The Promise of Paradise

Chapter Nineteen


Eddie slept better than he had in months—in years, really. At one point he woke, as early morning sunlight slipped through his bedroom window. Outside, the garbage truck dumped buckets of recyclables, shattering glass and clanking tin cans against cement. A car horn beeped. The church downtown struck the hour. He ran a hand across his chest, savoring the heaviness of morning-after satisfaction, though it had never before been so solid, so comforting.

He moved one foot and touched Ash’s warm, sleek skin next to his. She’s here. I didn’t dream it. He turned over with that lazy pleasure of knowing there was nowhere else he needed to be, no work commitments to fulfill, no bad dreams to outrun. Wrapping one arm around her, he pulled her into him, still naked. He curved around her. Her spine melted into him, her breathing deepened, and even in half sleep he felt himself rise against her. Something moved at the bottom of the bed, and after a moment, he felt the brush of kitten fur against his bare shoulder. Tiny settled into the sheets, one paw patting at him, until the cat fell asleep too. Its purr rumbled to a quiet snore.

Eddie closed his eyes. The perfect morning. He wished all of them could be like this.

* * *

“Eddie?”

He swam up from dreams at the sound of her voice.

“Eddie.” This time she nudged him, pressed a warm knee against his side and murmured the word into his ear.

He rolled over and opened one eye. “Morning.”

Ash smiled. Her hair, loose and messy, fell over her forehead. “Good morning yourself.” She glanced toward the living room. “You hear that?”

He shook his head and propped himself up on one elbow. One hand smoothed its way over her hips, rising to soft curves under the sheets.

“It sounded like a knock.”

Eddie shrugged and bent to kiss the tip of her nose. “Didn’t hear anything.” The sheets fell away from them, and he moved his hands across the ridges of her collarbone. Then down. He was ready for round two, no doubt about it. Usually for him, the morning after meant quick trips to the bathroom, fumbling for clothes, awkward joking about breakfast. Not this time. He felt no rush, no wondering, no moment of second thought. With Ash, it felt as though they’d done this a hundred times.

She shifted under his touch, and her eyes closed. Her breath hitched. He leaned in to taste the curve of her breast and stopped. There it was, a polite knocking from about a hundred feet away. Maybe closer. Definitely outside number two Lycian Street.

“Probably a salesman,” he murmured. “Or some kid selling candy.”

Ash laughed beneath him. “You’re not in the mood for Girl Scout cookies this morning?”

“Mmm…no. But I can tell you what I am in the mood for.”

“Hello?” This time a voice accompanied the knocking. A male voice Eddie didn’t recognize.

Ash sat up, and the covers fell from her shoulders. All color drained from her face.

“What’s wrong?”

She didn’t speak. She only raised both hands to her chest and clutched at her skin as if to shut him out. In slow motion she turned in the direction of the voice, and when she looked back at Eddie, something in her eyes had changed.

A pause. Some footsteps. Then the knocking came again, closer this time. Eddie realized that someone— Helen?—had let the stranger inside their foyer, and now he stood directly outside Eddie’s apartment door.

“You know who it is?” He stared at Ash, who was edging her way out of bed.

“Um…” She didn’t answer, just grabbed a T-shirt from the fresh stack in his laundry basket and pulled it over her head. The logo of Frank’s Imports, faded and peeling, landed above her ribs. The fraying edge came down below the swell of her ass. Barely.

The knocking continued. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

Eddie swung his feet over the bed. What the hell was going on?

“Don’t answer it.” Ash hovered by the bedroom door, chewing at a fingernail.

“Why not?” He yanked on a pair of boxer shorts and headed for the living room. “The guy already woke me up.” Irritated, he ran a rough hand across his chin. Damn. He’d been meaning to trim the goatee for a while now. Today, maybe. His hair, too long as well, fell across his eyes.

“Eddie.”

He turned to see Ash still frozen in his doorway. Pain etched a line from her brows to her down-turned mouth. “I’m sorry.” It was all she said, a quiet apology. Yet days later, it would be the only thing Eddie could hear echoing in his skull, the only thing he could remember of the moment before everything changed, the moment before he opened the door and saw Senator Randolph Kirk standing outside.

* * *

“I’m sorry to bother you.”

From the bedroom, Ash heard the voice again. Smooth, kind, polished through years of public service. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pain seizing up inside her. How had he found her? Why had he come?

“You…you’re Senator Kirk, right?”

“Randolph. Please.”

Ash leaned against the wall and entertained the idea of going out Eddie’s back window. She could climb outside, sneak down the block, maybe stall for a couple of hours in the coffee shop. She looked down at herself. Oh, yeah? In what? Eddie’s shirt? The rest of her clothes lay somewhere out in the living room, still tossed on the floor. In plain sight. Oh, God.

“I’m looking for my daughter. Ashton.” Pause. “I understand she may be staying in the neighborhood for the summer, and…”

“Sir, I don’t think I can help you.” Politeness coated Eddie’s words. Ash could have cried. “I don’t know her.”

Go out there. You can’t hide in Eddie’s bedroom forever. You can’t pretend this isn’t happening. But maybe she could. Maybe Eddie would steer her father in a different direction.

“This is her picture,” her father went on. “A few people in the grocery store said they’ve seen her. Said she might be working at a restaurant here in town. And the woman across the street—”

“I don’t think…” Eddie stopped.

