Chapter Ten
Lianna turned off the water and dropped the bath bomb into the tub. It was finally Friday night. The previous week had passed in a blur with all she had on her plate. The children were with her in-laws and she was finally getting that soak she needed.
After testing the temperature with her toe, she settled herself into the warm bubbles with a sigh. As 90s slow jams serenaded her, she inhaled the spa scented candle on the side of the tub that ironically read exhale . Her head felt heavy as she laid it back against the tub, and closing her eyes this time, she did exhale.
The sound of her phone chiming cut short her solitude. She toyed for only a second with the thought of ignoring the group Facetime request, quickly realizing that the only thing missing from this de-stress session was some good old-fashioned girl talk.
“Ladies,” Lianna said by way of greeting.
“Are you in a bathtub?” Sammie asked in mock disgust.
“Keep the phone on your face, please.” Isabela looked like she was still at the office.
“I lost my modesty when two humans came out of my body, so deal with it,” Lianna teased.
“Ah, sweetie, good for you,” Maisy piped in. “Getting a break from the kiddos?”
“They’re at the grandparents’ for a sleepover. Annie’s birthday is in three days. I still haven’t gotten her gift or finished getting their Halloween costumes. I’m supposed to be running errands, yet here I am, sitting in a tub.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a little procrastination,” Isabela said, her attention on her computer and not the cell phone she had propped up beside it.
“What’s the going gift for a four-year-old these days?” Maisy asked around a sip of wine and Lianna realized that she dropped the ball by not bringing her own glass up to the tub with her.
She laughed. “Well, Annie asked for a dog but is getting a goldfish. I think that’s a pretty good trade off.”
Maisy lowered the phone to her lap, where her King Charles Cavalier Ruby was resting her regal head. “Get the kids a puppy! They are the best, Lianna, really.”
“I can barely take care of the three of us. No way I can deal with another living thing relying on me.”
Although with Justine’s body being found a block from her house, maybe she should get a dog, a guard dog.
“Still getting the hang up calls?” Sammie asked, her face serious.
“No, not at all this week. No more notes or dead animals. I hope I’m not jinxing myself, but things almost seem back to normal. Well, my version of normal anyway.”
“A murder on your street hardly constitutes as normal. I still can’t believe it about that poor lady they found,” Sammie said.
The other two women on the call gasped, not knowing the latest in the Starks case.
“They found her washed up on the shore half a mile from here with a major head laceration.” Lianna explained to the other women. “That part of the beach is very rocky so it’s hard to know if the injuries are from being slammed against the rocks or her attacker. They aren’t releasing all the evidence, but they have reason to believe foul play led to her death. My heart aches for her son. Apparently, she was in a bitter custody battle with her ex. That’s who the cops are zeroing in on as a suspect.” Lianna replied.
“It’s always someone close to the victim,” Maisy tsked.
“Can you imagine? That boy is going to be parentless if it’s actually the dad.” Isabela said.
“Well, the latest gossip is that she was seeing someone.” Lianna said.
“Oh, this is going to be a made for TV movie. Anyone know who the boyfriend is?”
“Not that I’ve heard.”
“Ask your sexy detective.” Isabela said, finally glancing up from her computer.
An image of Gabe rocking against her flashed through Lianna’s mind, replacing the gruesome image of Justine. Lianna’s hand went subconsciously to her neck. The memory of his beard scraping deliciously across her flesh made her skin tingle.
“I haven’t talked to him since last weekend,” she said, omitting a whole lot of details.
Lianna had been dodging Gabe all week to avoid talking about the “incident.” Doing so had taken a bit of planning acrobatics. The week without contact wasn’t for lack of trying on Gabe’s part. He called her on Sunday evening to tell her about Justine Starks. Then again on his way to work Monday. His message was brief and business like. “Didn’t see you at drop off. Just making sure you downloaded that security app. Let me know if you need help with it .” That did at least prompt her to finally download the alert app on her cell phone.
On Wednesday night it was a text.
Hope everything is okay?
On Thursday she replied .
