Chapter 2: Thanks, Gram

All I wanted was to be left alone. Wasn't getting through the ceremony bad enough? Why did I have to spend another three hours pretending to smile and make pointless small talk with people who didn't want to be at the party any more than I wanted them there?

I'd only agreed for Gram. She so seldom asked me for anything, or expected anything, that whenever she did, I always wanted to say yes.

"Rafe, I have one grandson. One. And even though you don't see it, graduation is a milestone. Please, allow me to mark it. You won't appreciate it now, but someday you may look back and be happy that we did."

Of course she'd told me to invite all my friends, but that was a tough one, seeing as I didn't have any of those. Unless you counted Amber, which I did, but I knew her loyalty to Tasmyn and Michael would make it impossible for her to come. Starting over at a new school in senior year means you don't have time to cultivate those lifelong friendships all the greeting card commercials tell us we'll have.

And what made this day even better—what added the peachy to the keen—was that the people responsible for me spending my senior year in King, Florida, were here today, too.

It just kept getting better.

My mom flitted around the party, never stopping very long at any one group. She wasn't from King, and she'd always hated it here. It was why we lived in California my whole life, about as far as we could get from 'that awful, creepy little town' and still be in the lower 48. But today she put on her happy face, smiling and nodding as people spoke.

Her husband was sitting away from everyone else, off to the side. I was pretty sure he wanted to be here about as much as I wanted him here. I figured he only came along because my mother had probably begged, telling him she couldn't face King or my grandparents without him. It couldn't have been a comfortable position, having to stay with her dead husband's parents. Still, he'd been quiet for the first few days they'd been at the house.

I was sitting on the deck, drinking a beer. My mom had begun to protest when she saw me pop the top, but my grandmother shook her head.

"Patrice, it's his graduation day. I know that the law might not see it this way, but if he's old enough to hold a job, fight for his country and vote, I sincerely doubt a few beers on his grandparents' property in celebration will scar him for life."

My mother's mouth opened as if she were going to say something else, but she closed it abruptly. She kind of reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz—she had no power here.

And any sway she had in my life had disappeared when she chose Bradford over me and sent me away.

So here I sat, nursing my second beer and watching all these people I didn't know walking around, eating and drinking and pretending to have a good time.

"Having fun yet?"

My cousin Lucie—well, she was a cousin who was also Gram's secretary and housekeeper—plopped down onto the chair next to me. She was holding a glass of wine.

"Oh, yeah, can't you tell?" I rolled my eyes.

"Hang in there, kid." She sipped her wine, and then I heard what she really wanted to say.

Your mom is driving Caroline nuts. And I'm pretty sure your step-dad is bombed. What he wants everyone to think of as water is really vodka. Just FYI.

"Lucky Bradford." I spoke aloud, because while Lucie could broadcast her thoughts, she couldn't hear those of other people.

He's not the most sociable guy, is he?

I shrugged. "He was when we were in California, with all his friends. I think here, he and my mother are both waiting for one of us to pull out a wand and blow something up. Or turn one of them into a frog."

Lucie began to laugh. "Now I wish I could do that. Hey, I could talk to them in my own special way, see if that works."

"Yeah, I double dog dare you, Luce."

"I totally would, if I didn't think it would embarrass Caroline and William."

I nodded. "The things I don't do out of respect for those two."

"Good thing we both love them anyway." She drained her wine glass and shifted back to mind talk again.

I'm going to miss you, Rafe. Having you here has been fun.

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm going somewhere?"

She shook her head, looking away. I don't hear minds, but I can read expressions. And see the writing on the wall. You're going to be out of here so fast, our heads will spin. And we'll miss you.

I rubbed a hand over my jaw. "I don't have any plans, Luce. She's leaving anyway. Why shouldn't I stay where I have a home?"

Lucie sighed. "She's leaving at the end of the summer. You really think you're going to get through another two months in one piece?"

Well, she had a point there.

"If it isn't the man of the hour."

I jerked around, my feet falling from the railing where I'd been propping them up. Bradford stood next to me, much too close. I hadn't even heard him approaching, which was weird, but then again, my mind had been tuned into Lucie.

"Having one of your woo-woo secret type conversations?" He smirked, and it took every ounce of my limited self-control not to slug the expression off his face.

"What do you want, Bradford?" I finished my beer and stood up. "Run out of, um, water?" I gave the word implied air quotes.

"Just had to congratulate the man of the hour." He kept using that same phrase, and it was pissing me off.

"Yeah, you said that." I chucked my empty into a nearby wooden barrel, a cleverly disguised recycling container.

"How many people did you mess with to get through school? Did you make them think you were some kind of genius?" He wiggled his fingers in front of his forehead.

I gritted my teeth. Wasn't the whole deal with Tasmyn and Michael bad enough? What had I done to deserve a special session with Bradford, too?

"Listen, Bradford, I think you better just walk away right now."

"Or what? You'll use your freaky mind control on me, too? Remember, son. You tried that one before, and it didn't get you anywhere. I'm too strong for you." He laughed, a short and ugly sound.

I'd had enough. This day had sucked, and I was done.

"Sit down, Bradford."

"I—" A look of confusion passed over his features before he dropped into the chair behind him.

I leaned forward. "Don't underestimate me. I'm not your son, thank God or whatever powers there are. And I never tried to mess with you. Believe me, if I wanted to, I could make you cluck like a chicken and flap your wings all around the yard before you copped a squat to lay an egg. And in this crowd—" I waved my hand to encompass the enormous patio and expanse of grass filled with people from the First Families of King. "These people, they'd only laugh. They see you for the powerless, ineffectual ass you are."

Bradford's mouth worked, and I only had to look at him before it snapped shut. "No more talking."

Lucie glanced at me. Want me to get backup?

I shook my head. "Nah, Bradford is done talking for the day. Isn't that right, buddy?"

Fury filled his eyes, but it only took a slight narrowing of mine for him to nod, jerkily.

"Rafe."

I didn't need to turn to know Gram was standing behind me.

"Yes, ma'am." I kept my focus on my stepfather.

"Don't you think that's enough?"

"Not hardly."

"Rafe."

I rolled my eyes and turned away. Bradford slumped as though he were a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"What happened?" Panic filled my mother's voice as she climbed the steps to the terrace. "What did you do?"

"What did I do? Here's a thought, Mom. Why don't you ask your husband here what he did to me? Why do you assume it's me?"

"Patrice, take Bradford inside, please. And I think perhaps it might be a good idea for you two to pack up and leave tonight. I'll have Lucie make you reservations at a hotel outside of town."

My mother looked from my grandmother to me, indecision all over her face. "But Rafe—his party. I mean, I'm his mother. You can't keep him from me."

"Of course, you're right. I can't. However, Rafe is eighteen years old and fully capable of making his own choices. I simply suggest that you move on in order to save us all unpleasantness."

Gram was not a large woman, but damned if she couldn't be the scariest thing I'd ever seen sometimes.

My mother was torn, I knew, between doing what she wanted, which was to get the hell out of King, and what she thought looked right, which was staying with me. I decided to cut her a break.

"Mom, why don't you just go? You guys were leaving tomorrow anyway, right? Bradford doesn't want to be here, and I bet you're ready to leave, too."

Tears filled her eyes—the kind of tears that a year ago might have meant something to me. But now they just irritated me.

"I'll go take care of the hotel arrangements." Lucie stood, glanced at me with a smile, and slipped in through the open glass doors.

In a whirl of efficiency that only my grandmother could have accomplished, my mother and Bradford were heading out the door thirty minutes later. I stood at the bottom of the steps as my mom wrung her hands.

"Rafe, are you sure...you could come back to California with us. Even just for a visit." She cast a sideways glance at Bradford, who looked less than enthusiastic.

"I'm good here, Mom. This is where I belong."

"But college? You've gotten in every place you applied. You could come to a school on the West Coast. Get away from—" She stopped in mid-sentence.

"This is where he belongs, here with the other freaks." Bradford growled the words as he stepped out the door. "Come on, Patrice."

She looked at him and then back at me, torn. Just like always. It was up to me to make it easier on her; God knew Bradford never would.

"Good-bye, Mom." I hugged her, closing my eyes and letting myself remember for just a moment the days when it was only the three of us, when Dad was alive and Mom loved who I was. "Thanks for coming out for my graduation. I'll be in touch."

"Make sure you are." She laid one hand on my cheek, looking up into my eyes. "I know it's been hard, Rafe. But I love you. I always will."

I stepped back. "I love you, too, Mom. Have a safe trip back." I watched as she stepped down the stone steps into the night.

And then it was two of us in the huge foyer. Gram slipped her hand around my arm and gave a gentle squeeze.

"I know." She spoke softly, with understanding and acceptance.

"What do you know?" I smiled down at her.

"You need to leave. You have to get out of King, for a while at least." She sighed. "I'm going to miss you dreadfully, you understand. But this is for the best."

"You're kicking me out?" I swallowed over a sudden lump in my throat. Yes, leaving had been an option, but I didn't think it was going to be forced on me.

"Of course not. Don't be ridiculous." Trust Gram to toss out the emotion. "You can stay here as long as you want. Forever. But you won't. And I want you to know that your grandfather and I support you, no matter what you choose to do." She hesitated a moment. "I think being in King this summer would be extraordinarily hard for you, and I want you to feel free to leave."

For the first time all day, I felt like I was going to break down. I pinched the bridge of my nose, willing away the waves of hurt.

"I thought once I didn't have to see her anymore, it would be better. But now knowing I won't is even worse."

Gram pulled me into a hug, holding me together for just a few moments.

"This is why you should go."

I choked back a laugh. "Shouldn't you be telling me not to run away from my problems?"

She reached up to smooth my hair away from my eyes, compassion and pain lining her face.

"My darling, under the circumstances, I think running away is your best choice."