Life Rewritten

by Margaret Watson

  But as he stared at the computer screen, he saw only Delaney.

  It was almost a half hour before he heard Leo and Rennie on the front porch. He hurried to open the door, Fluffy at his heels.

  “Hey, guys,” he said as they walked in. “How was the party?”

  Rennie held a slightly tattered looking pink bag, and clutched Leo’s hand. “I got candy,” she said, holding up the sack. But her mouth quivered.

  Sam squatted in front of them. “What’s wrong, Rennie?”

  “There was a clown.” Leo set his blue bag on the bookshelf and took off his sister’s jacket.

  “A clown?” Sam peered at Rennie. Tears were welling in her eyes. Fluffy nudged her hand, but Rennie hardly noticed.

  “She’s scared of clowns,” Leo said in a low voice.

  Scared of clowns? Sam looked at Rennie, who nodded and threw her arms around his neck. She squeezed tightly, and he felt her shaking. She was crying.

  Without thinking, he stood up and held her close. “It’s okay, Rennie.”

  She sobbed more loudly and burrowed into his shoulder. He patted her back awkwardly.

  Leo rolled his eyes and held out his arms, offering to take her. This was what Delaney had been talking about, Sam realized. Rennie needed someone to hold her.

  Rennie needed him.

  He shook his head slightly and walked backward until his legs hit the couch, then he sat down. Rennie sniffled into his shoulder.

  What was he supposed to do? He knew how to tell stories, not comfort frightened children.

  “I know a story,” he heard himself say, his voice tinged with desperation. “About a little girl and boy and a bad clown. Do you want to hear it?”

  Rennie lifted a tearstained face from his shoulder. “Do they kill the bad clown?”

  “You’re awfully bloodthirsty, aren’t you?” He grabbed a tissue from the box on the end table and wiped her runny nose. “They don’t kill him. They make him into a good clown.”

  Was that the right answer? Should he have said they killed the clown? He studied Rennie’s face, watching for a reaction.

  Finally she nodded. “Where did they live?”

  He tried to set her on the couch next to him, but she clutched his sweater in her small fist, so he let her stay. “They lived in a little town called Otter Tail. The clown thought Otter Tail was a stupid name for a town. He made fun of it all the time.”

  Leo leaned against the bookcase, watching them. “You want to sit here with us, Leo?” Sam asked.

  “Whatever,” he said. When Sam slid over, Leo dropped onto the couch and crossed his arms. He eyed Sam warily, as if wondering what he was up to.

  “The boy was afraid of clowns,” Sam said.

  Rennie gave her brother a superior look, and he stuck out his tongue at her. But she wasn’t crying anymore.

  “What’s the boy’s name?” Rennie demanded.

  “Joe,” Sam said. “The girl’s name is Jenny. They have a dog named Buster.”

  By the time he finished the story, Joe and Jenny and Buster had saved the bad clown from drowning because he couldn’t swim. His clown outfit had disappeared, and he wore a pair of jeans and a sweater. “And the clown went to live with Joe and Jenny, and they all lived happily ever after.”

  “That’s a good story, Uncle Sam.” Rennie bounced on his lap, apparently recovered. “Tell us another story about them.”

  “Why don’t you tell me about the party?”

  “Mike liked our present,” she said.

  “Yeah?” Rennie had made a card, and Sam put some money into it. He’d had no idea what else to do.

  He glanced at Leo, who shrugged. “He said he wanted this new video game.”

  As Rennie chattered about cake and punch and ice cream and games, Sam got the impression that the party had been filled with chaos and noise. And sugar. Lots of sugar.

  “Do you guys want some lunch?” Sam asked.

  “We had pizza.” Leo rolled his eyes again. “Cheesy Pete’s is a pizza place.”

  Rennie stilled. “I don’t feel good, Uncle Sam,” she said. Her face was ashen.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “My tummy hurts.”

  Oh, God. What did he do now? “Do you want a glass of water?”

  She gagged once, and he scooped her up and raced into the bathroom just in time.

