Carolina Miller is nothing like either her mother or her sister Ginny and Georgia. She's grateful toward her mother knowing very little of what their mother has actually done for them, but she's grieving and trying to move on from a history that lea...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Early the next morning, Carolina walked into the kitchen to see a hungover Maddie looking around and bustling about looking for something.
Maddie groaned. "I feel like shit."
"Have you seen Mom?" Carolina asked.
"Nope," Maddie answered. "She was gone before I got up." She got frustrated when she still didn't find what she was looking for. "What kinda house doesn't have coffee?"
Carolina shrugged. "Coffee gives me more nightmares than I already get, so Mom doesn't feel the need to get it."
Maddie looked at Carolina curiously, trying to focus even with her hangover. "Nightmares. From the muggin', right?"
Carolina looked at her in surprise that she knew, and raised her eyebrows incredulously from how insensitive and bluntly she brought that up like that. "Excuse me?"
Maddie backtracked a little, making a slightly more sympathetic tone. "Sorry."
"How the hell do you know about that?" Carolina asked. "My mom wouldn't tell you about that."
"No, not her," Maddie sighed. "Uh... Austin let it slip, on accident." Carolina was not convinced, eyeing Maddie suspiciously. "Just wanted to say sorry. That's some heavy shit to happen to a 14 year old. Your boyfriend and everything."
Carolina tried to remain expressionless, looking away, her tone firm, cold. "Yeah. Don't bring up Noah. Okay?"
"Sure," Maddie agreed. "Those creeps got what they deserved though, right?" Carolina looked at her. "I heard that it was gang violence that did 'em in. Got what was comin' to 'em."
"It was luck, I guess," Carolina told her. "Universe's way of saying 'karma'."
Maddie chuckled. "Guess so. Just seems a little too ironic that the ones that did that to ya ended up in the ground. You must've been relieved. Closure and all. You and your mom."
Carolina glared at her. "What are you trying to ask, Maddie?"
Maddie didn't answer.
Ginny walked in, looking at Carolina. "So no sign of Mom?" Carolina shook her head. "No text. No note. Typical." She looked at Maddie, knowing that Carolina would get annoyed that she was asking Maddie, but knowing that she couldn't stop her either. "What are our grandparents like?"
Carolina turned her head to look at Ginny, giving her a look, but expected her to do this. She didn't trust Maddie for her word though, especially not after what she asked about that night, the thugs, and the way they died.
Maddie raised her eyebrows. "I'm definitely too hungover for this." She sighed, leaning against the counter. "Daisy. That's Grandma. She grew up in Alabama. She's as crazy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."
