River Bodies (Northampton County #1)(23)

Chitter and two other members dragged her outside before returning to the bar and meeting room. Candy raced back in, banged on the door. “Uncle John,” she cried. “How could you?” she wailed. “I loved him. Do you hear me? Uncle John. You bastard!” she shrieked. “I loved him!”

“Get her out of here,” Hap said, and Chitter motioned for one of the guys to take care of it. Candy’s hollering and sobs finally stopped when she was put on a bike and driven away.

John kept his eyes on the table, his hands on the bottle of beer Chitter had put in front of him. Chitter slapped John’s shoulder. “Crazy bitch,” he said.

John took a long swallow, but otherwise, he didn’t move. He stayed in his seat across from Hap. He’d done the right thing. He’d promised Beth he would watch over her niece. He’d done it for the club. He’d done what he’d had to do. And he would do it all over again, he decided, no matter how sick it made him feel inside.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Who’s Parker?” Jackie asked.

“He’s an old friend,” Becca said and turned toward the bed where her father gripped the blanket. His skin was drained of color; pain etched the lines on his face. She stepped forward, wanting to comfort him, then stopped. She didn’t know what to do. She found herself clinging to the familiar, to the angry knots in her heart that she’d pulled tight for so many years, and yet desperately wanting to show him the compassion that was inside of her too.

She reached for his hand.

He pulled his hand from hers with more force than she thought he was capable of in his current condition. “No.” He was angry suddenly. “No.” His voice was scratchy but strangely strong. He flailed his arms. If Becca hadn’t moved away, he might’ve struck her. “What do you know?” he hollered. “Why are you here?”

“Maybe I should just go.” Becca pointed to the door and quickly walked out of the room. She rushed down the stairs with Romy at her side. At the bottom of the steps, she put her back against the wall. Her cell phone, which she’d stuffed into the back pocket of her jeans, buzzed. She pulled it out, read the text message from Matt. How are you? How’s your dad? Can we talk? I’m sorry. I miss you.

Jackie came down the steps after her. She slowed after seeing Becca at the bottom landing, leaning against the wall. She touched Becca’s arm, and it took all Becca had not to move away. She was angry at Jackie for asking her to come back here, for asking her to stay here with her father. Who the hell was she to make such a request? Why had her father summoned her home in the first place?

“It’s the morphine,” Jackie said. “It changes him. His personality. It causes anger and confusion, and you know how your father is. He likes to be in control. And right now he’s not. He doesn’t have control over anything. Not this disease or his body. Try not to take it personally.”

Becca folded her arms, aware of her defensive posture. But she couldn’t help it. If her father wanted her to feel guilty for not being with him sooner, for not coming when she’d first learned he was ill, he could forget it. On the surface she looked like a horrible daughter. But it wasn’t that easy. It was complicated between them, or at least it was complicated for her. The child in her refused to forgive him for what he’d done. If anyone should feel guilty, it should be him for what he’d done to her mother.

“I have to answer this.” She held up her phone and walked into the kitchen. Matt, the condo and its walls, her job at the clinic, all felt so far away and out of reach. She’d been gone for less than a day, but it felt so much longer. She started to type a reply to Matt, to anchor herself in her old life, and stopped. Romy pushed her warm body against Becca’s leg. She bent down, buried her face in Romy’s fur, having turned to animals for comfort ever since that day John had given her that scruffy old barn cat.

Jackie entered the kitchen. “Why don’t you get out of here for a while and pick up a few things for me in town?” She pulled a grocery list from underneath a magnet that was stuck to the side of the refrigerator and handed it to her.

Becca took the list, thankful for the chore to get her out of the house. “Want to go for a ride?” she asked Romy. The dog jumped and pranced around her legs. She grabbed the leash and headed for the door only to stop and turn back around. “How do you do it?” she asked. “How do you stay here with him?”

Jackie gave her a sympathetic smile. “You get used to it. It becomes the new normal,” she said. “Besides, believe it or not, I stay because I love him.”

Becca nodded. She believed it all right. She had never met a woman who didn’t love her father.



The day was cool but not unpleasant. The autumn sun shared its warmth through the Jeep’s windows as Becca drove the few miles to town. She passed mostly woods and the occasional cornfields that were ready for harvest. The woods continued on her right, and the river flowed somewhere to her left. The mountains squeezed in around her, the trees with their brightly colored leaves like a blanket around her shoulders. She wound her way along the back roads. A car full of teenagers blew by, music blaring from the speakers. Romy poked her head out the passenger-side window, tongue hanging out, curious at her new surroundings.

Becca stopped at the stop sign at the edge of town. To her right was the diner. She suddenly craved a vanilla milkshake. She wondered if Gloria was still behind the counter pouring coffee and root beer floats, talking about her youth and days gone by. Gloria had been considered ancient back when Becca had been a teenager, and the thought of someone replacing Gloria behind the counter wasn’t something she’d considered until now. She’d cut herself off from the people here, even the ones she’d cared about, including Parker.