by C. J. Thomas
“So, her again?” He walked beside me into the entry area.
The glass space typically gave the room such an open feeling, but right now, all I wanted was to take one of the waiting chairs and make a new door. I owned the building, so what did it matter? Not a good idea unless I wanted to replace Randy and the rest of the staff, along with the window.
“Call the car service for me,” I said to Randy.
“Oh, so you do remember the car service?” With his hand on the phone receiver, he said to me, “You know, a true gentleman would have taken the cab himself and given the car to the lady.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” And I would.
It was a good idea for Tessa.
CHAPTER 9
Liam
A few hours later, I sat back in my chair after finishing two photo shoots and the edits from another three. It had been one of the most productive days in the last month. I was able to get Paisley and the immigration issues off my mind for the whole morning.
But not Tessa.
I had wanted to give her the typical buffer time after the first date before texting her, and decided a day was long enough. My days could be numbered in this country so I might as well make the most of them.
It had been a few hours since I messaged her when I glanced at my phone again. Three missed calls from vendors but no texts.
I wondered what Tessa was doing right then. If she had been to my place last night, I wouldn’t have gotten a single thing done today because we’d still be in bed together.
I still didn’t understand why she had decided to not go back to my place on Saturday. If she’d had half the fun I had, there was no way she didn’t want to.
But if that was the case, why had she pulled away? Had she somehow read that marriage—in order to stay in the country—was on my brain? Didn’t she get that the subject wasn’t something I thought about all the time. Really, it was only my immigration status that had even put it there. I knew it wasn’t exactly the best circumstances to be considering the ultimate in a long-term relationship, but what choice did I have?
Of course, it wasn’t like she could read my mind. Then it would really be too good to be true. So, then, what was it?
I double-checked the message I sent Tessa.
Hope your first day is going well.
Maybe she would have gotten back to me if I’d asked a question. I clicked through my calendar to check when Sadie was scheduled next. Wednesday. I’d have to suck it up and wait until then to find out if Tessa had as good a time as I did.
And, seriously, only women thought things through this much. I had to get this immigration stuff figured out before it drove me nuts.
Or turned me into a woman, apparently.
I chuckled at that one and got back to work, doing my best to push Tessa to the back of my mind.
CHAPTER 10
Tessa
“What? What did you just say?” I asked. The phone felt foreign against my cheek, as cold and unnatural as the words my sister just said. Words I must have misunderstood.
“Mom and Dad are dead,” Dani cried, her voice strained as though she’d used every bit of strength she had to push the words out.
There was a long silence. I didn’t know if she was waiting for me to respond or if my head just refused to wrap itself around this new reality.
“Tessa, are you there?”
I had to laugh because this had to be some sick joke. Except Dani wasn’t the type to hurt others for fun. The phone started shaking in my hand.
“Here.” It was all I could say at the moment. Though the waiting room was large even for corporate standards, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and open floor plan, at that moment, it felt no bigger than my mother’s seasonal closet.
The walls had closed in and my world started to spin.
When Dani and I were young, no more than six and ten-years-old, we always had two hours to kill between piano and Latin lessons. Growing up in one of the largest homes in Greenwich made for some choice games of hide-and-seek. My sister took to the game like a pro and she always found the best spots. Some of which I never discovered. She found me every time, until I hid in Mom’s closet. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of hiding there sooner. Dani had a bizarre aversion to nutcrackers, and Mom had an extensive collection. For most of the year, they were lined up in rows along the back wall, tucked away where no one could see them, and I would sit there, surrounded by stacks of boxes. The room always smelled of dust and mothballs. Hell, except for anyone with claustrophobia, it was the perfect spot to hide.
Right now, all I wanted was to go right back to that closet where I’d never been found. Where horrible news didn’t exist. Where Mom and Dad were still alive. I shifted in my chair.
“Carbon monoxide poisoning. They’re gone.”
I was about to ask if it had been painful for them, but I started putting the pieces together. They wouldn’t have felt a thing. We had a great aunt who had died in her sleep a few years back, but that wasn’t what was supposed to happen to middle-age people.
Especially not to Mom and Dad. They were supposed to live long and happy lives. I was supposed to be starting my career working alongside Dad.
“Are you okay?” Something about her story didn’t click. “How did you—”
My brain and mouth weren’t exactly working together at the moment, but my sister knew me and what I was trying to ask.
Dani sighed on the other end, and after a moment, she finally said, “I wasn’t there.”
From behind the desk, Betsy frowned at me, probably unable to hear my side of the conversation, thanks to the fountain. It was perfect to get work done but not to learn office gossip. Eyes wide, she leaned over her desk, obviously wanting to know what was happening.
I felt my legs working on their own, standing me up, wanting to kick something, wanting some privacy. I walked to the other end of the room and looked out to the city. The first drops of rain streamed down the windows, distorting the view of the buildings. Umbrellas began to sprout all down the block in response. Cause and effect. Everyone went about their lives like nothing horrible just happened. And for them, nothing had, but it felt like my world just ended with this phone call.
