The Escape Collection: (The Escape Collection) (85 page)

After a few minutes, Darci watched Jennica run onto the field. Taylor raised her hand for her friend to come stand by her but Jennica moved to the other side of the group. Strange, Darci thought. The two girls had always been close but something was definitely up, Jennica hadn’t called or come to visit Taylor at all in the hospital. Darci shook her head dismissing it. Girl drama seemed to start earlier and earlier.
 

A few moments later, Susanna appeared, looking for a spot to sit. She started heading for her usual spot, when she looked up and saw Darci. It was only for a fraction of a second, but Darci didn’t miss the look on the other woman’s face. An unusual mixture of fear and disgust but then it was gone, replaced by Susanna’s normal benign mask. She turned on her heel and started to walk back to the bench where Cam was gathering the girls.
 

“Susanna,” Darci called out, surprising herself. “Come sit here.”
 

The other woman turned around slowly, her brightly coated lips slid back into a twisted smile.
 

What was up with her, Darci thought as Susanna waved in her direction before looking around, probably for an excuse, any excuse, to go somewhere else. When there was none, the other woman began a very slow ascent up the bleachers towards Darci.

“Hi.” Darci did her best to keep her voice friendly and light. Susanna wasn’t her favorite person, but Darci was in a great mood, and sometimes it paid to be friendly. She was trying.
 

“I heard Taylor is home from the hospital now,” Susanna said. She settled herself onto the bench, sitting just far enough away from Darci that it was awkward. “I’m glad she’s well.”

Darci turned in her seat and stared at the other woman. Normally Susanna would be grilling Darci to jump into the next fundraiser, or digging for as many details about anything at all that she could share with the gossip mill. Something was up. “You’re not upset with me about not bringing the cookies last weekend, are you?”

Susanna turned around so quickly, that for a moment, Darci thought she might have seen a hair move from it’s carefully lacquered position. “Of course not. Why would you say that?”

“You seem like something’s bothering you,” Darci said. “Is everything okay with you? Come to think of it, Taylor mentioned that she hadn’t heard from Jennica in awhile. Is there something going on?”
 

“We’re fine.” Susanna turned around and faced the field where the team had started doing passing drills. It was Taylor’s turn to kick the ball to Jennica, but the girl darted to the side and let the ball fly past her. Cam blew the whistle and pointed to the ball. Jennica glanced over to Taylor and shrugged her shoulders.
 

“What was that?” Darci said. “They’re usually an unstoppable team.”
 

Next to her, Susanna huffed and pulled her purse tighter to her chest. “Darci,” she said, her voice clipped and strained. “I hope you know that things are different now.”

“Pardon?” Something in the other woman’s voice made Darci square her shoulders, ready for a fight. “How exactly are things different?”

“I’ve spoken with Jennica, and she agrees with me.” Susanna stood and patted her head. “We don’t think it’s a good idea that the girls spend time together anymore.”

Barb, who’d just arrived, overheard Susanna’s announcement and said, “Are you kidding me? Why shouldn’t the girls be spending time together?”

“Barb,” Susanna turned to face her, effectively shutting Darci out of the conversation. “I think you might want to think about your own daughter’s health here as well. It’s tragic and unfortunate that one of the children is sick, but it would be catastrophic if they all fell victim to-“

“To what?” Darci jumped in. “To diabetes?”
 

Susanna recoiled at the word.
 

“You’re worried that Jennica is going to catch diabetes from Taylor?” Darci positioned herself so Susanna couldn’t look away from her face. She was aware that her voice had raised an octave, and if she’d looked, she probably would have seen that the entire team had stopped practicing and everyone was watching the drama unfolding in the bleachers. “She can’t catch it, Susanna. It’s not a cold. Taylor doesn’t need her friends being scared of her. She’s the same kid she was before.”
 

“She uses needles, Darci.” Susanna lowered her head as she spoke.

“She’s not a drug user, for God’s sake,” Barb roared. If anyone hadn’t been watching them, they were after that.
 

“You’re being ridiculous,” Darci said. “Nothing’s changed, Susanna.”

