“Mom, what the heck is happening down there? Why would Danny be ashamed for me to see him? The addiction stuff? He’s trying to get help. I love him.”

“I’m going to have your father call you in a little while. Don’t make reservations you can’t cancel until then. I need to go. I love you.”

He looked at his phone, utterly thrown for a loop.

“Everything all right?” Mick asked as he approached.

“I don’t know. My brother is out of surgery but he’ll be in ICU for the next few days.”

Asa joined them. “Mick and I have it handled. You’re good, but you’re not the only mechanic we have. If Carmella can’t take you to the airport, I will.”

“I’m not going just yet.”

“What? Why not?” Mick asked.

“They don’t want me down there just now.”

Both his friends got very quiet as they tried to figure out what to say.

“Right? I’m confused about it myself. She said my dad would call.” But she’d said that earlier. Danny had been out of surgery for hours and no one even texted him just a few lines? His sister wasn’t even there and she couldn’t have taken a moment to let him know what was going on?

“Go home, Duke. It’s already four thirty. Get some rest. If you do go down there, you’ll need the sleep now.” Mick squeezed his shoulder.

“I need to go for a ride.”

He grabbed his Windbreaker and helmet, stopping by Carmella’s office. “I’m going for a ride. I’ll have my phone with me if anyone calls here looking for me.”

She stood, walking to him. “No word yet?”

“I just got off the phone with my mother. I need to get the hell out of here. My brother is out of surgery. That’s pretty much it at this point.” He kissed her cheek as he moved past her. “No fights for me tonight. Sorry about that.”

Her gaze took him in carefully. Missing nothing. But she didn’t push him for more. “Go. Ride awhile. I’ll leave the kitchen light on until I go to sleep.”

Glad he had a bike at work, he headed out, grateful the rain had leveled off and the late afternoon was dry. The roar and throaty growl of his engine drowned out all but the thoughts in his head as he drove north.

Carmella took her mother’s stuff to her that evening after work rather than get up earlier the next morning to do it.

She unlocked, not caring whether or not her parents liked it, though she did knock and call out. Boxes were stacked against the walls and half the place had been packed up.

“Hello?”

Virgie came out. “Why are you here?”

Carmella held up the bag. “What’s going on?”

Virgie snatched the bag from Carmella’s hand. “We’re moving to Eastern Washington. We leave the day after tomorrow. Your father has a job offer in Spokane. He got permission to move there for it. I’m going with him. You don’t own the things in this house, so I’m taking those.”

“You’re going to move across the state? When were you planning to tell me?”

“It’s not your business, Carmella. You can’t run my life anymore. I’m tired of you making all my choices. I’ll take care of my own pills. My own medical needs.”

“Do you have a doctor there? A place to live?”

“This isn’t your business. You won’t accept your father? We won’t accept you. I don’t need you to do all this for me. It just holds me back.”

“Excuse me? I hold you back? Can’t you see he’s filling your head with lies?” Carmella asked her mother.

“I have to wait around for you to feed me. For you to bring my medication. I’m a grown-up and you treat me like a child. Let me make my own choices! My own mistakes.”

Carmella was at a low point, her filters threadbare. “And when he starts gambling again? Or decides a kick and a punch is how he needs to deal with stress?”

“If you can’t be happy for me, I don’t want you around. In fact, I want you to sell this house and give me my fair share.”

Carmella laughed bitterly. “What fair share? I used up my entire savings to pull this house out of foreclosure. If I sell it, we’ll be lucky to cover closing costs. There’s no secret pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Mom. There’s me, saving your ass over and over. Because I think you’re worth it. You think about that for a while, why don’t you?”

“Give me control over my medication. I demand it.”

Carmella heaved a sigh. “Mom …”

“I’m a grown-up. Respect me enough to let me make my own mistakes. I need to transfer my prescriptions to my new house. You can’t come all the way to Spokane every three days to deliver it. I don’t want you to. I want you to let us live our lives.”

“He hits you. How can you expect me to let that happen?”

“Because I’m asking you to. And because you don’t get a say in my life. You don’t understand anything. You don’t know how to love anyone. You can be alone, all right. But I don’t want to be alone. All I’ve ever wanted was Steven. That’s it. I won’t let him go now that I’ve got him.”

Carmella walked out, not knowing what to do, but knowing she sure wasn’t going to figure it out there.

Duke hadn’t returned home yet when she got back. Carmella grabbed Ginger and her leash and they headed off for a walk around the lake.