7. Lily
7
LILY
“ H i, Mom, it’s good to see you.” I greeted my mother outside the country club the next town over that my parents had belonged to as long as I could remember. We didn’t hug. We never hugged. It wasn’t in the family’s DNA, but I was genuinely happy to meet my mother for lunch.
“Good to see you, too. You look well.” My mom, Veronica Rhodes, was elegantly dressed in a powder blue suit and taupe heels.
I had taken extra care with my wardrobe, hair, and makeup that morning. I wasn’t conforming to my parents’ wishes, but it was easier to get along with them if I gave them something of what they wanted. I had ramped up the color, though, opting for a bubblegum-pink dress with a full skirt. On my feet I wore metallic gold ballet flats. I was finding my style, finding what I was comfortable in, and I wasn’t going to suppress that, no matter what my mother thought of it.
“So do you,” I returned as we entered the club’s dining room. I’d eaten countless meals there and knew exactly what to expect on the menu and who might be seated at the other tables. They would be full of the ladies who lunch, shop, and play golf to fill their days. Not my idea of a good time.
“I got something for Sofia while I was shopping.” Mom pulled a doll from her oversized Coach purse. “I thought she might like it.”
I accepted the soft-body doll that was perfectly sized for a toddler. “It’s lovely. I’m sure she’ll like it.” My mother’s thoughtfulness was unexpected and made me glad I’d agreed to the lunch. In truth, I’d done it to avoid going to my family’s home and facing a dinner with my father sitting at the head of the table.
We talked about my siblings, my mother filling me in on the latest news in her life, until we’d begun eating our entrées. I could tell my mother was working up to something by her mannerisms.
“Your father thought you might be interested in teaching again.” She laid her fork down and blotted her lips with the napkin. “A position has opened up at Andrews, and he could put in a good word for you.”
Andrews was an all-girls boarding school about thirty miles away. “Mom, I?—”
“It would just be until the end of the school year,” Mom continued. “A teacher became ill and they need someone to fill in and finish out the term, but if you do a good job, you might be able to work your way into a permanent position.”
“I’m not interested, Mom. I like what I’m doing now.”
In truth, I was intensely grateful to be Sofia’s nanny. The girl was adorable, the pay generous, and I was saving my money to invest in the future I wanted. I dismissed any thoughts of the handsome man who paid my salary. We’d kept our interactions businesslike throughout the week. Colin had given no details about his date when he arrived home, and I hadn’t asked. For all I knew, he’d met the love of his life six days ago.
“But it’s not a career,” my mother pointed out. “Teaching is a solid profession. The income is stable, there are good benefits, and there’s growth potential—you could become a school leader eventually.”
Nothing sounded worse to me than being in charge of a school full of privileged kids like the ones at the Hartford Academy.
“I don’t enjoy teaching. I never did. I only taught because it seemed like the thing to do, since you and Dad were in education. I need to find what I want to do.”
My mother sighed, and I steeled myself for what was coming. Was I going to get the ungrateful-daughter lecture?
“I understand wanting to pursue your dreams,” Mom said.
“You do?” I couldn’t keep the surprise from my voice.
“I do.” My mother smiled. “You’ve probably never heard this, but before I married your father, I was a dancer. Quite a good one, too. I had hopes of making it into an elite ballet company, but such things weren’t encouraged in my family. My father labeled my desire to dance a pipe dream, and I gave it up to become a teacher and later a mother.”
Interesting. That explained the occasional pirouette in the kitchen that I remembered as a little girl. When I thought about it, I could see that my mother had the grace and posture of a classically trained dancer. I couldn’t believe I’d never known this.
“Sometimes… Sometimes, I still wonder, what if . What if I’d taken the chance and gone to the audition that my parents talked me out of attending? Who knows? But I can’t complain about my life.” My mother’s wistful smile transformed and softened her face. “While you have the chance, you should explore your interests. Tell me about the art classes you’re taking.”
“I’m enjoying them. Painting is fine. I like watercolors more than oils.” There was something wonderfully freeing about working with watercolors. “But the sculpting class is my favorite. I love it that I can take a lump of clay and make it into something beautiful.”
