So has the kiss.
Today was her eighteenth birthday. Across the room the red dress she’d bought with Donnie was hanging on the door, waiting for her to dress. It was morning, and she wasn’t interested in going downstairs and being part of her family. She sat on the edge of her bed in her plain pastel pink pajamas trying to find something that would take her away from here.
“Baby girl, I want you to take this,” Richard said.
“What?”
“If you ever need to get away or to hide, this will give you what you need.”
Paige wiped the back of her hand across her eyes as she stared down at the single, plastic bank card. Her father had given her this card four days before he disappeared, begging for her not to reveal it to anyone. She’d kept it in the back of her purse for so long that she’d forgotten about it being there, but not what it meant, and how important it had been to her father.
Richard, her father, had bought her that purse, and she couldn’t bring herself to part with it.
Flicking the bank card between her fingers she recalled the conversation as if it was yesterday. He’d come into her room late at night, waking her up with a shake to the shoulder.
“What’s the matter, Daddy?” she asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Okay.”
He’d sat on the end of the bed telling how much he loved her and that he wanted to provide a future for her. When he pulled out the card, he told her that no one was to know about it, not even her mother. No matter what had happened she was never to reveal the bankcard or the code to anyone.
After she took it from him, hiding it away so even he couldn’t see it, he’d made her remember the four digit code that would access the funds in the bank. Not once did she tell her mother, or Donnie, or the cops. It had been her and her father’s secret.
She flicked the card between her fingers, wondering what it held. Paige hadn’t given the card a thought until she had a dream about that night. Her father disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. Was it because of this card?
Anthony said her father died. What did her father do to get him killed? Paige couldn’t believe that she didn’t even remember what job her father did. All she recalled him saying was that he was part of security, nothing else.
Paige couldn’t remember. Placing the card in her purse, she zipped her bag up before placing it away. Leaving her bedroom, she walked downstairs, not caring that she was still dressed for bed. She found her mother in the kitchen, cooking while also talking on the phone. This life with Anthony Martinez suited her. She looked happier than Paige ever recalled.
Her only memories of her mother and father were those of laughter and love. They’d been perfect for each other. This new woman wouldn’t have liked the simple life that Richard Jones provided.
“Oh, shoot, I’ve got to go. I look forward to you coming to the party. Paige is really excited.”
Sharon ended the call. She was dressed in a black pencil skirt and a pristine white blouse. Anthony had dressed her like he did every day. Paige recalled the day her mother had come downstairs in a pair of jeans and a baggy shirt. He’d marched her upstairs, and ten minutes later, she returned dressed like this, dressed to always impress. A Martinez never slacked in any department.
“Hey, honey, how are you feeling?”
“Mom, what job did Dad do?” she asked, cutting to the chase.
Sharon rattled the skillet on the stove, hesitating. “Why do you ask?”
“With it being my birthday I was thinking about Dad. I really wished he’d been here to see me. I started thinking about him and what he did, and I remembered, I didn’t know what he did.”
Paige leaned against the counter, watching her mother.
“Well, he, erm, he was always a busy man.”
“Yeah, I know. He used to work long hours. I was wondering what he did.” Something wasn’t adding up to Paige. “You were a cleaner, and I just wondered what my father was.”
Think about it, Paige. Anthony Martinez wouldn’t just work let anyone work for him.
Her mind was working a mile a minute, and it suddenly hit her. Richard Jones kept odd hours, and he’d come home at unusual hours, looking grim. He always wore a business suit, and it didn’t hang off his body normally. He carried a weapon.
Licking her dry lips, Paige shook her head. “Forget about it. I didn’t mean to bring him up.”
Turning around she crashed into Anthony’s chest. “Your father worked for me.”
“It’s nothing, Anthony,” Sharon said. “It’s her birthday. She’s only thinking about her father. It’s her eighteenth.”