The Spider Catcher (Redemption by A.L. Tyler Book 1) by A.L. Tyler Page A

had squinted up at her in the sudden brightness.
    “Has it always been this dark here?” Ember laughed nervously. “I don’t remember it being so dark inside the house back when I was…was here.”
    Gina’s eyes had hardened, drilling in to Ember until she finally directed her attention back to the pair of Thalia’s pants that she was hemming.
    “We kept more lights in the house when you were little because you complained about it.” She said with another steely glare. “Kept the heat turned up too. You were a sensitive child, and expensive to keep. The money I save on the things I had to do to keep you here pays for your tuition now.”
    Ember tried to ignore her tone. She walked around the back of the couch to sit next to her mother. “I was a sensitive child?”
    Gina stood to reseat herself a little further away. She set her sewing aside, and folded her hands in her lap, giving Ember the same appraising look that she had on the dock. “Ember, honey, you really want me to like you, don’t you?”
    Ember smiled, looking down to smooth her blouse as a smile crept onto her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but Gina beat her to it.
    “It will never happen.”
    Ember felt her frown stretch all the way from her mouth to her wrinkled forehead. “What?”
    Gina leaned back on the couch. “I moved to Alaska to get away from people. Needy people, like you, who can’t take care of themselves.”
    “But Thalia—“
    “—Looks after herself.” Gina finished. “She’s been a fantastic companion for me. She helps me in the garden and doesn’t mind sweeping or cleaning windows.”
    Ember’s jaw had dropped to the floor, and she felt herself choking on her own words as Gina stared in annoyed boredom, until she finally forced a sentence out. “I could do those things.”
    “Oh, honey…” Gina leaned forward to give her a pat on the cheek that was just a little too hard. “You could, but you would only do it to make me like you, and that’s pathetic. I was hoping a swift kick into the real world would do something for you, but it’s only made it worse. I brought you back to see if maybe, just maybe…but you’re just the same needy little girl you’ve always been. When you couldn’t get it from me, you went out and got it from the first boy who looked at you.” She stood, grabbing the pants from the couch arm. “I don’t hold it against you, of course, but you have to understand that I can’t respect you, and that’s why I’ll never love you. It’s a kindness to send you away. You’ll go and find someone out there who will love you, I’m sure, with all the other needy people.”
    Ember felt tears of embarrassment stinging just under the surface. “I didn’t—I just—the window—“
    “The window, yes.” Gina said with a sudden scowl. Her eyes searched the room, as if she were looking for something, before she finally crossed her arms. “Someone has to pay for it, and I don’t intend to go chasing your new overnight friends. I’ll remove it from your trust fund.”
    She walked away toward the kitchen. When Ember turned and stood and started to follow her, Gina only raised a single finger and shook her head; her eyes said everything. The conversation was done, and so was the relationship.
    Feeling thunderstruck, Ember managed to get back to her bedroom. She pulled on her shoes and a coat, and shoved a wad of money into her pocket, and never paused to notice the light streaming in through her bedroom window. When she came back out, Thalia had opened her bedroom door, and was standing in the frame.
    “Going somewhere?”
    “Out.”
    “Apparently.” She stood in front of Ember; her eyes, the same as Ember’s, wandered over her mismatched accessories. “Where?”
    “Bookstore.”
    Thalia nodded, stepping aside. “Get home before dark. The house goes in to lockdown, and Mom isn’t opening the door for Acton Knox to dump your defiled body on the couch again.”
    “He didn’t defile