Over coffee and a crisp apple tart, I talked of my art classes and told stories about Sofia’s antics, making my mother laugh.
“I miss having toddlers around the house. It was wild having eight children, but I loved the busyness and life it brought,” Mom said when we rose to leave.
As I drove across town to pick up Sofia, I felt I’d seen a different side of my mother, one hidden until today. Or maybe it hadn’t truly been hidden—maybe I’d just never taken the time to notice it, too caught up in my own thoughts and feelings. I got a little resentful sometimes when I thought of the way my parents had taken me for granted when I was growing up, always assuming that I’d be there to look after my siblings, but maybe I’d taken my mom for granted too, never really stopping to think about what she was going through. Certainly, there was more to her than I’d realized, and her support of my art classes was a pleasant surprise. It was comforting to have my mother on my side.
I made a quick stop at Carolyn’s mother’s home to pick up Sofia. Faith was always willing to watch Sofia, especially on days when she also had Austin. She insisted the toddlers entertained each other, which was probably true. Exhausting, but true.
By the time I strapped Sofia into my car and headed for Colin’s house, rain was coming down in heavy sheets, causing water to pool on the roadways. I drove cautiously, a habit when I had the girl in the car with me. It was quiet in the back seat, so I flipped the visor down, using the vanity mirror to check on Sofia. Her head was resting against the side of the car seat, and her eyes were drifting closed. She’d be asleep in no time.
I turned my attention back to the road, trying to dodge the largest of the puddles. Bright lights in the rearview mirror grabbed my attention. A car was barreling down on me from behind.
“Slow down, dude. It’s lousy out,” I muttered, my attention now divided between the mirror and the road ahead.
The car kept coming fast. I gripped the wheel tighter as I sped up, trying to keep ahead of the vehicle, its headlights large in my mirrors.
“Give me a break.” I flicked the windshield wipers on high, trying to see better, hoping for a place to pull off onto the shoulder and get out of this guy’s way.
The car was on my bumper. If I slowed even a little, I’d be rear-ended. I had to get off the road. Up ahead I saw a turn lane into a shopping center. I wrenched the wheel to the right, getting into the extra lane as fast as possible. The other car careened past, hit a huge puddle, and cascaded water over my subcompact.
I pulled into a parking space for a minute and relaxed my hold on the wheel. Pivoting in my seat, I could see that Sofia was fine, sound asleep, and unaware of what had happened. I felt shaky but put the car in gear and headed for home.
Colin
My phone rang as I drove home that evening. I hit the button for my car system to pick up the call.
“Vale,” I answered.
Steve’s voice came through the speakers. “Hey, Colin. I’ve got some news for you on that gray Camry. It’s not great news but it’s also not terrible.”
“How many hits?” I asked as I squinted through the rain-soaked windshield.
“Thirty-four gray Camrys between three and seven years old registered to males within thirty miles of your address.”
Not exactly a needle in a haystack, but it would take some time to run down all those possibilities.
“Can you email me a list of names and addresses?” Maybe something would register if I had that. I could also run them by Chance. His shop was the best garage in the area. If any of the guys on the list had gotten work done on their cars in the past few years, Chance and Mandy had probably dealt with them.
“Coming to you now. Anything else I can do?”
“Nope, put it on my tab. I’ll settle up with you soon. Thanks, Steve.” I clicked off as I turned onto my street. Out of habit I scanned the vicinity, almost hoping to see the gray car again. I’d get the plate next time, and maybe a look at the driver. The only car that stood out to me was Lily’s yellow one. I was happy to see she and Sofia had made it safely home despite the weather.
I let myself into the house through the front door and stopped when I saw Sofia and Lily napping on the living room floor. Sofia was half on top of Lily, pinning her down. They were beautiful together. My dark-haired girls. I’d started to think of them that way, and I had no right to. Sofia was mine forever, but Lily never would be.
