What She Found, page 2
Matt shakes his head. “Naw. The magic word’s ‘fun.’ Something my wife used to be back before the twins.”
“Ohhh,” Connor shouts and slaps the table as Cassy’s jaw drops.
As Matt rounds the table toward her, she sneers up at him.
“Ho, ho,” Arland chuckles, shaking his head. “That was bad. And I thought I was in the doghouse!”
“You are!” Liz calls, rolling her eyes, but he rests his hands on her shoulders again, and she smiles as they all stare at Matt, wrapping his arms around Cassy and trying to kiss her cheek as she swats him away.
“You try passing twins through a hole in your body,” Cassy shouts, “and see if you feel as fun and fancy-free after that!”
We all erupt with laughter as Matt wraps her in his arms and pulls her to her feet. “I know how tired you are and how hard you work, and I just want you to take this weekend for you. For us.”
They stare into each other’s eyes, and I’m frozen watching them, caught up in their love story that began before I even knew them.
“I know,” Cassy whispers, licking her lips and letting out a deep sigh.
He kisses her, and it breaks the spell. Tears well up in my eyes. That shared connection is something I’ll never have with Derek again. Maybe never with anyone again, but anyone doesn’t matter.
Derek matters. Mattered.
My thoughts swirl as Connor pipes up, running his fingers through his short red hair. “Now can we all take the bloody shot and get back to the game?”
He picks up the shot glass, and we all follow suit—even Wesley with his glass of cola. I blink back tears, turning away as Liz shrugs Arland’s hands off her shoulders and his smile fades.
Serves him right. He shouldn’t be able to get away with it that easily.
“To fun!” Matt says. “May we have it tonight, even if we don’t remember it tomorrow!”
“To fun!” Connor echoes as we clink our glasses, and I turn to Cassy to tap ours together. She smiles and tilts her head to the side, acknowledging that I’m trying to have a good time too, before turning to Matt. They lock eyes, taking a swig of their drinks.
Closing my eyes, I shoot mine back, and the buttery smooth flavour rolls off my tongue and burns down my throat.
I open my eyes, and Wesley’s staring at me. Licking my lips and averting my eyes, I wipe the drop racing down my chin with the back of my hand, but he doesn’t look away. His gaze presses into me, and I confirm it as we lock eyes. I feel exposed somehow, vulnerable to his judgement, but he didn’t look away when I wiped my chin, and he didn’t seem disgusted. I stare back at him, the alcohol firing up the courage inside me, and I smile. He smiles and raises his brows ever so slightly.
A hard knocking echoes from the kitchen door, not ten feet away, and we all turn toward it.
We’re all here. Who would be knocking this late at night?
Three more bangs at the door. Arland jumps up from the table and walks toward it as Matt rises to his feet.
I lean back to see past Cassy’s hair as a shadow crosses the window beside the door.
Chapter Two
Arland reaches for the doorknob, and Cassy hisses, “What are you doing? You can’t just open the door! We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
Who would be out there? The homeowners?
“It’s raining,” Matt says and joins Arland’s side, nodding to him. “Let’s see who it is.”
Arland twists the knob and opens the heavy wooden door, revealing a silhouette in a raincoat on the other side of the storm door.
“Hello?” Arland’s voice pierces through the low music, deeper than ever, and against his tall, solid frame, the smaller figure doesn’t seem as scary.
“Hello,” a woman’s smooth voice answers, but she remains in the shadows on the doorstep. “I’m looking for some help.”
“Are you okay?” Matt asks, stepping closer to the door and blocking my line of sight.
“Yes. No.” The woman’s voice wavers and trembles. “I was in an accident.”
“An accident?” Matt asks. “With another car?”
“No.”
“Are you hurt?” Matt asks.
Rain patters against the storm door as wind blows it across the porch. Did she answer? I couldn’t hear her.
“We should let her in,” Wesley says to Connor, and Cassy stands, joining Matt’s side.
“Are you hurt?” Cassy asks.
