When Darkness Falls(19)
Haley drew in her breath. “Still no suspects?”
“None. But the cops think it was the same guy. So I want you to be especially careful. You need a ride and Devon’s busy or out, call me. I don’t want you walking around or taking the L late at night. Maybe you ought to drive to work. If Devon needs to get to a job, he can borrow my car.”
“Al, we can’t ask you to do that.”
“Sure you can. My car sits here. I don’t take it anywhere until I go home. It’s more important you’re safe.”
Haley blinked to hide the tears burning behind her lids. She’d always tried to see her mother’s constant criticism as a sign of some sort of concern for her, and to some extent she knew it was. And she recognized her father’s early desertion wasn’t about her but about his own issues and his conflicts with her mom. But here was love that needed no strained attempts at interpretation to be felt.
Al put his hand over hers. “This is for both of you. I’ve never seen him so happy as he is with you. Never really seen him happy before at all.”
Haley glanced at the stage where Devon tapped his foot to the music, his whole body swaying. Watching him, her heart expanded. It was hard to get in touch with the thoughts she’d had this afternoon, the sense of dread that whatever he’d done last night, it hadn’t been wandering around smoking. Maybe he’d been crabby in the morning, embarrassed about his lapse back to smoking. She’d never dated a smoker before. It might really be that big a deal.
The musicians took a break half an hour later. Devon kissed her on the forehead and sat with her, but the other guys joined them, so they couldn’t talk.
“I’ll be there in a little while,” Devon told her, when after their second set she said she needed to get some sleep.
But by eleven, when Haley crawled into bed, he still hadn’t come home. It wasn’t unusual. One of the challenges of their marriage so far had been their schedules. He lived a total musician’s life, practicing and taking the occasional job during the day, playing at night and hanging out after until the late hours, while she had to leave for work at eight every day except Wednesdays and Sundays. If her band played a Friday night wedding, she was exhausted Saturday because she had to both stay out late and awaken early.
Haley understood all of that and figured, in the long run, it would keep things interesting. They’d hardly fall into a boring routine. And, if she went back to school at some point, maybe she’d work out a schedule that matched Devon’s a little more. But this one night, as she lay under the sheets and listened to the Metra train roar a couple blocks west, she wished he’d come upstairs and slide into bed next to her.
In the morning, she awoke with Devon beside her. He slept through her alarms and her shower and her drying her hair. She wasn’t too careful about drawers and cabinets banging as she got breakfast, though she didn’t slam anything. It didn’t help. Haley brushed the muffin crumbs off the table and rinsed her coffee cup. Devon probably needed the rest. But wasn’t he eager to see her, at least, even if he didn’t have the same sense of unease she did over their quarrel yesterday? She’d been gone two days, and he’d never asked how her trip was.
? ? ?
“Did the bleeding stop?” Kari asked.
“Pretty much.” Haley pressed a bandage over the cut on her wrist.
Kari swept the glass shards into a pile on the kitchen floor, studying Haley from the corner of her eye. Her friend had circles under her eyes and her jeans looked loose, as if she’d lost weight. And she was nervous. When she’d reached for the glass carafe to make Kari coffee, it had slipped out of her hands and broken all over the hardwood floor. She’d cut herself trying to collect the larger pieces.
Kari emptied the dustpan into the garbage under the sink. At least the kitchen area was small, and built-in cabinets separated it from the dining table, so she didn’t think any of the glass had flown into there. “I think we got all of it. But I wouldn’t walk around barefoot for a while if I were you. Or Devon.”
Haley took the broom and slid it into the narrow space between the refrigerator and the wall. “If you still want coffee we can go to Starbucks.”
“Nah, Diet Coke’s good. Less caffeine anyway.” Kari helped herself and handed a bottled water to Haley. They sat at the dining table. “So how’s married life?”
Haley started to say something, stopped, cleared her throat.
“That good, huh?” Just from talking on the phone, Kari had gotten a feeling things weren’t right, but she’d been hoping she was mistaken.
“Devon’s avoiding me since the fight I told you about. In the last month or so, we’ve barely spoken. We haven’t made love. We’re barely home at the same time.”
If it had been anyone else, Kari would have said Devon was being a typical guy, resisting saying where he’d been to prove his independence. But combined with his episode the night Haley was supposed to move in, this sounded like more. Maybe Devon had pushed so hard to get married because he was trying to convince himself.
“Could be he’s having some trouble adjusting,” she said, wanting to believe that for her friend’s sake. “Didn’t he live alone a long time?”
“Since he was seventeen.” Haley put her water down. “I guess it would be different for him than for me.”