In her mind’s eye, Ash saw him study the picture. Saw him do a double take and look closer. Saw the corners of his mouth twitch. Imagined that bile rose in the back of his throat as he looked at an image of the woman he’d just spent the night with, the woman who had lived upstairs, and lied to him, all summer long. She forced herself to walk down the hall.

“You can stop looking,” she said. “I’m here.”

Her father stood in the open doorway, one hand in the pocket of his pressed suit pants, the other absently picking at a buttonhole in his sports coat. He looked the same as always. Poised and confident. Taller than the average man, but not haughty even though he looked down on just about everyone.

“Ashton!” His gaze shifted as she walked into the living room, and she saw him take in the T-shirt she wore and her bare legs beneath it. He looked from her to Eddie and back again. He swallowed, a small motion that anyone else might have missed. But she saw it and knew exactly what it meant. Disappointment. Disapproval.

Then he smiled, and it was true and fatherly, the way she remembered. “It’s good to see you.”

Eddie frowned. “You’re…I don’t…What’s going on here?” He stared at Ash and pushed the picture back at her father. “Why are you here?”

She wasn’t sure who he meant, her or her father. Neither one answered.

“Ash?”

Finally she drew a breath. “Yes. He’s my father,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Eddie shook his head. “I don’t get it. Who are you? What’s your real name?”

“I’ll give you two a minute,” Senator Kirk said, and slipped back into the foyer. The door clicked shut.

Ash wound the edge of Eddie’s T-shirt around her fingers.

“You’re Senator Kirk’s daughter?”

She nodded.

“Are you f*cking kidding? Why didn’t you tell me?” Eddie’s voice turned thick.

“I didn’t know how.”

He took her by the shoulders, squaring her off and forcing her to meet his gaze. “Why the hell not?” He shook his head. “Jesus, what else haven’t you told me? Is it all a lie? Law school? Breaking up with your boyfriend? Every damn thing?”

Her tongue moved inside her mouth, searching for words. He spun away from her. Facing the windows, he laced his hands behind his head. “Just leave, Ash. Or Ashton. Or whatever your name really is.”

“Eddie, please. I'll tell you. I'll explain everything.” Ash sucked in a breath and held it.

But he didn’t say anything, just shook his head again. The muscles in his back drew tight with tension. In silence, she pulled on her shorts and grabbed her shirt and panties from the couch. She couldn’t find her socks and shoes, but she didn’t dare stay. In another minute he’d throw her out himself. As it was, the air, thick with anger and betrayal, nearly pushed her out the door.

“I’ll stop by later,” she said in a low voice. “Maybe we can talk then.” She pulled the door shut before Eddie could answer. She wasn’t sure he would forgive her this time. And she wasn’t sure she would blame him if he didn’t.

* * *

Senator Kirk waited on the front porch, rocking in one of the wicker chairs. Ash closed her eyes and pressed her back into the wall. I can’t do this. I can’t. She opened her eyes again. I have to. She took a deep breath and stepped outside.

“Dad, what are you doing here?”

“This isn’t exactly where I expected to find you.” He didn’t look at her.

I am not apologizing to him. Her cheeks turned hot. I am not going to feel guilty about any of this.

“Your mother called you the other day,” he went on.

“Yes.”

“Told you we were going to the Vineyard next weekend. As a family.”

“And I told her I was working.”

At that, her father stood and turned. “Sweetheart, I know why you’re here.”

You do?

He reached for Ash and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into the top of her head. “I’m sorry for everything I put you through.”

She began to cry.

“I know what you’ve gone through the last few months. I know it’s been hell.”

Her shoulders shook, and the more she tried to stop the tears, the harder they came.

“But please come home. Please. I want to…” He stepped back and swiped a thumb across her cheekbone. “I’m going to make things right. But I need you there. All of you.”

Ash hiccupped. “I don’t know…”

Her father glanced around, taking in the house with its peeling paint, Eddie’s truck parked by the curb, the auto shop logo on her borrowed shirt. “This isn’t what you want. Is it? This isn’t really you.”

How did he know what she wanted? Or who she was? “Maybe it is.”

He tilted his chin a little and smiled. “Come on. That—” He nodded toward Eddie’s front window. “That’s just a distraction. I understand. I know you've been upset about Colin. I won’t tell your mother about it. About any of it. Just come back with me.”

Something inside Ash shifted. A distraction? Not Eddie. You don’t get to take shots at Eddie. Not when he’s the one true thing I’ve found this summer. Maybe the one true thing she'd found in her life. “I can’t.”

“This place has nothing to offer you.”

“You don’t know that.”

Senator Kirk barked out a laugh. “Yes, I do. I’ve been in a hundred of these towns, sweetheart. They seem charming at first. They’re nice to look at. The people are welcoming enough. But there’s nothing here for you. Where the hell would you find a job? You’re brilliant. You need to live in Boston. Or New York. Not someplace so small. So limiting.”

“Limiting?” He would never understand, she thought, and for the first time, she saw the distance in her father’s eyes, the cold sliding scale that measured people and places. She was tired of it, tired of wondering where she fell on that scale. And tired of knowing that no one really measured up.

“You should go,” she said.

His brows rose. “You’re saying no? Just like that?” He paused, rubbing his jaw. “Your mother will be devastated. Colin too.”

The mention of her ex was enough. Ash stepped away from her father, toward the door of her home. “I’m sorry you wasted your time coming here. Tell them whatever you want. But I’m not leaving Paradise.”