“I don’t think so,” the woman says and clears her throat. “If I could just come in?”
I frown and exchange a look with Liz, shivering as a cold draft breezes past me.
Something’s not sitting right with this. She sounds off. Maybe she is hurt.
Liz reaches down, picks up her small Chanel purse, and pulls her cell phone out. Yes. Good. Someone should call the police.
“Are you alone?” Arland asks.
I don’t hear anything, and before anyone can say or do anything else, Matt opens the storm door, and she steps inside. Rain drips off her coat onto the welcome mat as she pulls her hood back, revealing long, shiny dark brown hair, and a smooth complexion with red drops running down her face, a bloody gash across her forehead.
My stomach flexes, and my muscles tense as I imagine the pain she must be in.
“Oh, you’ve been cut there,” Cassy says and takes a step forward, reaching toward it.
The woman frowns and backs up against the storm door.
“I’m sorry.” Cassy lets her hand drop. “I’m a nurse, and I think I should check that out.”
The woman shakes her head. “I’m fine. I just—my phone’s dead. Could I charge the battery? I need to make a call.”
Liz stands and joins Arland’s side with her phone in hand. “I’m calling the police.”
“No,” the woman says. “That’s not necessary.”
“What are you doing all the way out here at this time of night?” Arland asks, wrapping his arm around Liz’s shoulder.
“I was on my way to see someone,” she says, her bottom lip quivering.
The damp air settles into my skin, making me cold. I rub my bare arms, watching the stranger shiver, feeling colder just looking at her.
“I really think I should look at your head,” Cassy says, turning to Liz. “And you should call the police.”
“No,” the woman says. “Please, I don’t want this to be a bigger deal than it already is. I don’t need the paperwork, and I won’t be staying long. I just want to call my friend so they can pick me up.”
“You can use my phone.” Liz holds it out for her.
The woman shakes her head. “I don’t know the number by heart. I just need to use my phone, okay?” Her voice rises at the end.
“Okay,” Liz mutters and stares up at Arland.
Cassy rubs her hands together and then across her bare arms. “Well, you come in out of the cold, and I’ll take a look at your head while your phone charges.”
The woman bites her plump, cherry red bottom lip and nods, shrugging the jacket off her shoulders to reveal a lacy black tight-fitting dress, stopping just above her knees. As she steps forward, she wobbles on her black stilettos, and Matt reaches out for her. She lets him hold her hand as she walks to the table, her face lit by the warm overhead lamp. Her skin glows as her big doe eyes scan the room and she removes her cell phone from her coat pocket.
“Here,” Cassy says, reaching out for it, but the woman yanks it away.
Cassy crosses her arms and turns to Matt, but he’s staring at her, his mouth slightly agape, transfixed on the woman.
All the men in the room are—and so am I.
She walks toward me, taking a white cord from her pocket, and leans past me. I remain still as she plugs the cord into the wall and sits beside me, clutching her phone as she plugs it in. Smells of vanilla and something strong and familiar waft toward me. Black currant?
An expensive perfume.
Cassy sits beside her in what was Matt’s seat and leans in, inspecting her head.
“What happened?” Liz asks. “The accident?”
“The road’s so dark,” the woman says in a hushed tone. “It was just my headlights, guiding the way through the rain, and an animal jumped out onto the road. A deer maybe? I swerved.” Her bottom lip quivers again, and she presses her lips together, turning her attention to Cassy. “Could you give me some space?”
Cassy’s eyebrows rise high, and she holds up her hands, standing and joining Matt’s side again. It’s the first time he takes his eyes off the woman, turning to Cassy as she whispers something to him.
“How far away was this?” Arland asks.
“I’m terrible at judging distance.” She blinks up at him with her big eyes and thick false lashes. “I walked for about twenty minutes. Maybe more?”
He nods. “Okay, how about we go and take a look at your car? Call a tow for it?”
“I could look at it,” Matt says.
