“Jesus.” He ran his hand through his hair, glanced at his watch. It’s six in the morning there.
“She’s all right. Just shook up last night.”
“Thanks for watching out for her.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m glad she called.”
“Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll get someone on these flights for you.”
Glen hung up with Walt and speed-dialed Mary.
It was obvious he woke her up.
“Tell me what happened!”
Mary met Officer Taylor at her office before she saw her first client. He brought someone from the department who dusted for prints. They packaged the water bottle and went ahead and took samples from the doorknob of her office and that of the glass door leading into the building.
She went into detail about the encounter with Jacob and how he’d presented with this instability before her home was vandalized.
Much like with Glen that morning, she second-guessed herself, her reaction, but both men didn’t think she was overreacting at all. They were going to see if any prints matched and bring Jacob Golf in for a little chat.
Once the police left, Mary took a few minutes to clean up the mess they left behind and made the phone call to Glen she’d promised.
“Ten o’clock and all is well,” she teased when he answered.
“You’re not funny.”
“I have to laugh. But all is well. The police just left, I have ten minutes before my first client. Other than the zillion questions that will come from the people in the building I’ll be answering all week, I’m good.”
“It’s good people know something is wrong.”
There was a knock on her door. “My client is early. I have to go.”
“Call when you leave.”
“At four, I know. We already talked about this.”
“Be safe.”
“Good-bye, Glen.”
“Four o’clock.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The prints on the water bottle weren’t the best,” Officer Taylor explained over the phone. “I have forensics checking those we picked up on the door. But I have to tell you, it’s a low priority.”
Mary didn’t like the sound of that. “Why?”
“Honestly, because no one was hurt. Breaking and entering and petty vandalism—”
“There was nothing petty about what happened at my house!”
“I understand that, Miss Kildare, but in the eyes of the law. This isn’t at the top of our list. Yes, we’re invested in solving the case, but forensics is completely bogged down with violent crimes, homicides, and felonies. I’m sure you understand. A family counselor spooked by a man who finds out his wife is having an affair doesn’t compete. Not in our imperfect system.”
This was not the news she wanted to hear twenty-four hours after Jacob left her office.
“Have you brought Mr. Golf in for questioning?”
Office Taylor paused.
His silence answered her question before he uttered a word. “He wasn’t at his place of business today and the estranged wife hasn’t seen him in a week.”
“Great. Just great.”
“I’m sorry I can’t do more. If you’re threatened directly, or something else occurs, notify me.”
“I did that.” And it isn’t helping!
“Miss Kildare, do you own a firearm?”
Yet another question about having a gun. “I didn’t think I needed to.”
He let the question about owning a gun alone, apologized again, and hung up.
Glen was expecting an update. Considering how upset he’d been about learning what had happened via Walt, Mary went ahead and called his cell when she got off the phone with the police.
“Hey!”
“You don’t sound happy,” he said.
“I’m pissed.” She relayed the conversation, which left both of them seething.
“So they’re waiting for blood to do anything.”
“Don’t say it like that!” But Mary knew he was right.
“I’m canceling my London trip.”
Mary stopped pacing her kitchen. “The hell you are!”
“I can’t be on the other side of the ocean with this going on.”
“Glen, no! I told you I’d keep you up to date on what’s happening to make you feel better, not for you to put your life on hold.”
“Well, I don’t feel better. Making sure you’re okay is not putting anything on hold, it’s prioritizing what’s important.”
She toned down the anger in her voice. “Thank you. You’re important to me, too. But you’re going to London.”
“Mary—”
“I’ll buy a gun.” The decision was off the hip and not really what she wanted to do.
Her words were met with silence. “That should make me feel better.”
“Then I won’t buy a gun.”
“No. That makes me feel worse.”
Mary leaned against the counter. “Well, at least you’re open about your feelings.”
“I’m really not happy about all this.”
“I would hope not. I’m the one who is starting to cuss about it almost daily.”
“And you don’t swear.” His voice started to lose its edge.
“Nuns. They had rulers and Mary Frances wasn’t opposed to washing mouths out with soap.”
“And Our Fathers.”
She started to relax. “Don’t forget the Hail Marys . . . but those always felt wrong, considering my name.”
A long, audible sigh met her joke.
“Listen, Glen. I know our geography is not quite perfect. I think we both knew that going in. But for this to work, we need to trust each other on every level.”
“I trust you, Mary. It’s the dirtbag I don’t trust.”
“I don’t trust him either, but I’m not going to let him control my life. I’ll be smart. Have someone walk me to my car after dark, keep an eye over my shoulder. I’ll buy the darn gun and make sure I know how to use it. Maybe I’ll even get one of those stun gun things that Dakota has.”
“And a self-defense class,” he added.
“Probably not a bad idea.”