At that, Susanna straightened and for the first time, looked Darci straight in the eyes. “You’re wrong,” she said. “Everything has changed. And I’m only doing what everyone else should be doing, but is too scared to admit. I’m protecting my child from the lifestyle you’ve chosen.”
 

“The lifestyle?” Darci took a step back as if she’d been struck. “I didn’t cause her diabetes because I’m a single mother.”

“Well,” Susanna said. “I didn’t want to say anything. But maybe if you’d spent more time cooking healthy meals for her, and monitoring her junk food and after school snacks, then -“

“That’s enough,” Barb cut in.
 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Darci’s voice shook, but she didn’t back down. She couldn’t. Her whole body quaked with the urge to strike out.

“I think you’ve said everything you need to, Susanna.” Barb slid her body between them preventing Darci from lashing out the way she wanted to. “You should go.”

Susanna huffed her reply, and called out to Jennica, who no doubt had heard every word of the exchange, along with the rest of the team. “It’s time to go, darling.”
 

“But practice isn’t over,” Jennica moaned.
 

Darci squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her hands into tight balls when she heard Susanna reply, “It is for you.”

She slowly released her fingers and fought to stay calm, but it was Darci’s heart that was shattering at the thought of Taylor, down on the field, watching as her friend walked away from her.
 

Chapter 14

Jennica’s absence from the Chargers’ was short lived because the very next day, she was back at practice. Nobody ever commented on what had happened, and whenever Darci tried to bring up the subject with Taylor in the days following the outburst, she changed the subject. Everything else was going so well that pretty soon Darci dropped it too and life carried on.

Taylor had been home for month, and after only a few home visits from Joelle, she didn’t seem to have any trouble monitoring her glucose levels and giving herself needles. Darci did her best not to make a big deal of it but she still had trouble leaving the responsibility of monitoring her blood sugar, totally up to Taylor.
 

“Are you sure your levels are good today,” she asked Taylor, when she came into the kitchen. “I noticed you had an extra glass of juice for breakfast, you have to watch the sugar, kiddo.”
 

“I know, Mom.” Taylor tried to hide it, but Darci caught the eye roll. “I told you, my levels have been good.”

Darci couldn’t help it. She was a mom, worrying was what she did. She knew it drove Taylor crazy, but Darci wasn’t totally convinced that she was old enough to figure out how much insulin she needed. There were too many factors. What about after she played soccer? Every factor had to be taken into consideration.
 

“If they’re not,” Darci said, “or you’re ever not sure, we can call Doctor Wilson or Joelle. And they’ll-“

“I’m fine.” Taylor grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and held it up. “I was going to have a snack. Is this okay?”

Darci shot her a look. “I don’t appreciate the attitude. I’m just trying to help.”
 

Taylor took a bite of the apple and chewed loud and noisily. Finally, she said, “If you want to help, you can let me go to Abby’s sleepover.”

Darci sighed and turned away. She should have known it would came back to the same conversation.
 

“I already told you, Tay. I don’t-“

“Mom,” Taylor wailed, with every ounce of drama she could muster. “You have to let me go. It’s Abby. She’s my best friend.”

Darci turned away and opened the dishwasher. They both knew it was a chore Taylor was supposed to do, but Darci also knew that if she brought it up right after saying no to the biggest request of the year, it would be a full-scale meltdown.
 

“You have to let me go, you can’t protect me forever.”
 

Darci bent and began pulling out plates. Hadn’t Cam said the same thing? He’d been showing up at their house more and more over the past weeks, just to hang out and talk. It was easy to spend time with him, and their conversations did ease a lot of her fears when it came to Taylor. But, she still wasn’t sold on the idea of sending Tay to a sleepover.
 

“I’m sorry, kiddo.” She put stacked the plates in the cupboard. “I don’t think a sleep over party is a good idea.”

“Why not? I’m fine. You can’t force me to stay home forever. I bet if you had your way, you’d wrap me in bubble wrap and keep me indoors forever.”
 

