Can't Let You Go

"I'm Honey Cohen and I think I just saved you from the mob," I said back to her in my best smartass voice. It was the first time I'd been a smartass so I wasn't sure how successful I'd been.

She snorted as a reply, so probably not that successful. I noticed bruises on her forearm at that moment. "Hey, are you hurt? Did they do that to you? It's probably on our security cameras. Want me to call the police?"

"No!" she quickly spat out. "Don't call the cops, please." She calmed then continued. "But, umm, do you think you could get my mom's paycheck? She's not feeling well, but we need the money. The person who answered the door wouldn't give it to me."

"Of course, but you have to do something for me first," I said brightly.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow and gave me the side-eye.

"Tell me your name." We both laughed.

"Emily Smith." She gave me a half smile.

"Nice to meet you Emily Smith." I put out my hand to shake and she took it. "Does your mom have the same last name?"

She nodded her head. "Maryanne."

I went into my mother's office and opened the drawer where the paychecks were kept. I found the one marked "Maryanne Smith" and handed it over. "Why don't you stay for a little while. Then I'll send someone out to make sure those guys aren't just hanging around close by."

"Okay, thanks." Her stomach growled just then.

"I think I know exactly what we should do." Giggling, I led her through the house until we got to the kitchen. I pulled a bunch of stuff out of the fridge then got out serving utensils along with a couple of plates and forks for the two of us. "Help yourself. There's fruit over there if you want that." I pointed to the other island behind us as I walked over to the glass fronted drinks fridge. "What do you want? Water? Soda? Juice? Dairy milk? Almond mil--"

"Water is fine," she said hurriedly.

"Still or sparkling?" I followed up.

"Sparkling, I guess."

"What flavor? We have grapefruit, cherry, lime, waterme--"

"Never mind, just plain water is good." She shifted her weight unsteadily.

I grabbed a bottle and set it down in front of her. "How about when you're done with this, you can help yourself to the next one?"

Turning her face away from me, she nodded and opened the bottle. She didn't take any food, so I put some on both of our plates and began eating.

"Oh god, this is so good." I moaned about the bite of cold steak I had just begun chewing. "You can heat yours up if you want to. I didn't want to wait. Mom's spies might come in at any moment."

Continuing to shift from foot to foot, she looked around the room. "Is it okay for me to be here? I mean, you probably shouldn't be fraternizing with the help."

"It's fine. No one is going to be spying on you. They're just going to be reporting what I've eaten. Mom has been here for two weeks straight so I feel like I haven't gotten any actual meals other than lunch at school."

"She doesn't let you eat?" Perhaps conscious of the topic, she finally began to eat the food I'd portioned out for her.

"I get some monstrosity of a smoothie for breakfast. I don't know what is in it exactly, but I've seen frozen greens, protein powder, vitamin powder, and flax milk go in. Sometimes there's frozen fruit also. If it's a disgusting brownish color that means there's blueberries or blackberries in it. She stands there and watches me drink the whole thing."