My Calling by Lyssa Layne Page B

turkey.”
    She narrows her eyes, frowning and throws a piece of bread in my direction. “Ha, ha, very funny.”
    I grin, not fighting the unusual placement of my lips. “All kidding aside, dinner was great.”
    Saylor jumps up with a grin on her face and saunters over to the kitchen where she runs water in the sink. She reminds me of a giddy puppy the way she’s wiggling her butt at my compliment. If I were standing closer, I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to lick my face to tell me she’s welcome.
    I grab a few dishes off the table and walk over to Saylor, dropping them in the now soapy water. “Go sit down, I’ll do the dishes.”
    Saylor turns to me with a look of disbelief on her face. “Seriously?”
    Shrugging, I gently push her toward the living room. “Yeah and I even promise that I’ll replace anything I break.”
    Giggling, she grabs her bottle of Mountain Dew and retreats to the couch. And because Saylor isn’t a quiet girl and can never just chill and relax, she starts to ask me about my family. I cringe as she does because I don’t want to reveal anything I don’t have to to her, like the fact that I ran away from home, joined a gang, and the only family I had until he died was her uncle.
    “Not much to say about them, they all live on the opposite coast.” I pause, hoping she’ll buy it then quickly divert before she can ask any more questions. “What happened to your uncle?”
    My gut wrenches just asking but it’s the first thing that pops into my mind. Then, something unbelievable happens, Saylor is silent. I drop the plate in my hand back in the suds, drying off my hands, and move to the doorway. Saylor sits on the cushions looking aloof, lost in memories that I had to drag up. I take a seat beside her, taking her hand in mine and giving a small squeeze.
    Saylor shakes her head and looks over at me. “He was gunned down by some men my father hired. It was payback for me sending him to jail.”
    Tears fall down her face but she isn’t exactly crying as she sits there quietly. I rub my thumb over the back of her hand, wishing I could tell her the truth, but I can’t blow my cover. Seeing her in this state, I decide to push things even further because there’s one part of her life after Eddie that I don’t know about.
    “So, what happened to you? Did you get in the system?” Physical pain tears through my heart as I force Saylor to relive her past nightmare.
    She shakes her head, pulling her hand out of mine and wiping away her tears. “No. I ran away.”
    I swallow the lump in my throat, recalling that awful time for me. “Wh-where did you go?”
    “Away, as far away as I could. I met a guy who took me in, it wasn’t an ideal situation, but it kept me out of the system. I stayed until I couldn’t take it any more then I came back home.”
    Rage courses through my body as I think about some man taking care of a teenage Saylor, doing God knows what to her and traumatizing her for all things ahead of her. Then again, she has turned out pretty well all things considered. Hopefully, I’m overanalyzing and things weren’t as bad as I’m picturing. One day, I’ll find out the truth, but right now I’m not going to torture Saylor any more than I already have.
    Saylor smiles through her tears and shrugs. “Whatever, it all happened for a reason because when I came back, things kind of fell into place. I was able to find an apartment that didn’t need my guardian’s signature, I got a job waiting tables, studied my tush off and got my GED. Then, I made up my mind to go to paramedic school and here I am now.”
    I nod, knowing that all of that happened because I found her again. I signed off on the lease of that first god-awful apartment she lived in. I talked to the manager at the restaurant and got him to hire her. The only thing I didn’t do was help her get her GED or decide to go into this profession, those she was motivated, and able, to do on her own.
    “Sailing,” I