He used to work on his father’s car with him, I remember him saying during group, but I know Arland wouldn’t be able to help. He’s never had to fix anything for himself.
“Go out there?” Cassy whispers and shakes her head.
The wind whistles, daring anyone to argue with her.
“It’s kind of you to offer,” the woman says, “but I’d rather stay here until my friend comes.”
“Of course,” Liz says, tucking her thick, dark hair behind her ear. “You should stay where it’s warm and dry.”
“I’m going to go take a look.” Matt grabs his jacket from the rack beside the kitchen door.
“I’ll help,” Wesley says, but he doesn’t get up.
“No, that’s alright, bud. You stay here.”
“Matt,” Cassy hisses, joining him at the door as they whisper to each other.
“What’s your name?” Connor asks.
“Karina,” she says, folding her hands in her lap and crossing her ankles beneath her. She plays with several twisted gold rings on her middle finger, and I catch Liz staring at her too.
Liz looks at me and then away, as if she’s ashamed she was staring. She’s so polite, she doesn’t realize it’s impossible to look away from her. Is it the juxtaposition of the woman’s disheveled hair and bloody forehead with the tight black dress and heels? The way she holds herself, her perfect posture and pout?
I think it’s the energy she brought to the room, like despite what she’s been through, and without knowing anyone here, she belongs just as much as we do. She hasn’t done anything to try to fit in or get along. She’s just herself.
Connor nods. “Well, you should really let Cassy help you out with your forehead. She’s a great nurse.”
Karina blinks three times and turns her head without acknowledging him, and Liz exchanges another look with me.
Liz thinks she’s a bitch. Maybe she’s jealous of the attention she’s getting, but I doubt it. Liz is gorgeous, and she knows it.
I study Karina’s face as she stares down at her phone. Alone on a dark road, late at night, and having an accident. Walking almost half an hour on a dark road through the rain until she came to this house. If all that is true, I might react just as she has. That could have been me, now that I’m alone.
She’s probably frightened, and our big group hasn’t been the most welcoming. I’d want to be comforted.
I stand, then slip between Connor and Wesley’s chairs and the wall before stepping down into the dark sunken living room. I move my purse from the couch to the floor and grab the soft throw blanket off the couch. As I return, Cassy walks toward the counter with her arms crossed. Matt has won the battle.
“Here.” I hold out the blanket to Karina. The light shines in her eyes as she stares up at me, and for a moment, I’m sure she won’t take it.
“Thank you,” she whispers, grabbing the blanket and draping it over her lap while still clutching her cell phone.
I take my seat again as Matt raises his hand to the group. “Be back soon. Taking my cell with me and grabbing a flashlight from the car.”
“Want company?” Connor asks. “Wes and I can come.”
Matt shakes his head. “I’m the only one who knows anything about fixing cars here. You all just keep warm, and I’ll be back before you know it.”
He nods to Cassy, and she nods back before he’s out the door. She shuts it behind him and stares out the window toward the back where we parked our cars. I wonder if he really wants to help Karina, or if he’s just escaping Cassy and her watchful eye for a while.
“Well,” Liz says with a sigh, grabbing her cell phone from the counter, “I’m going to call Odilia and see how Ryan’s doing.”
“How about you do it when we get upstairs?” Arland asks and meets her side.
“It’ll just take a second.” Liz taps the screen. “I’m not ready to go to bed yet.”
He rests his hand over hers and pulls the phone away. “You said you’d wait until the morning.”
“No.” Liz turns to him. “You said that. You said we should wait until tomorrow to see how our son is doing. No, actually, you said we shouldn’t call at all this weekend.”
“Liz, come on. It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s the first time we’re not leaving him with family. It’s a big deal to me.” She extends her hand, palm up, and cocks her head to the side.
“Oh, don’t start that. Don’t do this.”
Cassy turns around and shoots me a look before joining them at the counter and ripping off a piece of paper towel, running it under the tap water.
“Do what?” Liz sneers.
“Make it sound like I don’t care about him as much as you do.”
