explanation. I had resigned myself to the fact that my aunt Cathy had taken them.

I scrolled down the list of numbers in my phone until I found hers, and then I pressed send. When I had told Aunt Cathy I was moving, she hadn’t seemed to care either way. She was glad my mother had finally stepped up to help me, but that was about it. No warm hugs or any other emotions.

“Hello?” Aunt Cathy’s familiar voice came over the line.

“Hey, Aunt Cathy, it’s Sienna,” I said.

“Good to hear from you, Sienna. I take it life there is good?”

She was always so formal. Even with Micah she had been stern and strict. She didn’t do nonsense of any kind. She reminded me a lot of my dad.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s good here. Micah likes his new school, and I am doing well at my job. Micah, uh, met the Falcos. They didn’t know about him until they met him. Now they’re very active in his life.”

I stopped and waited for her to say something. She didn’t.

“I sent letters to them. So many letters. I wanted and needed them to know about Micah. Micah needed them. Tabby is the wonderful grandmother I knew she would be. Micah missed that for five years of his life. I don’t understand how this happened.”

Again I was met with silence. I started to say something else, but my aunt finally spoke up. “If you are calling me to ask me if I took those letters, this is a conversation you need to be having with your mother. I’ve done her job long enough, Sienna. I didn’t have children because I didn’t want the responsibility. Yet my younger sister neglected her responsibility to her own child, so I stepped in until you could stand on your own two feet. However, I’m not your mother. What happened with those letters is something I don’t have to answer for. You were staying in my house. I could do whatever I pleased. You need to call your mother and have a talk with her. It’s past time. Now, if that is all you’d like to talk about, I have some work to do.”

There was nothing else to say. Aunt Cathy had made it very clear. “No, ma’am, that’s it. I’ll let you get back to work,” I replied.