The Passing Storm(55)
Rae felt sick. “Does your Dad make fun of you too?”
“All the time,” Quinn replied with indifference, as if verbal abuse was commonplace in most homes. “Dad says I’m more of a girl than Mom. He’ll ask if he should get me a girlie apron to finish my transformation into a chick. I just keep my mouth shut when he starts in.” A gratifying trace of pride blotted out the fear. “What does he know? Lots of men cook.”
“Including some of the world’s greatest chefs,” Connor added. “Your dad is a dumbbell. No offense.”
Quinn laughed. “None taken.”
Rae finished her tea. “Well, now I understand why Penny was ramped up today. They got back from vacation, and Mik wasn’t happy the French chef had moved out.”
“I’m sorry about my mother.”
“Forget it. I can take care of myself.” It wasn’t entirely true, where Penny was concerned. She resolved to prepare for the next standoff—which seemed inevitable. Switching topics, Rae asked, “Why did it take so long for your dad to notice your absence? They must’ve returned from Atlanta days ago.”
“I’m not sure. Somehow my mom got him believing I was still around.”
Connor grunted. “She’s a dumbbell too. Probably stuffed your bed with pillows. Figured she’d fool your dad forever.”
“Could be.” Quinn gripped the table’s edge, then began drumming his fingers. “Should I move out? You know, because my parents want me back?”
“Hell no.”
Rae cast a warning glance. “Dad—language.” To Quinn she said, “I can’t promise your parents won’t keep demanding you return home. But the choice isn’t theirs to make. Quinn, you’re a legal adult. This is your decision. We’re glad you’re living with us, and we want you to stay.” For emphasis, she paused. Locating the steady, serious tone she’d once used to steer her late daughter in the right direction, she added, “Will you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Trust matters in relationships. That means you don’t hold back or lie. You should’ve told us immediately that your mother—not both of your parents—made you move out. The specifics wouldn’t have mattered to me or my father. We still would’ve offered you a place to stay.” She looked at him closely. “Do you understand? I’m not trying to come down on you. I’m just explaining the rules of the road in the Langdon house.”
Quinn swallowed. “I get it.”
“Good.” She hesitated. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”
Unaccountably, his gaze skittered away. Rae’s heart sank. She was wondering how to press when he caught the error. Quinn pulled his attention back to her.
“We’re good, Rae,” he said too quickly. “We’ve covered everything.”
Nightfall dropped the temperature to near freezing.
Grass crunched beneath Rae’s boots. Swinging the flashlight in a loose arc, she strode past the barn.
The air smelled boggy and damp from winter’s thaw. Small pools of water dotted the pasture, the last remnants from the snowdrifts that had blanketed the acres. A hawk swooped through the approaching night. Its dark wings caught a downdraft as it sped toward the forest.
Slowing her pace, Rae sorted her jumbled thoughts.
She feared she wasn’t finished with Penny and Mik. In one form or another, they’d reappear. They’d continue to badger Quinn, putting at risk the fragile equilibrium she’d brought to his life. They wouldn’t stop there. Mik and Penny were like seventeen-year locusts, once dormant and now deadly. Burrowing up from the past to destroy everything in their path.
They’d devastated the emotional terrain of Rae’s life once before. On a dreadful March night, two months after the White Hurricane had upended her world.
Would they do so again?
Normally Rae wasn’t a fatalist. Yet their reappearance in her life felt preordained. Like an error that destiny insisted she repeat until she’d learned a critical lesson.
Grimly, she halted in the pasture. What is the lesson?
She’d worked hard to bury the past’s mistakes. To seal them over and move on. Even though she’d lost her precious daughter, Rae knew she’d built a good life. She loved her job and cherished her friendship with Yuna. Her father was now getting on in years, but he was thankfully in good health. Having Quinn around had put a spring in Connor’s step.
It had been years since she’d been haunted by thoughts of Quinn’s parents. Bedeviled by the memory, which she’d relived countless times in her unwelcome sleep. The nightmares hadn’t stopped until Lark’s toddler years, when Rae’s job at the Witt Agency went from part-to full-time. The combination of long work hours and motherhood proved an unexpected remedy. Each night she’d fallen into bed exhausted, welcoming the dreamless sleep.
Quinn’s arrival into her life hadn’t stirred those private demons. Hadn’t punched through Rae’s subconscious to start the nightmares once again. Would the encounter with Penny?
I can’t get trapped in the past. I must stay sharp.
A necessity, she decided. The battles with Penny and Mik weren’t over.
Chapter 20
For days, Griffin immersed himself in the monotony of work.