My scattered thoughts began to focus, as if my subconscious latched on to my accounting background to help keep my thoughts in order. “Where exactly were you last night?” I asked.
“Why does that even matter?”
She was right. “That’s not the point. How could you not be there for them?”
“If I had been there, I’d be dead, too.” There was a long pause before she said, “I was at Jason’s.”
“God, Dani.” I was about to give her hell for staying at her boyfriend’s all night. She was only eighteen. But I wasn’t her mother. Either way, we were all each other had now. “I’m coming home.”
The moment I hung up the phone, my thoughts scattered again, like the rain splashing on the pavement below. I couldn’t quite focus on Betsy as she came over to me. Her clickety-clack heels were about the only thing getting through to my brain at the moment, and not in a good way.
The moment she shuffled beside me she said, “Honey, breathe. Tell me what happened. Was there an accident? I told your father to stop having the driver go through—”
I shook my head. There was no way I could get the words out of my mouth. That would make it all too real again. “I’ve got to go.”
“You just got here.” She led me away from the window. “Why are you so upset, honey?”
In my head, I imagined Betsy gasping at the news. Maybe she would crumple into a ball or wrap her arms around me. We would sit there for a long time, with the fountain keeping the outside world from us. Her poofy hair would flatten on one side from pressing her head against mine. I could almost see her midnight-blue mascara streaming down her cheeks, giving her a look to rival The Joker’s. Maybe she’d ask something like, Is there anything I can do for you? because that was what I wante
d her to say.
Though I wouldn’t have an answer for her.
I looked at Betsy. Her eyes pleaded with me to tell her what happened. She knew it was something bad, but there was no chance in hell I could deliver this news to her.
From outside the room, an annoying, high-pitched grinding of metal on metal broke the silence.
A courier stepped into the waiting room wheeling an overflowing cart of letters. The faulty wheel scraped the side of the frame to the point that it overpowered any relaxation the fountain could ever achieve. The courier took one look at me, slid to a stop, tossed a package onto the desk, and did the fastest about-face I’d ever seen.
I left the room on his heels.
Everything had just been turned upside down, and I didn’t know what was next for me in this game called life.
CHAPTER 11
Tessa
The drive from my father’s office to our family estate in Connecticut felt like the longest hour of my life. Though I traveled to a different state, Greenwich was just on the other side of the New York border.
At the time, I hadn’t thought about calling the car service, but it probably would’ve been faster than hailing the taxi. It was clear the driver probably preferred to stay around New York City, so I dished out a couple hundreds. I didn’t care. I just wanted to get home.
Besides each other, the one thing my sister and I did still have was money.
I could see the flashing lights as we entered the gated community. Until that moment, there was a part of me that had hoped Dani had lost it. That she was going through some serious teenage issues and just needed her big sister there.
Red lights flashed against the white columns of our house and the driver offered me a short, black umbrella. I looked outside and realized that the rain had followed me here. It splashed onto the concrete and gathered into puddles. It fell on the cheeks of the crowd that had gathered on the lawn and in the streets. Curious neighbors, officers, firefighters, and who knows who else. It seemed like more people lingered than there should be in a gated community.
I needed to get out of the cab but my legs refused to move. The driver held the door open, I couldn’t even look at him. I knew that the moment I got out, I’d face a crowd of strangers with pity in their eyes.
Then all of this would be real—Mom and Dad would be gone forever.
“Miss.” The driver stood at my door as the rain beat down on his head. “You do have my umbrella.”
I looked at him for the first time. He was younger than I expected. Early twenties, with skin fairer than mine. His shoulder-length blond hair reminded me of Liam’s, except that the rain had plastered it down his face and neck.
Normally, I’d feel bad for carting the guy all the way out here when he probably had some class he needed to get to. But I couldn’t today, not when I didn’t want others to look at me that way.
The moment I unfolded myself from the car, Sadie came out of nowhere and pulled me into a big hug.
“I thought that was you. God, Tessa, I’m so sorry.” She wore a knee-length raincoat with ruching that hugged her hips in a very European way. The oversized hood kept her long hair from getting drenched. Always prepared, even in a rainstorm. “Tessa?” She cupped my cheeks in her hands. “Are you with me?”
“Sorry.” I shook my head. Some things were coming in clearly and others I couldn’t focus on at all. It was like my mind wasn’t sure what to think about. “My brain just isn’t working right.” I wondered if I had repeated myself, I had no idea what I’d said aloud.
“I completely understand. I’m here for you.”
“How . . . how did you get here before me?”
“We have the same lawyer, remember? I was going over some modeling contracts with him when he got the call.”
“Edward is here?” I craned my neck to see through the crowd but doubted I’d be able to find anyone who barely hit the five-foot mark through the sea of ponchos and umbrellas.
“Of course he is, how else do you think I got here? He tried to leave me in his office but that wasn’t happening.”
Any other time, I would have laughed at the thought of Sadie barricading herself at our stuffed-up lawyer’s door to keep him from leaving the building. I was glad I wasn’t in that car coming up here.
