3 weeks (Wattys 2017) | ✓

Part Twenty Three ⌇

After hours of waiting in the dusty police station lobby, a scratched and bumped little blue Mercedes
pulls into the bumpy parking lot.

Jack had given into his temptation and went to the free coffee table to consume cheap, very gross coffee, with stevia to sweeten it.

A tall woman with bouncy brown curls strides into the station, her thin lips crease into a smile as she begins small talk with an officer. Jack sits back down next to me, the smell of coffee wafting off of the dixie cup it's sitting in. I lean in and whisper in Jack's ear, "Do you think..." I start, but get quiet as anxiety pounds my throat.

"Hmm?" He swallows a sip of coffee.

"Do you think thats her? My
mom..?"

After a moment of Jack staring at the woman and then staring at me, "You have the same eyes. Big, beautiful blue eyes." He smiles a little.

"How are you not freaking out?" I ask him as I observe the woman's very meticulous cardigan
"I don't know..."

***

Two of Jack's coffee cups later, Daphne appears behind the front desk. "Hello there, you must be..?"

The woman in the cardigan stares up from her phone and looks into Daphne's chocolate eyes. "Caroline. Caroline Robinson." A warm - yet cold - smile spreads across her face. "I came to pick up a girl named Austin Rose..." She clears her throat and exhales sharply. "She is my daughter."

Daphne glances at me and I squeeze Jack's hand.

"Ow!" He pulls his hand and sets it in his lap as he scowls at me.

"You're sensitive. Somehow, you have always reminded me of Schmidt from
New Girl." I laugh, and Jack glares at me while rubbing his wrist dramatically, not to my surprise, a tiny smile spreads across his face. But then anxiety tightens back around my lungs, constricting tighter and tighter as my mom approaches me. This time Jack offers me his hand, and I squeeze it so hard I'm surprised it's not broken like his other wrist.

"Hi, you wanna go wait in the car?" 'Mom' says with a fake smile plastered across her slightly wrinkled face.

"I guess." I retort as I rush to my feet, storming out of the station.

I notice Jack is following me when he starts to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?!" I sort of yell as I whip around to face him.

"Hi." He catches his breath as he shakes his head. "That's what she said after 14 years of not seeing her daughter. Hi." He stares at the overcast sky, squinting his eyes at the harsh white light. "That kind of low stuff really pisses me off."

"Then why are you laughing?" I sort of stomp to him.

"Anger laughing. I inherited it from my dad."

"You never really mentioned your dad, Jack."

"I know." He slowly returns his gaze to meet mine. "I don't mention him, because I don't believe somebody who leaves a pregnant woman alone, and steals all of her money for drugs deserves to be mentioned. Just to be brutally honest."

"I'm so sorry..." I hug him. "Looks like we both have runaway parents..."

He nods at me, and rain starts to sprinkle on top of our heads and all around us, quickly transitioning into a heavy downpour.

We run to take shelter in my moms car, when the thought suddenly hits me. "Jack." I tuck a strand of wet hair behind my cold, stinging ear. "How are you gonna get to South Carolina with me? What will you bring?"

"Austin, I'm ready now. I'll climb into the back of the car when your mom starts driving."

"Risky, but okay..."

***
After what seems to be hours, mom rushes out of the police station and jogs to the car. Jack scrambles into the back and I hear a loud thud, triggering me to laugh.

"MY WRIST!!!" Jack yelps.

Mom swings the car door open and sits in her beige leather seat. "What's so funny?" She asks me.

"Nothing." I stop laughing and glare out of the window.

"Ready for a plane ride?" She makes eye contact with me through the rearview mirror.

"Plane ride?! I thought we were driving from here to Charleston South Carolina!" I can't help but yell.

"Drive two thousand miles, Austin? No way in hell I would put myself through a 40 something hour drive." She giggles. "It's bad enough it's an eight hour plane ride."

What is Jack gonna do?! I need some quiet to think, so I -not so kindly- tell my mom to shut up. "Damn, you're awfully chatty for not seeing me in 14 years after you ditched dad and I."

"Excuse me?"

"Can't take a hint, can you? Let me help you out. Shut your big mouth, I don't have anything I'd like to say to you." The rude words slip out of my mouth.

Speechless, Caroline focuses her eyes back on the road

'This is about to be one hell of a trip.' I think as I stare out of my window.