She carried in the empty cardboard boxes she’d asked for on her break at work. The stench of urine seemed stronger in the apartment building’s stairwell today. Maybe because she no longer had to be here, to make do. She’d already packed a few boxes that morning, mostly Nate’s toys. He was so excited to get to Brette’s house. Of course, now Makay didn’t know what was going to happen. If Harrison went to the police, she’d have to grab Nate and run. But to where?
Pushing past the tears stinging her eyes, she began throwing all the clothes from the dresser into a box. The clothes in the closet she’d take on their hangers. In another box, she put bathroom items, towels, and their extra set of sheets. Canned food piled in another one. She hesitated as she spied the can of diced tomatoes Harrison had tossed at her feet that night at the dance club. He’d probably be throwing his away now. She slipped it into her backpack.
Brette had said she didn’t need kitchenware or furniture, so Makay could return for those things later if she didn’t end up fleeing the state. Ted from next door would certainly lend her his truck, and Lily and Tessa would ask their husbands to help her move the big stuff.
She took the boxes outside, filling up every single spot in the car, except for a small place in the back where Nate would sit, with Snoop on the floor at his feet. She’d packed enough of their things for now. She’d just need to give her key to Janice, who had agreed last night to take care of selling items from her stock, but only in case of emergencies. For regular sales, Makay would return to the apartment a couple times a week, bringing, of course, new inventory.
If she ever went back.
Fear assailed her. What if Harrison got Nate taken away? Easy, she told herself. You can do this. She forced herself back into the building.
“Hello, dear,” Janice said, opening the door with uncharacteristic flare. “Did you hear the news?”
A little tremor ran through her. Had Harrison come here with his accusations? But no, he wouldn’t. Then again, how well did she know him after so few days? A pit formed in her stomach because she felt as if she did know him. That was part of the problem. She’d felt a part of him. She should have known better than to trust someone. “I haven’t heard anything.”
“It’s Sally.” Janice looked up and down the hall. “She passed away.”
“Oh, no.” An image of the pale, elderly woman with the thick glasses and hunched shoulders came to Makay’s mind. “Not Sally.”
Janice gave a sharp nod. “The police came and everything. Apparently, she’d already been gone a day or two. She missed an appointment at her doctor’s yesterday and that’s how they figured it out.”
“Poor Sally.” Makay hoped she hadn’t been in pain or afraid.
“Anyway, guess who actually showed up? Her son.”
“The deadbeat? I’d begun to wonder if she really had a son.”
“Yep, he came about an hour after the police did, demanding to get in her place, but the manager didn’t let him because he’d had a call from her lawyer.”
“Sally had a lawyer?”
“Yep. And boy, was her son angry. There must be something of value in there for him to get so upset.”
“Maybe he’s just sad about his Mom.”
Janice snorted. “If he cared a fig about Sally, he’d have come to visit.” She shook her head. “I hope there’s nothing for him, the ungrateful brat. Sally was the cheapest person I know, but she was my friend and I loved her. That boy broke her all to pieces. We were her family, not him.”
Guilt assailed Makay. “I could have been better to her.”
“Nonsense. I’ve seen that notebook you have with all the stuff Sally owed you. You were a good neighbor to her. You’ve been a good neighbor to all of us.”
You don’t know the truth about me. “Thanks,” Makay managed, handing Janice her keys. “You’ll call and let me know about the funeral, won’t you?”
Janice’s spotted hands closed over hers. “You go for it, Makay. Go for the new place, that fine-looking man, and everything else. Life is too short, but no one realizes that until it’s almost over.”
Makay nodded, her chest feeling so tight it was a wonder she could breathe. “I’ll see you around. Take care of Ted.”
“Oh, I always do. He may chase those other women in the building for food, but it’s me he always comes back to for real conversation.”
Makay found herself in the Sebring still with a little time to kill before she needed to pick up Nate. What was she going to do? If Harrison got the police involved, they’d be able to track her at work and through Nate’s school. But would he do it? His mother had been willing to pay money to sweep her mistake under the rug.
