Page 54 of Melting for the Firefighter

I want to take the phone.

Want to block the number and make sure the woman never gets close enough to hurt her again.

I stay where I am.

Cora answers.

“Hi.”

Her mother’s voice is loud enough to reach me across the table.

“Did you find out about the insurance money?”

Cora looks down at the closed building plans.

Then she looks at me.

“Yes. It’s paying for the shop.”

“You could spare a little. I raised you.”

Cora’s bandaged hand tightens around the phone.

“Grandma raised me.”

Silence follows.

I do not move.

Every instinct I have tells me to take over. To put myself between Cora and anything that causes pain.

Zain’s words come back to me.

Protection turns into control when fear makes the decisions.

This choice belongs to her.

“I can’t keep paying for your emergencies,” Cora says. Her voice trembles, but it does not break. “I won’t send you any more money.”

Her mother begins to cry.

Cora’s face crumples.

I grip the back of the chair to keep from crossing the room too soon.

“I hope you figure things out,” she says. “I have to go.”

She ends the call.

The phone slips from her hand and lands on the table.

I cross the kitchen.

Cora turns into me before I reach her.

I pull her against my chest and hold her while she cries.

“I feel horrible.”