Chapter 23
Chapter 23
T he next morning Piedmont was having thoughts. He expected to come upstairs from his workout, find Paley waiting with a smile, ready to make up. But there was no Paley. His coffee and muffins were there, along with his sack lunch, but she was nowhere to be found. He grabbed the coffee and muffin, left the lunch, and went to his room to get ready. She didn’t say goodbye when he left, nor hug him, as had become her custom the last couple of weeks as their relationship hung in the balance between friendship and something more.
Piedmont was furious and trying not to show it, but of course Acacia realized. And when one of the partners asked if Paley was excited for the upcoming dinner, he had to tell the truth—she had a prior engagement and couldn’t make it.
“Oh, we’ll make it next week. Would that work?” Arthur asked.
Piedmont blinked at him, feeling like a fool for blowing things so out of proportion. “Yes, that works perfectly, thank you.”
After that he tried to call Paley, but she didn’t answer. When he arrived home, she was already gone for her evening with Mattie, and Piedmont was irritated all over again. She had been cryptic about the night out with Mattie, and he couldn’t tamp down a vague uneasy feeling. There was something Paley wasn’t telling him, and it harkened him back to conversations with Amelia about Ethan. You talk about Ethan a lot, he had said. He’s a friend, Amelia insisted. A friend like Mattie was a friend to Paley? Was he doomed to fall for women who fell for their male best friends?
She didn’t arrive home until late. Piedmont sat on the couch in the basement, trying to figure out what to watch without her there to tell him. Under her direction he had watched a lot of movies he missed out on during his unusual upbringing, and now suddenly a lot of pop culture references he’d never understood made sense. But without her he had no idea how to continue or what to watch. He ended up watching baseball and trying to pretend he found it interesting, but really it reminded him of Paley and the day she’d taught him to bat.
The door opened and closed, alerting him to the fact she’d arrived home. Footsteps echoed on the stairs, and he braced himself for the coming conversation. He needed to apologize, but he was still hurt, his pride still wounded.
When the couch beside him shifted, it wasn’t Paley; it was Mattie.
“You’re watching baseball. I didn’t see that coming,” Mattie remarked.
“It’s like watching paint dry. I’m in misery,” Piedmont admitted. He turned the TV off and dropped the remote.
“You think I’m jealous of you, and you’re jealous of me,” