Close Up: Exposure Book Three Read Free Page A

but if you upset our mom, you’re going to have to leave.”
    Mom was now crying, and her head was hanging. “Cordelia, why are you here? I don’t want to see you, and I don’t want to ever talk to you again. I can’t believe what you did.”
    I decided to repeat what I told Stella, in so many words. “Mom, I know that you’re angry with me. And I don’t think that I can ever express how much regret and grief I feel about what happened. But it was a mistake. You left Stella and me in the car all the time when we were little. Nothing ever happened to us, but that was just by the sheer grace of God.”
    “That was a different place and time.”
    “Was it? We never lived in very safe neighborhoods, mom, and, if I can recall, there was crime during the ‘90s when Stella and I were growing up. You took just as many chances, if not more, and you were lucky that nothing ever happened to either of us.”
    Her face looked like I had slapped her, but then she started to cry again. “How dare you bring that up and throw that in my face? Are you trying to say that I’m a bad mother?”
    “No, of course not. What I’m trying to tell you is that you can’t continue to hate me for making a mistake, when you’ve made that same mistake many times in my youth. The only difference with me is that I was unlucky.” I hung my head, feeling the tears coming to my own eyes. “I mean, Nathaniel was unlucky. He didn’t deserve that. He was a precious boy, and it was all taken from him in a flash. I will always regret that. I will always feel guilty about it. I will always, always, always miss him. But I don’t think that it’s fair that you and Stella are going to go out of your way to make me feel like a criminal.”
    She shook her head. “I know what you’re saying, and Cordelia, I have missed you.” I was a bit alarmed that she was calling me by my birth name, as that was something that she rarely did, mostly when I was in trouble. “But I just can’t stand seeing you.”
    My heart sunk. “Mom, would you go to counseling with me? And Stella too?”
    “Who has money for that?”
    “I have insurance. It’s apparently pretty good insurance, too.” I held my breath, waiting for her to reply.
    She just started to shake her head, and said “no. Please leave, Cordelia.”
    “Mom-“
    “You heard her. You should leave.” Stella gave me a look, and then started talking in a low voice. “Mom isn’t well. She hasn’t been well. Now you’re here, and all that you’re doing is upsetting her.”
    “Stella,” I began, seeing that her face was softening towards me, “come out on the porch with me. I’ll call a cab to come and get me, but…” It was then that I saw the Tesla pull up in front of the house.
    A Tesla? In this neighborhood?
    All at once, it made perfect sense. Asher had, somehow, someway, managed to figure out where my mom lived and he apparently was right there. I had no idea how he even figured that I was going to visit my mom that night, but, then again, I was talking about seeing them, so he must have put two and two together.
    Stella was standing there, too, and her mouth was open. “Oh my God, CJ, look at that car! I don’t think that I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
    “It’s a Tesla. It’s an electric car that apparently is as high performance as a sports car.” I hadn’t known Asher all that long, but, thus far, we had only rode in limos. I didn’t even know that he had his own car, but it made sense. And owning an electric car made perfect sense for him, considering what he did for a living.
    “A Tesla? Aren’t those like $100,000?”
    “Yes.” I sighed, not wanting to have to explain to Stella, or my mother for that matter, about Asher. The gossiping would never stop.
    I saw Asher in the driver’s seat, just sitting there. He was probably trying to decide if he should get out of the car or not.
    “You know somebody who would drive a car like that?”
    “Yes.” I waved to him,