I tore my eyes from them to take in the room. Animals cut out of colored pieces of foam were stuck to the windows. Toys were scattered all over, but there was a pattern. If I had to guess, I’d say they’d set up an obstacle course of some kind. They were napping under a makeshift jungle gym created from PVC pipe. More animals hung from the pipe on strings. They’d had a busy, messy day.
Lily’s hazel eyes opened, meeting mine. She raised a finger to her lips as if to shush me. The message I got was different. All my focus went to her mouth, the mouth I’d almost kissed and so desperately wanted to. I yanked my mind from that path, but my body was already too far gone. My groin tightened with desire, a desire that wasn’t going to be fulfilled.
I walked closer and lifted Sofia from Lily, being careful not to touch Lily more than I had to. Even the slightest brush of my skin against hers sent little shocks racing through me. I put Sofia on my shoulder and climbed the stairs with Lily right behind me. In the upstairs hall, she passed me to get Sofia’s bed ready. I was able to slip the sleeping child in without waking her. I stayed a minute to watch her and make sure she wasn’t going to wake up before I headed downstairs.
In the living room, Lily was gathering toys into a basket. I helped her clean up the floor, tossing items in the basket as well. When she went to peel the foam animals from the windows, I stopped her.
“It’s okay to leave them. Maybe we can find a place to hang these.” I touched the animals dangling on strings. “Did you make them together?”
“We did. Sofia slept on the way home from Faith’s house, but as soon as we got back here, she was wide awake—not to mention bored and antsy. She had a lot of restless energy to work out. If we could have gone outside, it would have been all right.”
“She likes to be outside,” I said. Sofia had been like that since I’d known her.
“Children should get fresh air. It just makes it tough when we’re stuck indoors, so we did some art.”
“It looks nice. We’ll leave it.”
She turned wide eyes on me. “Colin, you don’t mean that.”
“I can be flexible,” I said, “and if it makes Sofia happy, I can learn to live with animals on the windows.”
“You’ll wince every time you look at them,” she teased. “And as much as I appreciate the fact that you’re willing to leave them, I think it’s best if we take them down. They’ll be more special if we only get them out during playtime, and I don’t want to take the chance that Sofia will put them in her mouth.”
“If you think that’s best. I’ll get a tub from the shed to store them in,” I said and headed through the kitchen.
I paused as I approached the back door. It stood open a few inches. The storm door was closed but not locked. What was that about? I scanned the backyard. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but I was irked. All my protectiveness kicked in. I’d sworn to Sofia’s mother that I’d keep Sofia safe. Beyond that, I loved my little girl as much as any father could—and she’d been put at risk that day.
They’d been asleep in an unlocked house, completely vulnerable. How could Lily be so careless? In the yard, I spotted footprints in the wet soil. Not mine, and too big to be Lily’s. Someone had been there. I took the path to Lily’s apartment and tried the door. Locked. That was good, at least, but I had some questions for her.
Had she invited a guest over? How long had the door been open?
I stalked across the yard to the shed and found a storage bin the right size. I took a minute to write Sofia’s Art on the label before returning to the house. I left the box in the kitchen and did a sweep of the house, looking for anything unusual, any sign of an intruder. Nothing turned up, but I couldn’t shake my concern.
“Did you invite anyone over today?” I asked as soon as I re-entered the house.
“No.” Surprise showed on her face. “Why?”
“The back door was open, and footprints I don’t recognize were in the yard. Looked like a man’s.” I watched her face closely. I didn’t think she was involved with anyone, but I didn’t know that for certain.
“I can’t explain the footprints, but I did run to my apartment to get some art supplies,” she said. She spoke slowly as if replaying the event in her mind. “I could swear I closed and locked the door—I always do. I’m sorry about that. I’ll be more cautious.”
She was telling the truth, I decided with relief. I’d had plenty of training in determining if people were lying while being questioned. She showed none of the signs, and I had no reason to distrust her. I was also relieved that she immediately took the situation seriously and promised to be more careful in the future. But the fact that she didn’t know anything about the footprints had me a little uneasy. Just what had someone been doing in my backyard, if he wasn’t someone Lily had invited? And was I being paranoid to think it might have something to do with the mystery car I’d seen twice now?