“Oh boy,” Connor huffs under his breath as he shuffles the cards. He turns to Wesley and shakes his head.
Liz shrugs. I know she’d walk back the suggestion if she hadn’t been drinking and if Arland hadn’t said what he had at the vineyard.
He shakes his head. “I can’t do this right now.”
Liz clenches her jaw, and I catch movement from the corner of my eye as Wesley sits back from the table and averts his eyes, as if giving them privacy, or pretending we can’t hear them. It’s his first time witnessing one of their fights, and it’s not a bad strategy. Cassy employs it as well, wringing out the paper towel and taking the seat on the other side of Karina. She dabs it to her forehead, and Karina doesn’t flinch.
“Right now?” Liz scoffs. “You can’t do anything when it doesn’t suit you and your needs. He’s got more energy than any one person can handle, and you know he should be growing out of his tantrums by now, but he isn’t, and he needs more attention. He needs his father.”
Arland rubs his smooth chin and shakes his head.
“You put it all on me!” Liz turns to him, and I avert my eyes, staring down at the empty shot glass in front of me, wishing it were full.
“Liz, let’s just go upstairs…”
“No. You still haven’t apologized for what you said.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I know it hit a nerve, and I shouldn’t have said it—”
“But you meant it, didn’t you?”
Connor stands and mutters, “I’m going to bed now. Wesley, you going, too?”
Wesley stares up at him but shakes his head.
“Liz, I don’t even remember what exactly I said…”
“You sure, man?” Connor asks Wesley, and he nods.
Arland reaches out for Liz’s arm. “Let’s just go upstairs—”
“You insinuated that I drink too much around Ryan!” She jerks out of his reach and stares up at him with tears in her eyes.
There it is. The root of their issue—today, anyway.
I shrink in my seat. Connor backs out of the room and sneaks away into the dark living room. Lucky. Wesley should have followed his lead while he could.
“Liz, you’re a great mom. You know I appreciate you.”
Liz shakes her head and bites her lip as tears roll down her cheeks. “You said maybe if I wasn’t drinking as much, I could handle his outbursts. No—you said he wouldn’t have those outbursts. That I let things escalate!”
“Chou Chou—” Arland reaches out to her again.
“You have a son?” Karina asks.
We all turn to her.
“Yes,” Liz says, her voice quivering.
“How old?”
“Nine.” Liz’s breath catches in her throat, and she presses her lips together, wiping away her tears as I stand and join her side, wrapping my arm through hers. She squeezes my arm against her side. “He’s our beautiful boy—but he’s not really yours, is he, Arland?”
As we all stare at him, a pit forms in my stomach. Why does this have to come out now, when we’ve been drinking? This can’t be good.
“What does that mean?” Karina whispers.
“He’s adopted.” Liz turns to her. “We couldn’t have a baby of our own, so we got Ryan, and he’s just as much mine as the twins are Cassy’s.”
Cassy nods and stares up at her as I squeeze her arm. Cassy knows Liz is still looking for validation after what she and Arland have been through, so she pipes up, “That’s right.”
“You don’t think I know that?” Arland asks, his thundering voice filling the kitchen once more. A squeak escapes Liz’s lips, and Arland turns away, his hand covering his eyes as he tilts his chin up, facing the ceiling. “I would do anything for our family.”
I wrap Liz up in my arms, and Cassy joins us, wrapping hers around us.
“Anyone can be a mother,” Karina says, her voice so calm and controlled for the first time. We turn to her as she breaks the silence. “A real mother.”
I frown at her and hold my breath. Please don’t make this situation worse, lady.
Arland turns around, and Wesley stares over at her, too.
“All you have to do is love the child. Provide them a safe and nurturing home. Anyone can be a mother, if they choose, but not all mothers actually are.” Karina stares at her with an uncomfortable intensity. “I can tell how much you love your son. Don’t let anyone make you feel like less than a mother.”
A shuddering sigh escapes Liz’s lips, and her once rigid body relaxes against my arm.