  THAT EVENING, when he was sure Leo and Rennie were asleep, Sam opened his laptop and collapsed onto an uncomfortable kitchen chair. How did people with kids do it? It felt as if he’d been running from one fire to the next all day. Just as he put one out, another flared.

  Maybe he was stuck in Otter Tail for a while, but at least it was temporary. Eventually, they’d all go back to Miami and he could enroll Leo and Rennie in the boarding school. He’d have his life back.But did he want his old life back? Did he want to be alone in that quiet house, where the only sounds were the birds calling in the distance and the clicking of his keyboard as he typed?

  There wasn’t a lot of color in that life.

  Since he’d come to Otter Tail, he’d been surrounded by color. Delaney. Leo. Rennie.

  Was he capable of being the person Leo and Rennie needed? Delaney seemed to think so. But she didn’t really know him.

  What if he screwed up, the way he had with Diesel?

  What would that do to Leo and Rennie?

  He remembered the way Rennie had clung to him that afternoon.

  And Leo had acted all tough and indifferent.

  What if he failed them?

  The phone in his pocket rang, and he pulled it out. Maybe it was Delaney, calling to see how his day had gone.

  It was a Miami area code. He didn’t recognize the number, but his heart started a slow, heavy beat. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Sam, it’s Heather.”

  “Heather.” His hand tightened on the phone. “This is a surprise. How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing good. I got phone privileges today. Can I talk to my babies?”

  “They’re asleep, Heather. It’s almost nine o’clock.”

  “Asleep?” She sounded confused. “What did you do to them? They never go to bed before midnight.” Even he knew kids should go to bed earlier than that. “They were busy today. Tell me how rehab is going.”

  “It’s good. They told me I might get out in a few weeks. I can’t wait to see Leo and Rennie. Does my little man miss me?”

  Leo wasn’t a little man. He was a child. Sam shoved away from the table and made sure the kids’ bedroom doors were closed. “Of course he misses his mom. Rennie does, too.”

  “I can have visitors now. Maybe you could bring them to see me.”

  Thank God he didn’t have to make that decision. “We’re not in Miami. We’re in Wisconsin. Remember I told you I was looking for Chantal and some demos she had?”

  “Chantal?” Heather’s voice rose. “You’re with Chantal?”

  “I’ve talked to her. I’m trying to convince her to release those demos.”

  “Keep Leo and Rennie away from her.” Her voice held an edge of hysteria. “She stole Diesel from me. She’s not going to steal my kids.”

  “Calm down, Heather. No one’s stealing your kids.” Delaney had said she wanted to get to know Leo and Rennie. That wasn’t stealing. But he probably shouldn’t tell that to Heather. He tried to make his tone reassuring. “All I want from Chantal are the demos.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

  “Really?” There was a beat of silence. “When you get the demos, you’re coming back to Miami, right?” She sounded like the old Heather. Calculating.

  “That’s the plan.” Could he turn Leo and Rennie over to their mother again? Would Heather be capable of raising her children after she got out of the hospital?

  He wouldn’t have to make that choice. They’d be in boarding school. Safe.

  “So you’ll be back here with Leo and Rennie by the time I get out of this place?”

  “I’ll do my best, Heather.”
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  Another silence. Finally, she said, “I’ll be waiting.” He heard her hang up and disconnected.

  He scrolled through his list of contacts, stopping at Delaney’s name. He pushed Send, putting a call through to her.

  It went directly to voice mail.

  He slowly closed the phone. Foolish to feel so bereft.

  Even more foolish to wish Delaney was here, with him.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “I’LL SEE YOU LATER, Sam,” Leo said as he strolled into the fourth-grade classroom at Otter Tail Elementary School. But he spoiled the nonchalance when he glanced back at Sam with a worried expression.

  “After school,” Sam promised. “I’ll be waiting for you.”“Whatever.”

  Rennie’s arms tightened around his neck as she watched her brother walk away. The teacher nodded at them and smiled reassuringly as she led Leo to a desk near the front of the room. Sam had been dismissed. With one last look at his nephew, he followed the principal to the kindergarten classroom.

