Blind Trust by Jody Klaire

his eyes filled with wonder.
    “Told you I could see it,” I said. “Now, why don’t we go get some
food?”
    “Aeron?” I turned to look at Renee who was frowning. “You need to
leave him here.”
    “Uh uh.” I felt Zack grip hold of me. “Me and my buddy are gonna
get some pecan pie.”
    Renee folded her arms. “Aeron, you can’t.”
    Her anger rippled from her but I was tired, battered, and I was
not gonna let Zack face another night on his own. Nan had said I was here for a
reason and I was pretty damn sure that Zack was it.
    “ We are,” I told her. “Come if you want or we’ll see you
back at the cabin.”
    “Aeron,” she called after me, but I carried my little buddy
through the snowy street and climbed up the café steps.
    If I was real honest, I would admit that Renee’s demeanor had me
swirling around in circles. Maybe we both needed a timeout.
    I opened the door and was greeted by the smell of cooking. Martha
soon came scurrying over and led me and my buddy over to a table.
    “And who do we have here?” Martha asked.
    “This is Zack,” I said. “He’s the strong silent type but he’s also
kinda starved.”
    Martha chuckled and seemed to get my hint without faltering. “How
’bout a burger and fries?” she asked him.
    Zack didn’t need to answer out loud, his eyes and grin did it all
for him.
    “Same for you?” Martha asked me. “What will Serena have?”
    My stomach clenched. Now, Renee, the real Renee would tuck
into a croque-madame as she called it or a ham and cheese sandwich,
toasted with an egg on top—a Monte Cristo—to the rest of us. I guessed it was a
meal that she’d learned about in Europe, or maybe it was a family thing brought
over from there. Anyhow, Renee loved that meal and she loved a fried breakfast
too. She loved a lot of things that I did. I looked up as the door opened and I
weren’t sure if the woman walking through the door was Renee anymore. Something
had happened and she was surrounding herself with the impenetrable wall that I
once got to see through. It hurt.
    I adored Renee, even when she was fiery and intense, but Doctor
Serena Llys was another story. No, she was the stuck-up Ivy League psychiatrist
who was all airs, graces, and vegetarian diets.
    “Not sure,” I answered as Renee joined us.
    “These two are in the mood for burgers,” Martha told her. “What do
you care for?”
    Who was standing in front of me? Renee, the woman I knew, or
Serena, the stranger?
    “Vegetarian pasta if you don’t mind.”
    So that was it then. All the promises she’d made back in the
summer about us always being close, about caring about me as a person were all
lies. All she had spouted about me not just being another protectee and that
she’d take me on a road trip to see her mom, it was all just another face. Man,
did it sting. In fact, it hurt as much, if not more, as Sam’s betrayal. I
stared out of the window to try and squash the pain back down. It seemed like
everybody who said they cared only did when it suited them. Guess that was all
a freak like me could expect.
    Zack squeezed my hand and I looked down at him, fighting
desperately to control my voice. “What’s up, buddy?”
    He grabbed three straws from the side.
    “Think he wants a soda,” I said to Martha.
    She chuckled. “You think, or are you more of
a milkshake man?”
    Zack scrunched up his tanned face as though she’d asked him the
meaning of life. After long, arduous minutes of contemplation he turned to look
at me. I got the flash of him with a pink frothy moustache.
    “Milkshake,” I answered. “Strawberry.”
     
    AERON AND THE young boy seemed in perfect harmony as Martha
watched them chomp on their burgers. The boy was mute and no doubt traumatized,
that much Martha could see, but he looked completely at home with his giant friend.
    Martha smiled to herself as she filled up his milkshake. He looked
comfortable and safe around her. Not that she could argue with that. From