Salted Wound

Chapter 68 Zamari- Apr 30, 2019

I tug uncomfortably on the tie around my neck that's attempting to strangle me, shift on the hard wooden bench I sit on and dial Ana's number again. I huff when it goes straight to voicemail, and pull up the text messages I had already sent to her and debate sending another without sounding desperate. The last time I saw her the tears in her eyes almost broke me. Knowing I had caused her that pain is a knot in my chest that won't go away. She hasn't answered me since, barely texting at all and when she does it's always with a reason why she won't see me. She's busy with Estrella, she's preparing for finals, she's babysitting Julian. They may be legitimate reasons, but I know the truth of it is simple - she's avoiding me.

A familiar car pulls into the parking lot I'm currently sitting near, and I stand up to greet my dad. He smiles warmly at me as he pushes the huge wooden door open and walks down the eerily silent hall toward his lawyer's office. Dad told me to wear a tie today because it would make me "more presentable" to the lawyer as we discuss the charges against me.

    Dad shakes his hand and introduces me to the man behind the large wooden desk.

    I shake his hand and sit uncomfortably in the chair on this side of his desk. The lawyer is someone dad apparently knows pretty well and trusts. He's a slightly overweight white guy who wears his grin like a tie - practiced. His hair is thinning, and his belly oversized, which in a way adds to his approachable demeanor. He and dad chat for a few minutes about work, and a local baseball game, before getting to the topic at hand. I stay silent the whole time. The meeting is short and to the point - the charges against me are being dropped. The woman who was robbed came down to the police station and identified Luis as one of the culprits, and told them that I was not one of them. Even with the masks, she did not recognize my voice as one of the people who took all of her money, which just about saved my life.

    "And Luis?" I ask. "What's gonna happen to him?"

    The lawyer heaves a sigh. "Well, he won't be facing real serious jail time. He'll be on house arrest until graduation, after that he'll be in the local prison for four to six months. A few here or there, and he's out."

    For the trouble he caused me I was hoping for worse, but I know now from experience even an hour in a jail cell is too much. Dad thanks the lawyer, signs a couple of documents saying basically that he understands the fees he has to pay, and we leave again.

I check my phone again as we enter the parking lot and the only message from Ana I have is short and abrupt.

     Busy with Strella, I can't talk.

I push my phone back into my pocket with a sigh, wishing for a road map showing me how to fix what I didn't mean to break.