“I miss you, Mary.” His words were like a hot knife in butter, and they kicked her heart in all the right ways.
“I miss you, too. But you know something?”
“What?”
“Just knowing you’re there, that I can call you and if I really needed you to be here, you’d come—”
“Say the word.”
“It means everything.” She cradled the phone in her hands and imagined his face on the other end doing the same.
“Be safe.”
“I will . . . good-bye, Glen.” She started to hang up.
“No!”
“No, what?”
“Don’t say good-bye.”
She gripped the phone. “Why?”
“Just don’t. Say good night, or talk to you tomorrow. Just stop saying good-bye.”
The sadness in Glen’s voice brought unexpected tears to her eyes. “Why?” She knew there was something behind his lack of saying those words.
A long gap in conversation made her think he wasn’t going to explain.
“My parents said good-bye.”
Mary covered her mouth to keep from gasping. Two solid tears fell from her eyes. “I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Okay. Until then.”
Mary listened as her client, who was attempting to fix her marriage without the support of her husband, told her about her nonexistent sex life.
“Yes, I’ve gained some weight, but three kids will do that.”
“Does your weight make intimacy difficult for you?” Mary asked.
“We’ve always made love with the lights off. Even before kids.”
“What about—” A loud banging on her office door brought her question to an abrupt stop.
“Mary!” A woman yelled. The handle on the door jiggled, but the lock k
ept it from opening.
“Excuse me.” Mary opened the door to find Nina fuming on the other side.
“You told him!”
She should have seen this coming. Mary stepped out of her office, glanced down the empty hall of the office building. “Nina, I’m with another client.”
“I don’t give a shit about your other client. You told him I had an affair.”
With the volume of Nina’s voice, she’d just told the entire building.
“I told him no such thing.”
“He told me he came to you. That you confirmed it.” Nina tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder.
“That isn’t what happened.” Mary hoped that her low voice would prompt the other woman to lower hers.
“You’re lying. And to cover your tracks you’ve called the cops on him. Who the hell do you think you are? Jacob is an asshole, but he doesn’t break into houses and fuck them up.”
“Nina—”
“That’s what the police said happened. Are you going tell me that’s not true, too?”
By now two of the doors down the hall had opened, and more than one head popped out to watch the confrontation.
“We should discuss this in private.”
“I’m done talking to you. I can’t believe you betrayed my trust.” It hurt to hear the words, even though Mary knew they weren’t true.
“I don’t know who I report people like you to, but I’ll find out.” Nina turned on her stiletto heels and stomped out of the building.
That didn’t go well.
Mary tried to smile when she walked back into her office.
“I think I should go.” Her client stood to leave.
“I’m sorry for the interruption. We can continue.”
“I don’t think . . .”
Mary pulled out her appointment book. “I understand. No charge for today. I’ll see you next week.”
“No. I think I’m good. I’ll . . .”
Mary wanted to explain but knew that would just make things worse. “If you change your mind.”
Mary stared at the closed door before burying her face in her hands.
The flowers on her doorstep at home put the smile back on her face. There wasn’t a card, a habit she was noticing about Glen. Maybe there was something to that . . . like him not saying good-bye.
Instead of asking, she sent him a text. I miss you, too.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The cockpit of the Challenger was nothing like the plane Glen had taken Mary up in the previous week. In the copilot seat, Jason kicked back as they cruised at thirty-two thousand feet somewhere over the Atlantic.
The phone in Glen’s pocket buzzed and he took a second to look at Mary’s update.
He expected a time stamp and an all’s well message. Instead he warmed into the words, I miss you, too.
He glanced over to find Jason staring at him.
“What?”
“I’ve seen that look before.”
“What look?”
Jason pointed in his direction. “That one. The one Trent wears whenever Monica texts him.”
“I like the attention, what can I say.” He put his phone back in his pocket.
“It’s more than that.” Jason turned his gaze back to the controls in front of him.
It was more than that.
“Have you ever been in love, Jason?”
He looked out the window as if the sea had the answer. “My inability to give you a name suggests the answer is no.”
Glen closed his eyes and saw Mary’s smile, smelled the shampoo she used on all that hair. He pictured the single drawer in his home with her underwear.
“You love her, don’t you?”
He did . . .
Jesus, he did.
“How did that happen?” he asked to the sky in a whisper.
Jason unbuckled his belt and climbed out of his seat, patting Glen on the shoulder as he left the cockpit. “You could do worse.”
Before his brother disappeared into the cabin, Glen asked, “Do you think Mom would have liked her?”
“Are you kidding? Mom would be decorating a nursery and promising the first grandchild a pony. Not to mention Mary’s tamed you. A task even Mom and Dad couldn’t achieve.”
Glen texted Mary back once Jason left. Thirty-two thousand feet and all is well.
It took a while for the dot, dot, dot to turn into words. Texting while flying is dangerous! Stop it.