She held her hands to her face, pushing as though it would hold in all the pain. I asked for it, she thought. I could have told him, but instead I chickened out. Her actions might have deprived Nate from the only shot he’d ever get at having an uncle.
“Drive,” she told herself. She needed to stop at the store and use those last coupons for canned fruit. Or would she need it now that Sally wasn’t around?
The hardest thing was the first step out of the car, and after that habit took over as she filled her shopping cart and sorted coupons. She made it to the school with five minutes to spare. When Nate reached the car, she jumped out to greet him.
“Are we going to the house?” Nate’s hug penetrated the numbness inside her chest.
“Yes. Well, we do have to stop back at the apartment and get Snoop, but everything else is loaded and ready to go.”
“Aw. Why didn’t you bring Snoop already?” His lips curved in a pout.
She fake-punched him in the arm. “Stop that. I had to go to the store.”
“Did you get more peaches? Because you know Sally is going to want them.”
“I got peaches.” Later she would tell him about Sally but not now. Not tonight.
“Is Harrison coming to help?” Nate pulled the car door open. “He told me he would if we wanted—and I want him to.”
“Well, we don’t need help for this load. Come on. Snoop’s waiting.”
Nate eyed their piled belongings. “It looks like you got everything. Can we open the top?”
“Not unless you want your socks and underwear dancing all over the freeway.”
He giggled. “Oh.”
When she and Nate went in with his key to get Snoop, one of their new neighbor’s three dogs was snuffling about in the stairwell, marking his territory. No wonder it smelled worse than ever. The man was obviously too lazy to take the animal outside and was using the building as a stopgap measure.
Snoop growled and barked at the dog as they went outside, but Makay kept a firm hold on his leash. He barely fit in the space they’d left him in the car but didn’t seem upset about the squeeze.
Makay was almost to Brette’s neighborhood when she got the call from Lenny. Reluctantly, she picked up. “Yeah?”
“We have a pickup tomorrow. Out of town. You’ll have to call in sick at work.”
She was quiet a long moment, her brain spinning but not coming to a conclusion. “How far out of town?”
“We’ll be gone overnight.”
“Overnight?” They hadn’t been away overnight since she’d left Lily’s house, though a couple of times they’d gone on a plane and back again the same day.
“You got a problem with that?”
“Just Nate.”
“Deal with it.”
“Don’t I always?”
At least overnight meant the mark wasn’t Harrison’s mother, and the relief she felt pinned her to the seat, even when Nate and Snoop climbed out of the car and ran for the side of the small house, heading for the backyard.
“Well?” Lenny asked. “Do you want me to pick you up or should we meet?”
“I’ll meet you at the usual place.”
“Be there by seven.” The line went dead.
Makay took a long breath, her eyes following Nate as he went up on his tiptoes, reach
ing for the rope that would open the gate. She’d have to put a lock on that so no one could accidentally let the dog out. She’d also have to double-check the yard for possible avenues of escape.
If she even stayed.
She sat there for what seemed like forever, but in reality her decision was already made. If she could get the money from tomorrow’s pickup, and it was enough, she’d come back here, grab what they could and leave the state. It wasn’t fair to Lenny’s target either way, keeping the money or giving it to Lenny, but there was nothing she could do to stop the deal. Nothing that didn’t endanger Nate’s well-being, not as long as Lenny held that file over her head like an axe.
Once she was far away, she could send Harrison everything she knew about Lenny and let him take it from there. He would probably still hate her, but at least he’d have the option of confronting Lenny and that might be enough to protect Harrison’s mother.
His mother.
Makay recalled the faint voice on the phone, the obvious stress. I’m sorry, she thought. She was sorry about so much. Sorry she’d ever started searching for her mother, sorry she’d found the adoption website Lenny hosted for adopted children and birth parents, sorry she’d ever met Harrison. She was especially sorry she’d glimpsed the life Harrison had with his family.
