She Wanted It All - Kathryn Casey [131]
“Yes,” Kristina said when she answered.
“I want you home when I get there, young lady.”
“You shouldn’t treat me like this,” Kristina said. “You shouldn’t talk to me like this.”
“When I get there, I expect you to be home.”
The shouting escalated, Jennifer and Christopher jarred by the hard edge to Celeste’s voice. Finally, Kristina hung up.
Celeste seethed. “I am so angry I could physically kill Kristina,” she said.
In the backseat, Jennifer’s chest tightened. To her, Celeste’s words weren’t an idle threat. She believed her mother had manipulated Tracey into killing Steve. She’d spent her life watching her hurt and take advantage of people. She’d grown up fearing her, and believed that Celeste was capable of murdering both her and Kristina.
Christopher looked in the rearview mirror and his eyes met Jennifer’s. Without speaking a word, they both knew Celeste had crossed a line that night, and that the situation had just become even more terrifying.
The hours in the car on the way back to Austin were agony. Jennifer knew she could never go home again. It was simply too dangerous. And if she left, she had to find a way to hide, for Celeste never let go of anyone without a battle, and for her daughters she would mount an all-out war.
When they pulled into Austin, Christopher came to the rescue. “Celeste, drop us at my apartment, so we can get my car,” he said. “We’ll meet you at the house.”
Celeste did as they asked, screeching out of the parking lot.
“You can’t go home,” Christopher said as soon as she pulled away.
“I know,” Jen replied.
They also couldn’t stay at Christopher’s; that would be the first place Celeste would look. Instead, they went to Anita’s office. It was closed, but Christopher, who worked there part-time, had a key. They sat in the office in the darkness, afraid Celeste would find them. When she was angry, Jennifer knew her mother was capable of anything.
Kristina didn’t follow her mother’s orders that night either. She stayed at the Grimms’ house with Justin. “We can’t go home, Kris,” Jen said to her on the telephone the next day. “I’ve never seen Mom so angry. She said she could actually kill you.”
“I know,” Kristina said. Yet she wasn’t ready to sever the ties permanently. “We have to let her cool down.”
It wasn’t what Jennifer wanted to hear, but she wasn’t pushing Kristina. She knew how important Celeste was to her sister and how hard it would be for her to break away. Ever since Steve died, Kristina had worked hard to try to restore order to their lives. All to no avail, for with Celeste chaos always won.
The phone calls started that first night. At times Celeste pleaded; at other times she shrieked. The message was clear: She wanted the girls home.
When Kristina heard the voice mails, she felt ill. She’d never denied her mother anything, never blatantly disobeyed. But she knew she couldn’t go home, not yet, not until her mother changed how she treated her. When she pondered how to convince her mother that her screaming was abuse, Kristina came up with a plan. She and Justin would tape record the phone calls and messages; then Kristina could play them back for Celeste, letting her hear what Kristina heard on the telephone—emotional battery. From that point on, when Celeste called, Kristina and Justin turned on their tape recorders.
“Kristina, just because you’re nineteen doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do what I tell you to do. You want to move out, is that what you’re telling me?” Celeste screamed.
“I don’t know,” Kristina replied.
“That’s what you’re saying by deliberately disobeying me?”
“No.”
“If you want to continue going to college, if you want to continue to have your expenses paid without working, then you better get your ass home tonight, do you understand that?”
“Yeah.”
“Because I’m going to come over there tonight and get your car keys … I will change all the locks … I’m not playing games with you … are you willing to just say fuck it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What don’t you know? Because I’m—I’m a worse person than