I’ll text when I land, call you in the morning.
Looking forward to it.
Yeah . . . Glen had it bad.
Mary walked out of her office at just after three.
Kent had taken the duty of walking her to her car when she worked late, but she didn’t ask him to on early days.
That didn’t stop the man from showing up anyway.
“You don’t have to keep doing this.”
“Someone has to keep an eye on you.”
He walked her across the parking lot with a smile.
“I think I scared him off, or the police did. Everything is quiet here . . . quiet at home. I think the cloud has parted.”
“It’s when you stop watching that bad stuff happens. I work with lawyers, I know this stuff. I’ll just keep this up if it’s all the same to you.”
She unlocked her car. “That’s sweet. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, I just don’t want to keep putting you out.”
“You’re not putting me out, Mary.”
“Okay. I’ll let it go then.”
“See you tomorrow.”
She placed one foot in her car, talked with him over the car door. “I’m not coming in tomorrow.”
Kent’s lips twitched. “Big weekend?”
“Quiet weekend, actually. Glen is in London on business.”
The information seemed to please him.
“You have my number if you need something.”
“I should be fine, but thanks.”
He stepped away from the car when she closed the door.
In the rearview mirror, Kent stood watching her drive away.
“This is getting awkward,” she said to herself.
“Go! We are going to be fine.” Mary sat with Leo in her lap.
Dakota’s cast had come off the week before, and she and Walt were wearing something other than sweatpants and shorts and ready for a couple of hours away from the house.
“It feels strange . . . doesn’t it feel awful?” Dakota tugged on Walt’s arm when she asked the question.
“Two hours, Dakota. Leo and I will survive.” Mary dangled her hair in Leo’s face and watched him smile. “Won’t we? I think we should invite all the neighborhood kids over and get pizza. Isn’t that a great idea?”
“C’mon, Baby Mama. They’re going to be great.” Walt dragged Dakota out of the house.
Mary giggled at Leo. “We finally got rid of them, didn’t we? Silly parents.”
A list of possible reasons Leo was crying sat beside the list of instructions and every possible phone number Mary might need if there was an emergency.
It was comical watching Dakota squirm about leaving.
It was Dakota and Walt’s first date since Leo’s birth, and overdue according to everything Mary had read on the subject.
Mary moved from the couch to a spread out baby blanket on the floor and lay beside Leo, entertained by his smile. Colorful toys surrounded them, some played music, others flashed lights, two did both.
Thirty minutes after Dakota and Walt had left, her phone rang.
She found her phone in her purse and answered it without looking at who was calling. “We’re fine!”
“We? Who are we?” The sound of Glen’s voice made her heart skip.
She sat down next to Leo and continued to dangle a soft toy out of his reach.
“You found me out, Glen. I have another man in my life.” She wiggled her nose at Leo. “Don’t I?” she said in a high-pitched voice.
Glen laughed. “So Dakota fi
nally caved.”
“I thought for sure you were her calling.”
“How is babysitting time?”
“Leo and I are just hanging . . . waiting for the pizza and beer delivery.”
“I don’t think he’s on solid food yet.”
“The pizza’s for me . . . Leo has a hankering for something other than milk.”
“It sounds like you’re having fun.”
“Leo’s a really good listener, and I have lots to talk about.” She had him giggling with a swish of her hair. “How was the flight?”
“Uneventful. I like flying with Jason. We don’t get enough time together.”
“I’d imagine he’s a captive audience in a cockpit,” she said.
“I think that’s part of the appeal for this trip. That and the fact that our London affiliates need to see our faces more than once a year.”
They talked about how often he went to London.
She told him she’d never been.
He told her he’d take her there soon . . . that she’d better update her passport.
To which she let him know she didn’t have one.
And then Leo became a little upset that he wasn’t the center of Mary’s attention.
“I should let you go,” Glen decided.
“I think there is diaper duty in my immediate future.”
“And as awful as that sounds, I still wish I was there with you.”
“Careful what you ask for. Next time you’re changing diapers and I’ll order the pizza.”
“You’re on!”
Leo offered a louder protest. “I’m being summoned.”
“Go. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
He hung up without saying good-bye.
Mary couldn’t be happier.
She set her phone to the side and picked Leo up. “Just you and me, bud.”
He kept lifting his head from her shoulder as she walked up the stairs to the nursery to change his diaper.
Her first time at the plate, and Leo was good to her.
She sat in the glider with him on her shoulder after the task and rocked his sleepy eyes to rest.
Mary let him sleep on her for quite some time. The rise and fall of his little chest put a flutter in her belly she never thought she’d have. She couldn’t help but wonder if her own mother had ever held her, ever thought about the tiny heart with its rapid beat inside her chest. Did her own father wish to change her diaper instead of being away on business?
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