The one thing she wasn’t sorry about was Nate—or for protecting him. She would get him away from Lenny, even if she had to take him to another country. Fleetingly, she thought of confiding in Lily or maybe Tessa, but Lenny was a person she didn’t want in her friends’ lives. They had enough going on with those abused girls. They didn’t need a problem like hers.
Clenching her jaw, Makay forced herself from the car and picked up a box to bring into the house.
Chapter Nineteen
Harrison called his mother’s cell phone as he drove in the general direction of work, not knowing if he should go instead to his mother’s house. The third time he called, she picked up. “Hello, Harrison. How are you?”
“What happened?” he asked. “Tianna called me all worried.”
“It’s so nice of you to call, but you know how your sister is.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sorry if I offended her, but your father and I had lunch plans. I couldn’t talk to her then. I’m famished, and you know your father doesn’t have a long time for lunch. As it is we had to stop by work for him to clear up a problem, but we’re leaving now.”
Harrison heard a jumble of voices in the background, no doubt the employees at the shop. “Mom, don’t change the subject,” he said. “Did it have to do with our problem? The phone call, I mean? Did you receive one? When?”
“I love you, too, dear. We’ll talk later.”
Whatever had happened, his mother was pretending it hadn’t—at least as long as Eli was there. “Okay. Call me if you need me. I have some information for you.” He hesitated, tempted to tell her the blackmail payoff was on Friday, but he couldn’t do that to her over the phone, especially since she was with Eli.
“Goodbye, dear.”
Harrison hung up. Well, whatever had happened with the supposed phone call, his mother was okay for the moment. How could Makay have done this to them? Renewed anger filled him as he steered into the parking lot at work.
By the time he left work, his anger had settled to a cold, hard chunk of regret in his belly. He tried to talk himself into the righteous anger again, but the memory of Makay’s steady gaze and her toneless repetition of his accusing words prevented the fire from igniting. He still couldn’t believe she’d betrayed him, but the evidence on the tape was all too clear. And she hadn’t bothered to defend herself.
His phone buzzed as he walked up the stairs to his apartment, and he glanced at it almost hopefully. But of course it wouldn’t be Makay. Some part of him was honest enough to admit that if it had been her, hearing her voice might just be enough to whip his anger back into a comfortingly indignant rage. Instead, it was Tianna asking if he was home yet and if she could stop by. He told her yes, though he didn’t feel much like having company. He kept wondering where Makay was and what Nate’s second fortune cookie said.
He’d grabbed a cold drink from the fridge and was sitting on his leather sofa when Tianna knocked. “It’s open,” he called.
“You look worse than I feel, and I’ve been puking all day,” she said, pausing in the doorway. “If that job is so tough on you, maybe you should quit.”
“I love my job.”
“I see.” She regarded him for a moment before heading into his kitchen. Harrison heard the fridge open and close. “So,” she said, coming back into the room with a glass of milk, “what happened with mom?”
He eyed the milk curiously before he remembered that she was expecting. “Nothing. When I called, she’d left with Eli. They were going out to lunch. She wouldn’t say anything about a phone call.”
“Why do you call him Eli?” She sat next to him. “He’s the only father you’ve ever known, and you’re his only son.”
He shrugged. “Habit. I called him that before they married. As for me being his son . . . he has Chad now. That’s taken a lot of pressure off.” Harrison raised his can as if in a toast. “Marrying him was one of the best things you ever did for me.”
Tianna laughed. “And for me. Chad’s good for Dad, too. He likes having Chad work at the store with him. They’ll be opening another location soon.” She scooted to the edge of the seat, angling toward him.
Harrison prepared himself for more questions about their mother. He’d never been a very good liar, but he wouldn’t betray her confidence.
Instead, she said, “How’s Makay?”
He blinked, unable to hide his surprise. “Fine. Why do you ask?”
