I Thought Love Had to Be Earned Through Chores, They Hugged Me novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Not for Sale

Odette came in and shut the door behind her.

She didn't turn on the light.

The only light was the green glow from the water heater and the little red bulb on the beige phone, still lit.

She reached up, took hold of the handset and yanked.

The curly cord snapped out of the wall with a sound like a knuckle cracking.

She lifted the whole phone off its hook and slammed it down on the concrete floor.

Plastic flew.

She stamped on it with her bare heel until the buttons scattered under the shelves.

It must have hurt.

She didn't seem to notice.

Then she sat down on my bucket, crossed her legs and smoothed her robe over her knees.

"So," she said. "How much did you hear?"

I didn't answer.

"All of it, then." She smiled. It was a smile I hadn't seen on her before. It didn't bother being pretty. "Doesn't matter. Who are you going to tell?"

"Mom," I said.

The word felt strange in my mouth.

Odette laughed. The laugh with the hook in it.

"Mom." She shook her head. "You know what Mom said about you, the night they saw the video? I was there. She said, 'What if she's ruined? What if they've ruined her, and she never loves us?'"

I kept my face still.

You learn that at the pig farm. Animals smell it when you flinch.

"Seven years I held her hand," Odette said. "Seven years I cried with Wesley about his poor lost sister. I learned their favorite foods. I learned which pills Mom takes and which nights she can't sleep. I'm the one they love. Not some dish rag that showed up in a dirty apron with a price list."

"You told Noreen where they were looking."

"Every time." She said it like I'd asked her if she brushed her teeth. "Wesley used to come to my room at night with his little binder. 'Odette, they've got a lead in Galesburg. Odette, the new guy's going to Champaign Thursday.' And he'd cry, and I'd hold him." She leaned in. "And then I'd go downstairs and call my mother."

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