All good in the hood. Thanks for asking. No need to drive Harris to football.
Now here she sat, feeling triumphant with five days of avoidance under her belt. Well, that was until his latest text message an hour ago. The one that prompted an urgent bubble bath. It simply said, We should talk. You free?
“I get the feeling you’re holding out on us.” Isabela continued to push, her attention now fully on their conversation.
“There’s nothing to tell. We kissed, now I haven’t seen him.”
Lianna had called her three best friends shortly after Gabe left last Sunday to confess her R-rated kiss. They made her go over every single second of the encounter, in detail, so there was no point in rehashing it now.
“Are you telling me he hasn’t tried to contact you all week? He hasn’t called once?” Isabela wore a disbelieving frown.
“I didn’t say that,” Lianna admitted, feeling silly caught in her own lie.
“You’re avoiding him,” Sammie correctly guessed.
“Of course, I’m avoiding him!” Lianna defended herself.
“Oh, Lianna, talk to the man. He’s probably just as confused and frazzled about the whole thing as you are.” Maisy added.
“I doubt it … nothing fazes him.”
When she received three glares in response she quickly added, “But okay, I’ll talk to him, soon.”
Lianna knew she couldn’t avoid Gabe forever, but right now she was too fragile to face him. She needed time to corral her emotions, to gain enough emotional indifference to plaster on a brave face when they finally had their confrontation. Problem was, she didn’t know how much time that would take.
Lianna thought about the kiss at least twenty-three hours of every day since it happened. Her body longed to pick up where they left off, but her brain was scrambled. She was scared, weary, and optimistic all at once. That kiss had turned her world upside down. What if it hadn’t affected Gabe the same way?
By the time the women said their goodbyes Lianna felt significantly better. Chatting with these women always made her feel that way. They were her therapy.
Placing her phone on the bathmat, she retreated into the tub and sank deeper into the now lukewarm water. The tension in her shoulders was fading away, and Lianna allowed herself to hope that whoever had been hassling her had lost interest. A week without any unusual occurrences had to mean they moved on.
Her eyes sprang open when once again she was interrupted by her ringtone. You’ve got to be kidding me . Dripping water onto the floor, she reached out and grabbed the phone, hastily accepting the call.
“Hello.”
“Lianna, thank God you are home. I’m so sorry to ask you this but is there any way you can come over and stay with the girls?” It was her sister-in-law Nicki and she sounded frantic.
“What happened?” Lianna asked, the goosebumps on her arms not solely from the cooling water.
“It’s Darren. I just got a call from the pub. Somehow, he ended up there and I either have to pick him up or they’re calling for a drunk tank.”
“Oh, no,” said Lianna, confused because she had never witnessed Darren take a sip of alcohol before.
“The girls are asleep, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving them here alone.” Nicki sounded moments away from tears.
“Of course. I was just finishing up a bath. Let me throw on some clothes and I’ll be right over.” Lianna hung up the phone and was too flustered to care that her relaxing night was over.
****
Lianna was only at her brother-in-law’s home for about twenty minutes when she heard the door chime. Fortunately, there hadn’t been a peep from upstairs where the twins were fast asleep. Nicki came into view first—she appeared exhausted, in every possible way.
The always put together woman was wearing mismatched sweats, her long blonde locks tied back thoughtlessly. There wasn’t a drop of makeup on her usually done up face, but her cheeks still glowed from anger, embarrassment, or some combination of the two. Lianna’s heart sunk—she knew the feeling well. Emotional and physical fatigue were equally crippling.
Nicki was apologetic. “I am so sorry for asking you to come here. We ,” stealing a glance at her husband who had just announced his presence by banging into the pantry door, “are very grateful.”
Until that moment, Darren hadn’t noticed Lianna. Chancing a glance in his direction, Lianna rose from the chaise lounge she had been sitting on in the family room. As he zeroed in on her, his red-rimmed eyes seemed to double in size. The look on his face was downright frightening.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Darren, for Christ’s sake!” Nicki spun on him. “It’s not her fault I had to come get you!”
