Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(66)

“You’re thinking about your mother’s recipe book,” Jonah said.

I glanced up, amazed at how well he knew me. “That’s all I really care about.”

“It isn’t right,” Lorraine said, shaking her head. “The fact that they can do whatever they want and the law turns their back. No organization should be above the law the way they are.”

Jonah looked up, and our eyes caught over the box of photographs from his childhood. Everything was a mess and we both knew it, although Jonah was handling it better than I was. In fact, Jonah was oddly quiet and calm despite the fact he’d just gone against his father and been reunited with his mother.

As he looked at me with eyes that were steady and clear, not at all dazed and gritty like mine were, I tried to hide my yawns. It was only late afternoon but we’d been up all night, and the stress and exhaustion were catching up to me.

“You should rest,” Lorraine said to the both of us as she began gathering up the pictures. After putting the box of photographs away, she said she was going to the store before it closed since tonight was Christmas Eve and she didn’t have enough food in the house for all of us. She also offered to pick us up some clothes and other supplies, since all I had was what I’d run out the door with. It turned out that Jonah kept an emergency bag in his car with an extra phone charger, a change of clothes, and some money stashed in one of the pockets, so he was all set.

Lorraine placed a pillow and blanket on the couch that I’d slept on last time, and handed Jonah a folded inflatable mattress, telling him he could set it up in the office if he wanted.

I mentioned that Theo might stop by on Christmas day as Jonah tried to give her money for groceries, but she wouldn’t take any of it.

Once Lorraine was gone, lack of sleep and the aftermath of the adrenaline that had been pumping through my body left me so wiped out, I could barely keep my head up. Jonah took it upon himself to make up the couch for me and when he finished, I dropped down onto it and watched as he used the pump to inflate the mattress.

“Don’t put it in the office,” I said. “Stay in here with me.”

He stilled for a moment, but said nothing before he set it up on the floor beside the couch.

“Get some rest,” he said as he toed off his shoes and stretched out across the air mattress.

From my place on the couch, I stared down on Jonah. Lorraine had given him a blanket, but he hadn’t pulled it over himself. It lay wrinkled beside him as he stared up at the ceiling. He looked so alone and lost down there.

I got up and without looking at him or saying anything, I sat down beside him. Then I took the blanket and pulled it over the both of us as I lay down next to him.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly. “You’ve been really quiet.”

A smile briefly arched his lips. “I’m usually quiet.”

“Not this quiet.” I hesitated. “Do you think your father’s okay?”

He looked at me, but his expression was unreadable. “I don’t know.” After a pause, he added. “Probably. He’s a force of nature.”

I swallowed, thinking he was right. “Are you happy to see your mother?”

After a thoughtful moment, he nodded.

“Are you still angry with her about this?” I lightly touched his scar.

Jonah’s chest rose and he released a heavy sigh. “It’s not easy to change your thinking when you’ve believed something for a long time. Every time I looked in the mirror, I wondered where she went and how she could just walk away from us. I thought it was my fault because I was too ugly for her to stay.”

“What?” I put my hand on his chest. “You don’t really think that, do you?”

“She couldn’t even look at me anymore, and then she was gone. What was I supposed to think?”

“She was ashamed of herself, not you. After what happened, she thought you’d be better off without her.”

He grunted in disbelief.

“You don’t really think you’re ugly, do you? Is it somehow possible that you haven’t noticed girls falling all over themselves in school to get your attention?”

He smirked in that arrogant way I hadn’t seen in so long. My chest felt lighter, but the fact that he wasn’t as self-confident as he seemed endeared him to me even more.

“You understood it was an accident, didn’t you?”

His smile faded. “I knew she didn’t cut me on purpose, but I also thought she was angry at me. My father was starting to bring me into the organization, and she wasn’t happy about it. They fought a lot, but I had no idea he was hitting her. How could I not know that?”

“Neither of them wanted you to know.”

“I just don’t understand. I never saw him touch her.”

“You believe her, don’t you?”

Jonah’s gaze went to the bruises on my neck as he took my hand. “Of course I believe her. I just wish she’d told me. I could’ve helped her. She didn’t have to leave.”

“She thought she was protecting you. Your father was good at manipulating you both. He’s still good at it.”

He squeezed my hand. “Not anymore.”

“What if he’s okay and he says he forgives you? What would you do?”

His lips pressed together. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t forgive him.”