The Forgotten Girl by David Bell

tank once in Chicago, about fifteen years ago. That will drive your parents to the brink, having a child in a big-city jail and no way to talk to her.”
    “I understand where you’re coming from. We don’t have to talk about it. . . .” Nora scooted back to her side of the bed.
    Jason didn’t pick up his book. He didn’t want to turn into his parents, judging Hayden and never allowing her out of the box she was placed in at such an early age. Seeing Hayden again, even for such a short time, had brought a swirl of emotions. Anger. Regret. Joy and fear. He remembered their late-night talks as children, their secret and meaningless conspiracies against their parents, their shared adolescent angst over school drama and the mysteries of the opposite sex. She was his sister. His baby sister, even if she was just one year younger. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit—at least to himself—that hearing Hayden call him “big brother” again melted much of the steel he’d erected in his heart against her.
    “I don’t know,” Jason said.
    “Don’t know what?” Nora asked.
    “Hayden. What she’s here for.” Nora turned her body toward him again, listening, the sheets rustling as she moved. “I’m trying not to be cold. Not to be a judgmental ass. I’m just curious. I’m sure it’s this AA stuff like she said. Making amends, you know? I’ve been trying to think of who she might owe an apology to in Ednaville. Mom and Dad would be the obvious choice, but they’re dead and gone. There’s us, and she already dealt with that.”
    The toilet flushed down the hall, followed by the sound of running water. Nora lowered her voice even more. “Who else was she close to in town?”
    “She had a lot of friends in high school,” Jason said. “She mostly ran with a rough crowd. No surprise. The drinkers and the stoners and the guys who came to school in army jackets andnever shaved. I’m sure a fair number of them still live here. People like that don’t leave Ednaville. But I have no idea if she owes any of them anything.”
    “It doesn’t have to be big,” Nora said. “Remember my cousin Steve? He went through AA, and he went around apologizing for the smallest stuff. Like Sierra said, she seems to be sorry for everything.”
    “Yeah,” Jason said.
    He replayed Hayden’s words in his mind. Not what she said, but how she said it. Her tone.
    “What is it?” Nora asked.
    “I just worry she’s in trouble,” he said. “That she’s in over her head somehow. Even if she is recovering, she said it’s only been a year or so. That’s fragile. Someone could fall off the wagon so quickly, and the whole thing could slip away. I’ve seen her do it before. So many times she disappeared from our lives, despite all the promises.”
    “You’re forgetting something.” Nora pointed in the direction of the guest room where Sierra was staying. “She’s going to come back for her. She’ll stay on the straight and narrow for her.”
    “Why now?”
    “Look at how well that kid is doing. You can see how proud Hayden is.”
    “Sierra was around when Hayden came the last time.”
    “It seems different—that’s all I can say. She’s not going to let that girl go or hurt her. Is she?”
    As if on cue, the door to the guest room closed. Jason didn’t answer the question. Sierra was seventeen. It had taken that long for Hayden to clean up, so would things really be different?
    Nora said, “I think it’s nice to have those sounds in the house, don’t you? Just being here, Sierra brings energy and life, right?”Nora reached out and rubbed her hand against Jason’s upper arm. “I wonder about how quiet our life is sometimes.”
    “I thought we liked it quiet.”
    “We do,” Nora said. “But you know you like seeing your niece.” She poked him in the arm playfully. “Don’t you?”
    “I do. Of course I do. She seems like a good kid.” Then he picked up his book. “We made that decision about not having