  Rennie clutched his sweater in a viselike grip as they stood in the doorway. Colorful pictures decorated the wall, and books and games sat on bookshelves. Small desks stood in groups of four, and there was a large rug at the front of the room.

  “Welcome to kindergarten, Reading,” said the teacher, using Rennie’s formal name, one Sam hated as much as Rennie did. Diesel had clearly been high when he’d named his children after trains. He’d thought he was clever and trendy. He’d just been pathetic.

  The teacher was a young woman with brown hair pulled into a ponytail. She barely looked old enough to be in college, let alone teaching, Sam decided. “We were just going to do some puzzles. Do you like puzzles?”

  “Her name is Rennie.” He felt his niece tense as he set her on the ground. “I’ll be back for you after school, Rennie. I’ll make sure I find you, and your teacher won’t leave you until I do. Okay?”

  She nodded slowly.

  “Why don’t I help you pick out a puzzle?” The teacher held out her hand, and Rennie finally let go of Sam.

  “You’re going to have fun,” he promised as the teacher eased the door closed. His chest was tight as he stood there, watching through the window.

  “Many parents have a hard time leaving their children for the first day in a new school,” the principal said. It felt as though she was patting him on the back. “The children will adjust quickly.”

  “I’m not their parent,” he said.

  “But you’re acting as one until their mother is well.” Sam had told her that Leo and Rennie’s mother was ill and they’d be staying with him in Otter Tail for a while. She urged him toward the front door. “I’ll make sure the teachers know about Lionel and Reading’s situation. Now…” She smiled and opened the door.

  “Their names are Leo and Rennie.”

  “I’m sorry.” She colored. “I’ll make sure their teachers know, too.” She smiled. “We’ll all keep a close eye on them.”

  She was smooth. She’d herded him out of the building before he could have second thoughts.

  Not that he would. But both Leo and Rennie had looked so lost. Sam felt as if he was abandoning them.

  He was almost home, with ideas for the next chapter of his novel swirling in his head, when a chirpy voice on the radio related the latest celebrity gossip. “An unidentified source has reported that Chantal, the notorious drummer from the Redheaded Stepsisters, has surfaced three years after lead singer Diesel’s overdose death and the dissolution of the band. In the wake of stories about a torrid affair between Chantal and Diesel, the drummer vanished from the music scene. We’ll bring you more details as we learn them.”

  “Heather. Goddamn you.”

  He slammed on the brakes, did a U-turn and headed for Delaney’s.

  Ten minutes later, he rolled to a stop in front of the barn. Grabbing the keys from the ignition, he jumped out and ran to her house. He rang the bell several times, then pounded on the door.

  She wasn’t there. He ran down the steps and hurried to the barn. As he got closer, he heard music. Not the hard rock from last time, but something exotic. Sitar music, maybe.

  He was heading for the door when a movement from the window caught his eye. He stepped closer, then caught his breath.

  Delaney stood on a blue mat with her back to him. She was dressed in short black pants and a multicolored, full-length sports bra. The pants hugged a perfect rear end that bunched and released as she moved.

  She raised her arms, swept them down to the floor, then dropped to her hands and feet and did what looked like a push-up. Then she raised her rear end until her body formed an inverted V. She stayed that way for a moment, then repeated the moves.

  It had to be yoga. He had no idea it was so graceful.

  So sexy.

  She looked steady. Calm. He was about to throw her completely off balance.

  Maybe he shouldn’t tell her. Heather didn’t know where they were. He hadn’t said anything about Wisconsin, had he? Stories about Chantal sightings surfaced periodically, so maybe it wasn’t Heather. Maybe it was just another rumor floating around the internet.

  He wouldn’t worry Delaney about what could be nothing.

  He opened the door and stepped inside.

  She looked at him from another of those inverted Vs. Her hair brushed the mat, and her shirt crept up her back, exposing two smooth bumps of spine.

