Really??? Like soon???
His dad didn’t respond for a long time. When he finally texted again, it was just a thumbs-up emoji, and then he changed the subject. Everett felt a strange mix of guilt and resentment at that. Had he pushed his dad too quickly? But why shouldn’t he?
Everett was just answering a question about his favorite video games when a watery burble rose from the pipes in the wall. His heart exploded into flutters. His mom had opened the drain. I need to sign off in a sec. Sorry!!! He didn’t want to let go of the connection, and his neck went tight and achy at the thought.
Are you usually online?
He grimaced in frustration. It depends. When Mom’s working I can get on, and I can play online games on the weekends.
Ok listen, I’m laying low but I’ll send messages when I can. I’ll be on the move tomorrow but maybe tomorrow night we can meet up.
Yes!
Stay awesome, LM.
You too!
Tomorrow night. They had a time now, not just a promise and a hope. Everett laughed, then covered his mouth. He didn’t want to log off, but he had to. Still, he took the time to reread the whole conversation so he could think about it later. He didn’t even click on the message waiting from Josephine before he closed the whole window and put the computer to sleep. He was too busy imagining the kind of road trip he might take with his dad someday.
CHAPTER 17
She’d stolen his son. She’d stolen his future.
He knew that the same way he knew everything: he was smarter than other people. He saw through their stupid little lives to the shitty truths that lay beneath. And now Lily walked around like she’d done nothing wrong, playing at being a poor, innocent victim.
Lies. All lies.
He’d lain low for years, hadn’t he? Kept quiet and careful, doing what he was supposed to do like all the helpless sheep that milled around him, and this was what he got in return. Disrespect. Falsehoods. And absolute betrayal.
Walking the perimeter of the storage center in the darkness, he stayed far enough from the fence line to avoid tripping any security lights or cameras, but everything inside the fence glowed under those daylight-bright lamps. It looked like a movie playing just for him.
She felt safe in there behind chain link and razor wire, and yet he could get in anytime. He could sit on her patio all night if he wanted. He’d spent a whole hour there already, just waiting, just watching, the boy’s open window a delicious welcome that had rushed along his nerves over and over.
He liked that. The power of moving in their space in the dark as they slept, totally unaware, totally vulnerable. Tonight Lily emerged from the false safety of the apartment to bring out a bag of trash and check the lock on one of the gates. A light had burned out nearby, and she stopped to look up at it, hands on her hips. He couldn’t see her expression from so far away, but he imagined she looked concerned, worried about that gap in the security when there were a dozen others she would never notice.
The cat arrived to glare at him again, her throat vibrating with a nearly silent growl. The joke was on the cat, though. He’d decided black cats must be good luck instead of bad, because like him they were another shadow sneered at by society. He waved at the cat, then looked back up to find that Lily had retreated inside.
Rage surged through him like a vast, rolling ocean. He picked up a chunk of cement from the ground and threw it hard over the fence, where it hit a building with a sharp clang of metal. The cat shot away into an alley. He threw another rock and another, hoping to lure Lily back out so he could see her face when he aimed one so close it would scare her half to death. He needed her terrified so she’d eventually run to him and give him just what he wanted. His body responded to the idea of her fear and to the sure knowledge that he could punish her for her transgressions. He could rid the world of the burden she brought, pulling everyone else down.
He waited, seething, but she never emerged from her hiding place. She was numbing her brain in front of the TV, maybe, or drinking herself to sleep or swiping through slutty dating apps online, because that was what dumb garbage did with their lives.
He faded back into the night.
Now that he’d calmed down, he could see his outburst had been foolish. Impulsive. His control had slipped already several times this week. But the right moment would come eventually. And he’d be ready.
CHAPTER 18
Lily woke to an email with more bad news, and she was finally starting to feel like she couldn’t escape it.
Hi, Lily! Gretchen again. Please let me know if there’s a good time to meet on Monday. I can be in your area as early as 9.
Gretchen was coming back. Gretchen, who’d just been there for a surprise inspection. There could be only one reason, really. She’d found something.
But what? Lily had been so careful. She’d taken care of this place as if it were her own business. It had to be that goddamn detective stirring up trouble.
On top of that, she had her Federal Taxation final in four days, and she felt like she’d dropped the ball on studying since a tornado of anxiety had invaded her brain.
At least Everett was in a great mood, cuddled into the couch with his blanket, laughing at cartoons. He’d looked so cozy she hadn’t even asked about his chores. He could do them later.
Speaking of chores . . . Lily stripped the sheets from their beds and stuffed them into the washer, then moved on to the office to clean the front door. People really had trouble using the handle without pressing handprints all over the glass, which boggled her mind. She always cleaned it on Sunday morning so she could go a whole day with clear glass since the office was closed.
She was just finishing up the exterior of the door when the gate rolled open and a car began to ease through. She stood and swung around with a vague customer-service smile that widened into something more real when she saw Alex waving.
“Hey, Lily,” he called through his open window. “Come over and say hi if you have time. Help me procrastinate!”
She laughed and waved him on, but honestly she wanted to procrastinate too. She wasn’t quite finished with her normal Sunday tasks, but then again she had all day.
When she went back into the apartment, Everett had moved to the computer, though he still had his comforter wrapped around him as he played a game with his headphones on. He jumped when she tapped him on the shoulder. “Want to drive over to Frostee’s this afternoon? We haven’t gone out for ice cream in a while.”
He glanced at the computer. “Maybe. I’m gonna be online with Mikey later.”
“I could call his mom and ask if he can come over to play.”
“I’m not five, Mom. Don’t be weird.”
She nodded and hoped to God she could comply.
Lily was turning away when he added, “You don’t have to be here all the time. You can go do something on your own.” He shot her a meaningful look, as if he were thinking of her not-quite-a-date explanation for that dinner.
She felt for all the world like a junior high kid trying not to look pitiful in front of the high schoolers, which didn’t make any sense.
“Maybe I will,” she said defensively, but he only nodded and raised his eyebrows in encouragement.
Sheesh.
Goaded into not being a loser, Lily went to the kitchen and filled two of her favorite mugs with coffee before heading outside.
“I brought you a cup of procrastination!” she called as she came around the corner of Alex’s building. He hauled a box out of his SUV and set it on the cement before popping up with a smile. He hadn’t even opened the unit yet, so she hoped she hadn’t too obviously rushed over.
“Coffee? My God, you’re a genius.”
“Just black, hope that’s okay.”
“Anything that hasn’t been sitting in the kitchen of a break room for fourteen hours is absolutely perfect.”