He took several stumbling steps from their farmhouse inspired kitchen, towards the center hallway where Lianna had found her way. Even intoxicated, Darren managed to look polished, if you didn’t make eye contact. While his body movements were sloppy, his speech was poignant.
“I have no clue why my brother chose you.” Darren stepped uncomfortably close to Lianna. “You know, you were the reason he was drinking that night, don’t you? Because you told him you were leaving. What a selfish bitch.”
Lianna and Nicki both sucked in a sharp breath at the verbal slap. Darren’s eyes were positively wild and for the first time Lianna felt more than just uneasy at his presence, she felt afraid.
“Oh, Lianna, that’s not true. He doesn’t mean this.” Nicki stood between them, head on a swivel, alternating looks of shock and disbelief.
“Yes, I do,” Darren leaned slightly forward, his labored breath thick and sweet with the scent of whisky.
Lianna felt like a knife was plunged simultaneously in her heart and stomach. She didn’t know if she was going to puke, cry, or run. Months of therapy was responsible for what flowed out of her mouth next. Taking a steadying breath, she held her chin up and met his gaze. She didn’t need to take this shit from him.
“No, Darren, Scott drank that night because he was an alcoholic. He died because he chose to drink and drive. And I was leaving him because he chose … alcohol, among other things, over his family.”
It read like a line straight from an Al-Anon meeting. She might still feel guilt, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t regurgitate the material that had been shoved down her throat.
Nicki, who must be dizzy at this point, continued to look back and forth, her mouth hanging open.
Then, knowing she was crossing the line, but too angry to care, Lianna finished, “I’d hate for you to make the same mistakes.”
“Get the fuck out of my house,” Darren spat the words, glaring at her like she was the vilest organism on earth. “You should have left here two years ago when Scott died.”
It was as if he knew exactly what to say to break her heart. Feeling the tears burning in the back of her eyes, Lianna turned on her heels, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
She made it to the front door before Nicki caught up to her. There were also tears in her sister-in-law’s tired eyes.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t even know what to say.”
“Please don’t apologize for him. I’m also sorry, for you.” Lianna placed a shaky hand on Nicki’s arm in a gesture she hoped relayed understanding.
A tear slipped down Nicki’s cheek. Trying to hide her emotions, she bent down and retrieved Lianna’s purse from where she dropped it at the front door upon arrival. When she righted herself, she was slightly more composed.
“I never knew you and Scott were having problems. That you were separating.”
Lianna regretted that, regretted she didn’t let anyone in on their real life instead of the fake picture of perfection they portrayed.
“Not many people did. I think just Darren, maybe his parents.” She shrugged.
It felt almost like relief to get it off her chest. Her own parents still never knew she gave up her home and career for a relationship she could not fix. Maybe if she had confided in more people before, she wouldn’t have felt so much shame and loneliness.
“You are the best sister-in-law for putting up with him, and for coming to sit with his kids on your own night off.” Nicki sniffled.
“And I’ll do it any time you need me to. I love the kids, and I love you. I’m here if you need me, Nicki, please know that.”
The woman nodded, unable to form the words. Lianna gave her a quick squeeze then let herself out before the barraging started again.
It was one of those late October evenings that personified eerie. The air was thick with moisture and the low-lying fog cast an ominous warning. Perfect setting for the night’s events. Hustling to her car, Lianna didn’t breathe until the doors were locked and the motor was running.
Once she was alone, every word that had just been exchanged started to replay in her head. The words taunted her, as anxiety made her chest ache. How could Darren be so na?ve to his brother’s true nature ? Lianna was glad for the anger. It was always easier than sadness.
Pulling her hair out of its scrunchie, she twirled it into a bun several times before making up her mind. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, making her so restless her skin felt like it was crawling. Lianna knew she couldn’t go home. Backing out of the driveway, she didn’t acknowledge where she was headed until she was parked again. Taking a deep breath, Lianna got out of her car and started up the driveway to finally have a chat with Gabe.