A fireman stepped from my front door and crossed the lawn toward the Browns’ house. It seemed unnatural for someone not to step onto each stone to get to the driveway. Dad had helped Mr. Brown lay them out between our homes years ago. Not that they couldn’t afford someone else to take care of it. Dad had explained that it was good to do something with his hands after working with numbers all day. Every year, he took on a new project just to say he did it himself.
The Browns had come to the neighborhood about a year after my parents married. I couldn’t think of anyone my parents were—had been—closer to. The thought brought me back to the present, and seeing the fireman walk up the neighbors’ steps sent a cold chill down my back.
I nodded in that direction. “Something happen over there, too?”
Sadie shook her head. “Dani’s in there. I told them I’d wait out here for you and—”
Not bothering to hear the rest, I pushed my way through the crowd of wet ponchos. Nearly missing the first step, I went through the Browns’ front door and found everyone crowded in the first room of the house, which was also the last room I would have looked. I’d never seen anyone actually in the guest waiting area before. It was one of those done-up rooms that no one actually sat in.
But there they were, nearly a dozen wet people dripping on the pristine carpet. Mrs. Brown sat on the Victorian love seat, rubbing Dani’s back. She gave me a small smile as I stepped into the room. Sadie stepped beside me. I hadn’t even realized she’d followed me into the house.
“Hey, sis.” I sat on the other side of Dani and draped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m here now.” She turned to me and I wrapped my arms around her.
“I should have been here. Maybe then I would’ve . . .” The rest of her words were muffled against my shoulder.
“Dani, don’t. You were right. Then you’d also be—” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
The firefighter tipped his hat at me. “You must be Tessa. Sorry for your loss.” He gazed out the window to our house as if to prompt whatever he was about to tell us. “We did our air quality check and discovered that the CO detectors had been deactivated.”
I sighed. “I kept telling Mom that they weren’t connected to the smoke detectors.” I squeezed Dani’s shoulder, knowing he needed more of an explanation. I didn’t know how much she’d already said but I’d fill in where I could. The shock hadn’t hit me yet like it had her. “Every time Mom cooked, she set them off.” It was our family ritual. A bizarre tradition that started with a family gathering and ended with smoke billowing out the window. “She didn’t know which detectors were which so Mom always unplugged them all.”
The firefighter opened his mouth like he was about to lecture, but then looked at Dani. He nodded that he understood.
“He must have gotten tired,” Dani said in a raspy, faraway voice.
I frowned, wanting to connect what she was trying to say. “What—”
“Dad must have left the car running after listening to his tapes.” She wiped her nose. “Just left it running all night . . .”
Dad loved his old cassettes and had players installed inside both of his restored Mustangs—another of his pet projects. Mom always said those cars would kill him.
For once, I wished she hadn’t been right.
“I believe they’ve answered all your questions,” Edward said as he shooed the fireman out of the room. I hadn’t even seen the squatty man when I came in, but now he took control of the room in a flash with his booming voice. What he lacked in height he made up for in volume. “You too, officer. The family needs time to grieve.”
I looked over to the corner of the room where a cop folded up his notepad. Heading out, he turn
ed to us sitting on the couch and pulled a card from his pocket. “If any of you think of anything else, please—”
Edward swiped it from the man and practically hoisted him from the room. “I’ll make sure they get what they need.”
CHAPTER 12
Liam
I pushed decline on my cell for the third time today.
Wasn’t that always the way? The person you wanted to call never did and the one you wished would leave you alone didn’t stop buzzing. How many times had Paisley called this week already? Five? Six? I’d turn the damn thing off if I wasn’t waiting for calls from ICE and Tessa.
I checked the clock on my computer—because I really didn’t want to look at my phone again. Six o’clock couldn’t happen fast enough today. Sadie was scheduled to model and I kept asking myself why the hell I hadn’t scheduled her for a morning shoot. I wanted to thank her for introducing me to Tessa and maybe get some kind of idea why she hadn’t called me back. I kept telling myself that maybe she went by the whole wait-several-days-to-get-back-to-someone-when-you-first-go-out-with-them philosophy.
My dad had always told me that if I liked a girl, go for it. I missed his advice that was anything but stereotypical. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what was generally accepted, but he figured that after making a billion with his communication companies, he could say his peace and make it mean something.
I glanced at the clock again. Sadie never showed up more than ten minutes late to a shoot without calling and it was already fifteen after. I pulled my phone out when I heard a knock at my door.
“I’m here,” Sadie said, then turned and went through the studio door.
I chuckled. If she thought she could get away before I gave her hell for her tardiness, she had another thing coming.
Sadie had always been one of my favorites. She was fun and didn’t try to complicate things by hitting on me. When she mentioned that she had a friend who I might be interested in, I figured what the hell, even after the disastrous last time a model tried to hook me up with one of her friends. She had promised that the girl was gorgeous. Problem was, her qualities stopped there. The longest conversation I had the whole evening was with the valet to pick up my car and get out of there.