Dodge the Bullet by Christy Hayes

lost at the moment.
You’ll find your way. Hell, I’m starting to think being out here is
just what you all need.”
    Sarah looked at her surprised. Jenny had
been supportive of her decision to move, always told Sarah to
follow her instincts, that she was a good mother and to trust her
gut. But at the same time, Sarah knew she’d been worried. This was
the first time she’d heard Jenny admit the move was a good
idea.
    “Sarah, I know its hard hearing Kevin say
what he did, but you can’t listen to him. He’s angry and upset, but
he still loves you. He needs to know you’re sure about this and I
think that’s why he’s pushing you so hard.”
    Sarah watched the play of firelight flicker
over Jenny’s features, her big soulful eyes and the button nose
that softened the hard edges of her often biting personality. She
could see her sister trying to organize her thoughts carefully so
as not to say the wrong thing. She trusted the advice Jenny offered
because she knew it came from her heart and intuitive mind.
    “Don’t you remember when we were teenagers
and we were mad at mom?” Jenny asked. “I don’t mean mad because she
wouldn’t let us go to the mall or dumb stuff like that, but really
mad.”
    “Like the time I overheard her telling Mrs.
Johnson you’d gotten your period?” Sarah asked. “You flipped out
when I told you.”
    “Exactly.” Jenny laughed. “I was furious
with her for telling my personal business to a neighbor. She didn’t
think it was a big deal. I thought she didn’t understand, couldn’t
understand how humiliating it was for me to know that Mrs. Johnson
knew something like that about me. I kept thinking, what if she
tells Brad? What if Brad Johnson, the hottest guy in the seventh
grade, knows I started my period?”
    “You and mom didn’t speak for almost a week
after the big blow up.”
    “Do you know what I said to her during the
big blow up?” Sarah shook her head. “I threw everything in her face
I knew would eat away at her self-esteem. I told her she looked
fat, she was the worst-dressed mother in school, she was an
embarrassment to me, and I topped it off by telling her I hated her
pecan pie.”
    “What did any of that have to do with her
telling Mrs. Johnson about you getting your period?”
    “Nothing. I said it all to hurt her and make
her feel small just the way she’d hurt me and made me feel small.”
Jenny turned and looked Sarah in the eye. “That’s what Kevin’s
doing to you. He’s hitting on every insecurity you have about this
move to punish you, like he feels he’s being punished. But I also
think, deep down, he needs you to stand up and convince him this is
the right thing for all of you. If he sees you wavering about this
he’s going to feel like the rug’s been pulled out from under him.
He’s scared. He sees the uncertainty in your eyes and its making
him worried.”
    “Damn,” Sarah said. “You should have been a
mother. That was good.”
    Jenny smiled. “It was good, wasn’t it?”
    “I am sure about the move. But when
he’s like that, so angry and hateful, I don’t know how to convince
him I’m doing this for him--for us--and not to punish him. We’ve
all been through enough. I’m not trying to make it harder on him
and Lyle. I knew this would be tough, but it’s harder than I
thought.” Sarah reached out and took Jenny’s hand. “You sure you
don’t want to move out here with us?”
    Jenny squeezed her hand. “If this town’s
full of Marlboro men like your Dodge, I may just have to put some
serious thought into it.”
    “He’s not my Dodge. You were the one
he couldn’t take his eyes off.” Sarah almost winced when she heard
the jealousy in her voice. She’d expected Jenny’s reaction to Dodge
the moment she’d laid eyes on him. What she hadn’t expected was for
it to bother her so much. Jenny raised her brows curiously. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like that. I’m not sure where that
came