It's One of Us(102)
“Is this why you want him taken down? So he’s out of the picture? Let me tell you, Perry, you needn’t worry about that. Park and I are over. I’m free. My heart is free, I mean. The rest is just paperwork.”
“It’s not that. I can’t live with myself knowing what he’s done.”
He pulls on his jeans and shirt, leaving them both unbuttoned. She feels so far away from him already, though he’s standing five feet away.
“It’s time to call him again, Liv. I have to resolve this in my mind. I’ll leave it up to you if you want to tell him about—” he points to the living room floor, littered with cushions and clothes “—this.”
“This?” She’d be amused if she wasn’t so desperately afraid of what might happen next.
“You know what I mean. Us.” He looks confused and abashed. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Perry?”
He looks back over his shoulder, and her breath catches.
“Is there an us?” she asks.
His smile tells her everything, but the words are good, too.
“If you want there to be.”
“I do. Stay with me while I call?”
44
THE MOTHER
Darby is in the back yard taking hamburgers off the grill when Osley and Moore show up at her door. Scarlett calls for her, yelling that the police are there, and Darby has a terrible premonition that that their lives are about to change forever. Again. Her mind touches briefly on Peyton, who has dropped off the face of the earth, and draws back sharply, as if burned. She will be in therapy for years trying to understand her mixed emotions toward her son. The boy she raised, who has killed. Kidnapped. Raped. A man she no longer knows, who she can never understand, but wants to hold tight to her breast, to carry inside her again. If only she could do it all over, if only she could start fresh.
But it is too late for that.
“Want me to leave?” Park asks. He is tending the small bonfire they’ve pulled together. Hot dogs and burgers on the grill, s’mores for dessert. Not a date. Neither of them want to call it that, but they’d be lying if they didn’t acknowledge they enjoy spending time together. Though how she has gotten herself into this situation, on a definitely-not-a-date in her back yard with a married guy who she’s never slept with but whose sperm twice created life inside her, one of the resulting children the reason the police have arrived, isn’t something she wants to examine closely.
When Olivia took off for the beach, bailing on Park, on her clients, on her whole life, Darby honestly understood the impulse. She almost envied her the escape.
But at the same time, she’s happy Olivia is gone. It’s given Scarlett time to get to know her father and has given Darby a chance to get to know Park as well. To assess for herself whether he could be capable of deceit.
She’s vulnerable right now, she understands this. But she has a bizarre connection to this man, and the more he’s around, the more complicated things have gotten. She’s attracted to him, and she hates herself a bit for this. She, who has never needed anyone, is suddenly happy for a shoulder to cry on.
Park has been around more and more lately, spending almost all his free time at Darby’s and Scarlett’s sides. He hasn’t shied away from the awkwardness of the situation; instead, after Scarlett goes to sleep, he puts his arms around Darby and holds her while she cries. He encourages her to talk openly about the problems of Peyton’s childhood. He reinforces her decision to commit her—their—son. He seems to love their daughter without reservation, delighting in every word, every laugh, every moment quiet and loud.
The romance between father and daughter will end eventually, when Park finally trips up and says the wrong thing, or worse, says no to something Scarlett has her heart set on, but for now, Scarlett is coping better than Darby could have hoped. She’d been planning to get a psychologist involved, but right now, her daughter is doing okay. They agreed she doesn’t have to go back to Bromley, and Darby has filed a notice of intent to homeschool her with the Davidson County school system. Scarlett seems quite content with that option. It makes Darby feel better having her close to home now, anyway.
Interestingly, Park’s been talking about serving Olivia with papers. “We’re broken,” he confessed, late last night, as they sat together in the cool autumn darkness, finishing the bottle of wine. “I think we have been for a long time, and I just didn’t see it until she left. There’s no glue in the world that can put us back together again.”
She doesn’t want him to leave. Now, or ever.
“Please stay,” Darby finally says. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Park nods. “Bring them out here, then. So we can keep an eye on the fire.”
Responsible Park. She knows he won’t let anything bad happen if he can help it.
Moore and Osley both look tired and rumpled, as if they’ve been up for days. They decline the offer of drinks and seats, instead preferring to stand, hands outstretched over the flames. The evening is chilly, the autumnal equinox upon them. Amazing how quickly the weather shifts in only a few weeks when fall is marching toward winter. Things die faster than they grow.
Scarlett joins them, hope mingled with fear on her face.
“Can I stay?” she asks, and before Darby can say yes or no, Osley nods.