  Their eyes met and held for a long moment, then she stood up. Her face was pink and her hair was damp with sweat. The front of her sports bra was damp, too. His gaze flickered over her breasts, and he remembered their creamy whiteness and the pale rose of her nipples.

  Her flush deepened and she grabbed a sweatshirt lying on a chair. It was worn and shabby and hung halfway to her knees—a very effective cover-up. “Sam. What are you doing here?”

  “I enrolled Leo and Rennie in school this morning. I wanted to let you know. There are only a couple of months left, but we’ll be here until school is over, at least.”

  She’d been rubbing her face and head with a towel, and she tossed it over a chair. “That’s good,” she said. “They’ll meet other kids. Have a routine.”

  “I hope so.” He had to tell her about Heather—at least the part about getting out of rehab soon. “Heather called Saturday night.”

  Delaney hesitated. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that she’s progressing in rehab. She got phone privileges.”

  “So she’s close to getting out.”

  “She thinks so. I don’t. Heather can put up a good front for a while, but she can’t sustain it. She may have fooled the counselors, but it won’t last.”

  “Did she talk to Leo and Rennie?” Her fingers tightened on the dark green towel.

  “No. They were asleep.”

  Delaney frowned. “You didn’t wake them up?”

  “Hell, no.” There was no way he’d wake them up after the day they’d had. Especially to talk to their mother, which would probably upset them all over again.

  “How do Leo and Rennie feel about missing her call?”

  “I didn’t tell them about it. They’ll only be disappointed if she doesn’t call back.”

  “Poor kids.” She raised her eyebrows. “So why did you come over today, Sam? I’m glad the kids are enrolled in school, but you didn’t have to make a special trip to tell me.”

  “Maybe I wanted to see you, and this was a good excuse.” When her cheeks grew a little more pink, he smiled. “I also talked to the Realtor and extended my lease for two months. We can start working on ways to keep you safe once the demos are released.”

  “My agent understands she has to keep me out of the equation. She’ll be very careful with the record company.”

  “Wait. You’ve already talked to your agent?”

  “Yes. I told her what was going on.”

  “We agreed you were going to wait.”

  “You told me to wait. I didn’t agree to anything.” She walked over t
o a coffeemaker sitting next to the stereo, and he watched the sway of her hips beneath the sweatshirt. She turned off the music and picked up a pot of coffee. “Would you like a cup?”

  “No, damn it. I don’t want any coffee.”

  She poured some for herself, then took a sip as she studied him over the rim of the mug. “Once I decided to do it, there was no point in waiting.”

  Delaney watched Sam pace, frustration and a hint of anger on his face. He stabbed his fingers through his hair. The memory of how his hands had felt, touching her, had lingered all weekend.

  She took another gulp of the too-hot coffee.

  He sighed. “We could have figured out some safeguards. Ways to make sure you weren’t exposed.”

  “No, we couldn’t have.” She began to tremble, and she gripped the cup more tightly. Anger would be a lot easier to deal with than his concern. “Don’t you think I took every possible precaution? Even my agent doesn’t know where I live. She sends my royalty checks to an address on the other side of the country, to a fictitious name. They forward it here. No one knows where I am.”

  He pried the coffee cup away from her, then took her hands. “You could have waited for a day or two until we came up with a strategy.”

  We. She looked at their linked hands. She hadn’t been part of a “we” in a very long time. She drew away. They were business partners. She was releasing her demos for a chance to spend some time with Leo and Rennie. A chance to get to know them. It was a simple trade.

  That was all.

  “I didn’t need a strategy. My safeguards are already in place. If I had waited, you might have changed your mind. I had to call before you lost your nerve. It’s a done deal.”

  “You wanted to make sure I couldn’t back out. That if things got bad, I couldn’t panic and head back to Miami with the kids.”

  She shrugged. “Yes, I want that time with Leo and Rennie. I told you I was selfish.”

  She’d expected him to be angry. But the expression on his face was closer to fear. “You can’t control everything. What if reporters find you, in spite of all your precautions?”

  A jolt of panic made her heart race. “I can’t do anything about that.”