“Because you look like someone crashed your car, stole all your money, and shot your dog. I mean, if you had a dog. You were so happy with Makay on Sunday. What happened?”
“Nothing happened.”
Heaving a sigh, she sat back against the couch. “Whatever. But remember, I was the one who warned you about that witch you were dating in California—the only person who warned you, I might add. And I like Makay. Whatever you did to ruin things, you’d better fix it fast.”
Harrison sat up straight. “Oh yeah? What if it’s her who needs to do the fixing? She lied to me. And before you ask, I’m not sharing the details.”
“I don’t need them,” she said airily. “Did you ask her about it?”
“Yes.” Though the confrontation in the parking lot hadn’t exactly been a discussion.
“And what did she say?”
“She didn’t deny it.”
“Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You did talk to her about it, right? You didn’t do anything stupid like becoming all accusing and angry and hurt.” Tianna waited a moment for him to answer, but when he didn’t, she rushed on. “So you didn’t even ask her about it or find out if it was true.”
“Oh, it’s true.”
“Okay, so maybe it’s true. But if you don’t ask why or find the reason behind it, you can’t really know if she intended to cause you harm.” She put her hand on Harrison’s. “Makay is totally crazy about you. All of us could see that on Friday night and on Sunday. And that little boy—he worships you.”
“Look, I know you’re only trying to help, but the fact is I don’t think this is something she can apologize for or that we can laugh off as a mistake. I know what she did. Any explanation won’t help.”
“Are you sure?” Tianna hesitated a few seconds before adding, “Because talking about things has averted entire wars between nations. Counseling has prevented numerous divorces.”
“That’s when both parties are willing to negotiate.”
“And she’s not? Do you know that for a fact? Not wanting to know Makay’s motives or that she’s willing to offer an explanation kind of sounds like Dad—all-knowing and self-righteous Eli Matthews.” She leaned forward, set her cup on the coffee table, and stood. “Dad
never cares about the other person’s point of view. He’s always right about everything—even when we all know he’s wrong. I’m not sure that’s the role you want to play with Makay. Or is it? It might not help knowing her motives because maybe she is as lousy as your ex, but one thing for sure is that if you don’t try you’ll never know.”
She turned and walked toward the door. “Just for the record, I’m not wrong about Makay. Do you want to wonder the rest of your life if she was the right one you let get away?” She let herself out, closing the door softly behind her.
Harrison felt as if his little sister had punched him in the gut—both by reminding him how right things had been between him and Makay and by pointing out his similarity with Eli. It was a big possibility that nothing Makay could have said to answer his accusation would have made a difference at the time.
Maybe I made a mistake. He didn’t see how the video footage could lie, so Makay and the man were in this together, but there could be more to the story than what he thought he knew. In fact, he remembered how outside the hairdresser’s the rat-faced man had talked about Makay working for him and not the other way around. She hadn’t looked at all happy with the man. Also, now that he thought about it, she had been upset about something on Monday. She might have been looking for an opportunity to talk to him about Lenny and the blackmail.
How much more had Harrison missed in his rush to accuse?
Setting down his drink, he swept up his keys and his phone and headed to his car. He thought about calling Makay first, but that would give her the chance to stop him from coming over. This time I’ll be calm and rational, he thought. I may even apologize for accusing her so quickly. But he would make her tell him the truth.
No one answered at Makay’s apartment and the dog didn’t bark. Harrison walked around the building a few times and then circled the block. Still no Makay. By that time it was almost nine o’clock and dusk was settling over the city. Where could she be? Nate would need to get to bed soon, and from what the boy had said, Makay didn’t often leave him alone. But maybe she had a test to take or to study for. Or maybe she and Nate were on their way home from the library right now. For no reason at all, he recalled the bruises on her wrist. Could she be in trouble? His worry growing, he decided to ring the doorbell of the older woman Makay had been talking to the day before on the first floor.
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