Paranoid(56)

She stared at him a sec, then changed the subject. “How was your weekend with the kids? We all left on bad terms Friday night. I wasn’t happy with either of them. Dylan because of him ditching class and Harper because of . . . you know. The new boy or man or whatever in her life!”

“Dylan’s been fine; if it bothers him that he’s in trouble at school, he doesn’t show it and won’t talk about it. Harper says you blew things all out of proportion, that she was just kissing Xander and that she’s . . . Let me get this straight.” He thought for a second. “Oh, I remember. Same old line I said way back when. Harper claimed that she was almost eighteen and when she turned eighteen she could do whatever she wanted.”

“Like eighteen changes everything. The magic now-I’m-an-adult card.” She smiled. “She’ll find out. But I can’t push back too hard against this boy because it’ll just drive her further into his arms. Ugh.”

“She wants to go to a concert with him in Portland next weekend. Saturday night.”

Rachel let out a sigh. “No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s two hours away, for starters.”

“She’s gone before.”

“But we’ve known the kids, the parents.”

“Lila vouches for him.”

“Since when do you trust Lila’s judgment?”

“Okay, point taken. But Harper’s seventeen. She’ll be eighteen in October.”

“Which she so often reminds us.”

“Off to college.”

“Not until next year,” Rachel said, then skewered him with a glare. “You’re promoting this? I can’t believe it.”

“He might not be so bad. I figure you’ve probably already checked him out online, looked into his social media accounts.”

She ducked that one. “It’s not about bad or good, Cade, you know that. We’ve been over it before. I just don’t want her to make a mistake she can’t unmake.”

“Like you.”

“It was different! I wanted to marry you. I wanted your baby! It just came in the wrong order.”

“Is that so bad?”

She folded her arms and stared at him. “I want my daughter to have more options and it’s not like she’s in love with Xander Vale; they’re just in lust. Hot for each other.” She crossed her arms under her breasts in anger, unaware that she was lifting them. “I just hope they think before they act.”

“Harper’s not an idiot.”

“Neither was I. Except when it came . . . when it came to you.”

He let out a derisive laugh. “Me too. You know, she’s texting all the time and when I ask her about it, she’s always texting ‘a friend’ or she’ll cop to communicating with Lucas, but I’m pretty sure it’s Vale.”

“When has she ever texted Lucas?”

“They were pretty tight as kids,” he reminded her. Back in the days when he and Rachel were still married and Lila and Rachel had been close. Since the divorce, things had changed for all of them.

“And now she’s got a renewed relationship with him.”

“Looks like.”

“Because of Xander Vale.”

“Probably. You remember how it was. When we were in ‘lust’ and hot for each other.”

She actually blushed. “As I said, ‘options.’ Like college. So she can get a bigger view of the world than just from Edgewater, Oregon. It wasn’t the worst thing that happened to me, okay, I’ll admit it. Having Harper and marrying you, ending up with Dylan. I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, not most things anyway.” She looked away, no doubt thinking about his betrayal. And then, as if the conversation had gotten too deep, she waved in the air as if to dismiss her words. “So, look, don’t worry about the door, okay? I’ll deal with it,” she said with more resolve than he’d seen in her in a long while. “I panicked after Ella called, but I’m okay now.” She glanced at the door. “Nothing a can of spray paint can’t cover up until I can paint the whole thing. I was thinking of changing the color anyway.”

“And the security alarm?”

“My . . . our son owes me and he’s got the skills, I think. Maybe even the equipment.”

He withdrew his keys from his pocket. “Any kind of guard dog?” he asked.

“Reno?” She let out a humorless laugh, and the dog, hearing his name, wagged his tail, then circumvented the coffee table to stand next to Rachel and place his head on her lap. She scratched him behind the ears. “Not much of one.”

“Maybe you should upgrade.”

“Yeah, right.” To the dog she said, “Don’t listen to that. He’s just kidding.”

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he checked the screen. A text from the precinct. “The job,” he said to her, standing. “The boss wants me in early.”

“Then you’d better go.”

“You’ll be okay?”

“Never better,” she said, though they both knew it was a lie.

“I can come back, help clean up the door. I’ve painted a few panels in my day.”

“No, I’ve got this,” she said firmly as she stood. “You need to get to work.”