Dead Dreams by Emma Right Page A

back from him.
    “Hey?” Sarah opened her door, rubbing her eyes. “Who were you talking to?”
    “Just the pastor I told you about.”
    “Gawd! He doesn’t believe in sleeping in?”
    I shrugged. It was unlike her to get up at this hour, and I didn’t think I’d been that loud on the phone. But, maybe I had been. Or maybe she was as wound up about our scheme as I was. “He’s been wanting to see me.”
    “You didn’t tell him anything, did you?”
    “I don’t even like him.” She sure was suspicious. “I need to work for a couple of hours after I send in my resignation. Don’t want them to wonder why I was in a hurry to leave.”
    “Don’t forget the bank, at eleven. You need to be back here at ten, latest. We have a lot to do.”
    I slung my yellow tote over my shoulder. “Don’t forget to put the alarm on.” Especially after that nightmare I had, I thought, but I didn’t say that to her. I pulled the front door shut before she could bug me further. There was so much to process.



Chapter Twenty-Four
     
    It was amazing how much I’d accomplished since my day had started at the break of dawn. I toyed with what I should do about Dad. I hadn’t told Sarah, as it would rattle her. She had a knack for making things seem more complicated than they were. If I visited the hospital, Mom might keep me there indefinitely, but I couldn’t leave without seeing Dad at least once, especially in his condition. What if he never recovered and I never saw him alive again? Suddenly, I hoped heaven was real.
    Don’t panic.
    I had every intention of returning to some semblance of my old life once Sarah was assured of her inheritance and I’d had my few years of financial freedom and made a stable income, hopefully on Broadway. Or Hollywood. Although I couldn’t help but ask myself if there was a price for deception.
    It was a full morning at Stay Fit, what with Pete still on sick leave. In the end, I called Mom at eight.
    “You coming?” she said. I could tell by the nasalness in her voice she’d been crying.
    “I can’t just take off.” True.
    “But, this is a family emergency, for God’s sake, Brianna Zoe.” I hated it when she used my middle name. Zoe means “full life,” like when Jesus preached, “I have come to give you life (zoe) and life more abundantly (zoe).” I doubted my present full plate—as in ultra-busy—was the kind of full life that Jesus meant. I hoped not.
    “I’ll try later,” I said. Perhaps I could dash by the hospital after the bank deal and before my Starbucks resignation.
    “Keith’s arriving in an hour. Grandma’s coming soon. I’m alone with Lilly now. You want to speak with her?”
    So, Lilly was there after all. Dad’s condition must have gotten worse. “I’ll talk to her when I get there.”
    Mom let out a long sigh, which was something I was not going to miss. I felt bad enough as it was. Not to mention worried.
    Thao accepted my resignation with her thin upper lips in a grimace. She seemed to have more on her mind than my news. In her clipped Vietnamese accent, she said, “As you wish, Brianna.”
    Everyone was hounded by troubles. That was life.
    Take Peter, for instance. He was obviously too sick even to answer my text messages. I thought about which friend or associate I could call or text to say farewell in my last few hours as the “uncomplicated Brie,” the not-wealthy but still-honest Brie with the simple life.
    After today, Sarah and I would have to restrict our contact with everyone. But, besides my immediate family, I’d lost touch with most of the kids I’d hung around with at church, in high school, and even those from the private ballet academy I’d used to frequent. Everyone who was worth hanging out with had accepted huge loans from their parents, the bank, or both, and moved on to college, having started a new phase in life. Except me. I’d toyed with the idea of getting a student loan with the low government interest rates. But at the