Carolina Home by Virginia Kantra Page A

good-bye.”
    Like she couldn’t figure that out by herself.
    That’s why they’d kept her home from school today. To say good-bye.
    Her eyes burned and she opened them very wide so she wouldn’t cry. School hadn’t started yet when they buried her mama, but this felt horribly the same, all the grown-ups standing around looking serious and saying stupid stuff like,
Are you all right?
and
You’re such a brave little girl
when she wasn’t brave and things were never going to be all right again.
    She didn’t like it here. She didn’t have her own room, and nobody talked about her mom, and they didn’t want her really. But at least nobody rubbed up against her when she wasn’t looking. Nobody was creeping around at night, trying to touch her with hard, damp hands.
    Taylor gritted her teeth together so that the howl that was building in her chest wouldn’t sneak out.
    Uncle Matt nudged Luke. His shoulders stiffened and then he crossed the kitchen, his big tan boots clomping on the wooden floor, and squatted in front of her chair. His knees stuck out on either side of her legs and his face was level with hers so that she had to look at him. His hat was pulled down low just like hers, but she could still see his eyes, blue and bright.
    She swallowed hard.
    “Well.” A muscle jumped in his jaw. “Take care of yourself, kid.”
    She would have to, wouldn’t she? Since he was leaving.
    “You listen to Grandma and Grandpa,” he continued. “Do good in school. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
    She scowled at him without saying anything.
    Luke pulled off his cap and ran a hand over his short bleached hair. Mad and miserable, she waited for him to get up, to go, but he didn’t move away. Not yet.
    He dropped the cap in her lap. It was still warm from his head and it smelled like him, like Luke and tobacco, and her chest got all tight and tears burned the back of her eyes.
    “I’ve got to go now,” he said and laid a hand briefly on her knee.
    “I don’t care if you go.” The words burst out of her, shocking them both. “I don’t need you. I don’t care if you never come back.”
    “Oh, sweetie…” Tess moved closer, but Luke held her back with one raised hand.
    “It’s all right,” he said. To which one of them, Taylor wasn’t sure. His eyes met hers. “You may not like it, but you’re stuck with me, kid, whether you need me or not. Stuck with all of us, Grandma Tess and Grandpa Tom, Matt and Josh. They’re all going to be here for you until I get back.”
    He lowered his head so that his face was close to hers. “I’m coming back,” he said, low and sure.
    Her hands clenched on the cap in her lap.
    Don’t go
, she wanted to beg. But nothing she said would make any difference. Ever made any difference.
    Memory crashed over her, cold metal rails and beeping, breathing machines, and her mom’s hand, cold and thin, unmoving under hers.
Don’t go, Mommy, don’t leave me
…
    Taylor’s jaw wobbled. Her eyes burned. If she opened her mouth, she was going to start bawling.
    So she didn’t.
    After a minute, he straightened.
    Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry
…
    “The kid should come,” Matt said unexpectedly from over by the door.
    Luke turned his head. “What?”
    “The kid should come with us to the airport.”
    “You never did,” Tom said.
    “We had a hell of a sight more to hold onto when you’d gone,” Matt replied. “It’s an hour-and-a-half drive to the airport. Even if they say good-bye on the curb, that’s another hour and a half she has with her dad.”
    “Truck only holds three.”
    “We can take my car,” Tess said.
    Luke rolled his eyes. “So now we’re all going?”
    “I’d say that’s up to Taylor.” Matt’s gaze sought hers, steady, blue. “What do you want, kid?”
    Her heart pounded in her chest. It didn’t make any difference. Luke was still leaving.
    Even if they say good-bye on the curb, that’s another hour and a half she has with her