“That’s not true, I-“

“You would,” Taylor jumped. “I know you would. You think I’m going to die like Dad did.”
 

Darci froze, a bowl in her hand.
 

The silence filled the room. Darci couldn’t breathe; the air was so heavy she was afraid she’d pass out. She managed to put the bowl on the counter without dropping it. She held onto the granite, and took deep breaths, waiting for her lungs to fill with oxygen.

Finally, Darci trusted herself enough to speak “No, Tay.” She spoke slowly, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I don’t think that.”

“You do.” Tears streamed down her face. “That’s why you won’t let me do anything. I’m sorry I got sick. I’m sorry I had to go to the hospital.” She sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. “I’m sorry I’m different.”
 

Darci’s own eyes filled with tears and she knew they weren’t talking about the party anymore. She crossed the room and tried to take her daughter in her arms, but Taylor dodged her.
 

“I’m sick of being different. It sucks.”

“You’re not different,” Darci said. She reached out and tucked a strand of Taylor’s hair behind her ear. ”You’re the same beautiful, smart, talented girl you were before all of this. Having diabetes doesn’t change who you are.”

“Tell Jennica that. She’s been acting weird ever since I went to the hospital.”

Darci knew it would come up. It had to. She’d been naive to ignore it. “How’s she been acting weird?”
 

“She’s telling everyone that if they sit too close to me, or drink out of the same cup they’re going to get sick. She even told Abby that I got diabetes because we ate out too much and if you’d been home instead of working, I would be healthy. I am healthy, mom. I’m not sick. Doctor Wilson told me that having diabetes doesn’t mean I’m sick, but that it’s a disease and…Jennica’s so stupid. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

“No, she doesn’t.” Darci ached for her daughter. But there were some things she knew she couldn’t fix for Taylor.
 

“Jennica told everyone that it’s my fault that I got diabetes. That I secretly ate junk food and too much soda. She said that I deserved to be sick because of my bad habits. And it’s not true,” Taylor cried. Sobs wracked her body, and again, Darci tried to hug her. This time Taylor clung to her mother and let her emotions loose. Anger boiled through Darci, she knew it was Susanna’s uneducated fears that were poisoning Jennica. She could hear Susanna’s voice in everything Taylor had just told her. There was no way that Jennica got those ideas on her own.
 

“What do your other friends think?” Darci asked, working to keep her voice calm. “Does Abby say anything?”

Taylor sniffed hard and pulled away. “They don’t say much, but I don’t know if they believe her or not,” she said. “But Abby doesn’t. She’s always telling Jennica to shut up and leave me alone. She’s the best friend I have, Mom.”
 

Darci smiled. “Abby is a good friend.”
 

“She is. That’s why I have to be at her party! It won’t be the same if I’m not there.”

Darci took a deep breath. “Okay.”

“Okay, what?”
 

“Okay you can go.” How could she not say yes? Darci thought as she watched Taylor’s face transform. The tears dried up and a smile spread wide. “You’re right, I can’t keep you home and locked in a bubble all the time. Besides, Abby’s your best friend and she’s been great to you through everything. Friends like that are hard to find, you need to treat them right.”

Taylor flung her arms around Darci’s neck and squeezed tight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She let go and did a little dance around the kitchen. Her heartbreak and tears only moments ago, forgotten. “You’re the best mom, ever!”
 

Darci waited until Taylor had run out of the room to call Abby, before she picked up her own cell phone to call Barb. Taylor might think she had the best mom in the world, at least for the moment, but she also had a cautious mom.
 

***

Even with Taylor home and their routine more or less back to normal, there still wasn’t time for Darci to squeeze in a run during the day. But after a long day working hard in the store, keeping an eye on Monica, since Darci no longer trusted her, and then performing mom duties, she still made her night runs a priority.

She’d talked to Taylor about her running shortly after she’d started, and Taylor thought it was great, but Darci still waited until Tay was in bed for the night.
 

“Good night, Mom,” Taylor said. She grabbed her book and headed for her room.
 

“See you in the morning, kiddo.”
 

Taylor smiled and blew Darci a kiss. “Have a good run.”