Birdie

5. A Release Date with a Side of Fries

The concrete bench was cold, hard, and unforgiving, much like Carmen's mother. That bench was also her only company. Thirty minutes she'd been sitting on that bench, her cell phone in hand, it'd die sometime soon. Mr. Baker, the sweet older man who doubled in reception and processing, had let her charge the device a while as she waited for her ride. An hour later, she thanked the nice man who wished her well, and went outside, no longer able to handle the heavy air inside the building. That was twenty minutes ago. Carmen dialed her mother's number again, worried something bad had happened. She picked up on the seventh ring.

"Ma, you alright?"

Delilah Guy sighed on the other end, "Yes. I'm five minutes away"

She hung up before Carmen could get another word in. Her finger had just put pressure on the on the lock button when the screen lit up again. It was her mother calling. When Carmen picked up, the call was shorter than the first. The phone had barely touched her ear before her mother was talking.

"Carmen, you're going to have to figure something else out. I'm not coming."

Someone dumped ice water down onto her body from somewhere up above. She wasn't physically drenched but she felt it. Sodden. Carmen knew something like this would happen. She knew it. She had just been expecting it from the people inside the building she had just left, not outside it.

"Mom, you just said you were five minutes-"

"I know what I said Carmen. Goodbye."

She sat there, and stared out at the parking lot filled with patrol cars closer to the front, and civilian ones farther back, but she didn't really see any of them. She could barely see in front of her. She sat there like an idiot. Inside, Carmen was willing to bet the clothes on her back that the inmates were watching her from the windows, looking down and trying to figure out why the hell she was just sitting there like some damned idiot. Hell she was an idiot.

Carmen didn't expect things in return when she did something nice for someone else, but this was downright crazy. In that moment, she swore she'd never protect Ira again. It was a lie, but it felt nice to fuel that anger for a moment at least.

Ira lost his license ages ago.

Daddy was out of town and wouldn't be back until next weekend, which is why Delilah was acting out. He was the only thing that kept the woman tame, and when Leo Guy wasn't there to do the taming, Delilah was worse than a wild toddler.

She would walk, but home was two counties over. She'd gotten arrested in a county almost forty five minutes away. On foot it'd be way longer.

The anger was cold now, knotting and twisting in her stomach, but her tears were hot, and they were blocking her vision. Still, Carmen dialed a number she knew by heart.

He picked up on the second ring, "You made it home safely?"

Oh, that worry was so sweet, that worry for her. His voice was intense, no matter how he felt, and Carmen remembered feeling overwhelmed by such a deep, masculine voice the first time she heard his voice. He sounded confident and powerful.She liked that.

"I'm still at the jailhouse," She tried to hide the hurt from him, tried to hide it behind the statement she'd just made. She needed to be objective about this.

Chancellor cursed on the other end, and when he spoke, she could hear that he was livid, "Hold on baby."

That was a command that she couldn't fight. He sounded mad at her, but she knew he wasn't. Carmen could hear him yelling on the other end for a person named Tony, but after that, his voice was muffled like he had blocked the microphone. The next clear sound was a violent slam, and then he was speaking again, "I'm on the way, sweetheart, okay? I'll be there in twenty minutes."