Never Let You Go(42)

“Too bad for you I don’t have any insurance money.”

She laughs and takes a bite of her pizza, then leans back into the couch, pulling one of the pillows down under her shoulder. We both have our legs propped onto the coffee table. This would have been another unforgivable sin in Andrew’s eyes and I almost yank them away, can hear his voice in my mind. Only men sit like that, Lindsey. I force myself to hold still.

“There’s something we need to talk about.” I pick up the remote and turn down the volume. I can’t wait any longer, can feel the words clawing to get out.

“What’s going on?” Her eyes are wide, her mouth full of pizza. “Am I in trouble for something?”

“Should you be?”

“Of course not. I’m an angel.”

“Right. Well, your halo is a little tarnished.” Sophie is a good kid, but she’s done the normal stuff, sneaking booze, missing her curfew.

She reaches up, pretends to straighten an imaginary halo, then stops and gives me a look. “Wait. You’re not pregnant, are you?”

“No, no.” I’m taking too long to explain. I have to spit this out before she leaps to any other conclusions. “Your father was in our house yesterday.”

Her body jerks forward as if I bad hit her. “What are you talking about?”

“When I came home, I noticed some e-mails were opened on my computer.” I hesitate about telling her everything I found. I don’t want to scare her too much.

“So you don’t know if it was actually him. It could have been a computer glitch.” She looks relieved, and I realize I made a mistake by holding back.

“I’m sorry, Sophie, it was definitely him. He opened all my bills and put a book beside my bathtub with some candles. There was no sign of a break-in, though.”

I see the look in her yes, the realization. “I forgot to set the alarm!”

I nod. “It’s okay. I know it was an accident—but you have to be more careful. This morning I talked to the police and applied for a peace bond—it’s like a restraining order. Andrew could fight it, but if it’s approved, he can’t come near me or he’ll get sent back to jail.”

She’s staring at me, two red splotches on her cheeks. “What do you think he wants?”

“I’m not sure, but he read an e-mail from Greg.… It was personal.” I’d called Jenny from my cell while I waited for the pizza and told her Andrew had been in my house. She invited me to Vancouver again, but I can’t walk away from everything yet. Not when Sophie is so close to graduation and I’ve finally built my business up to a level where I’m not running in the red every month. This time of year is when I get extra bookings. I need that money to carry us through.

Sophie’s staring up at the TV, the glow casting a blue light on her skin. She swallows a few times and I know she’s trying not to cry.

“I saw him outside the bank a few days ago,” I say. “I was careful, but he must’ve followed me home and that’s how he found out where we live.” I think again about what he’d said. I know you drugged me. For weeks after the accident, I’d waited to see if the police had done any sort of blood tests. When nothing ever happened, I assumed I was safe. Would he tell them now? Could I get in trouble? I remind myself that it’s been over ten years and he can’t prove anything.

She turns and looks at me. “You didn’t tell me you saw him!”

“I didn’t want to scare you.”

“You should have told me.” She’s saying it almost desperately—and she sounds defensive, which doesn’t make sense. I’m clearly missing something.

“Sophie, what’s going on?”

She rubs at her face, presses the heels of her hands into her eyes, and sucks in a ragged breath. “You’re going to hate me.”

She’s looking at me now, her eyes pleading with me to understand, to say the words she can’t, but I don’t understand. And then I do.

“You’ve talked to him. You’ve talked to him and didn’t tell me.”

Now she’s crying, her face wet and her voice broken as she chokes out, “I didn’t tell him where we live. I never told him!”

“Jesus Christ, Sophie.” I’m up, pacing the room. “How could you do this?”

“He’s my dad. I have a right to talk to him!”

“You know. You know what he put us through.”

“He’s changed.”

“He was in our house. He’s the same manipulative controlling son of a bitch as ever and now he’s using you to get to me. What did you tell him? You must have said something, for him to find out we lived in Dogwood Bay. Did you tell him about me and Greg?”

“He was saying how he misses you, and I told him so he could move on.” She’s talking so fast I can barely understand her, but I get enough to know that I’m screwed. Truly screwed. This isn’t just a stage-one disaster. This has gone into a nuclear meltdown too-late-to-run explosion.

“Your father doesn’t move on, Sophie, and he sure as hell won’t ever let me move on.” I know I’m shouting, can see the stunned look on Sophie’s face, but I can’t believe she’s betrayed me like this. “I told you that your father was insanely jealous.”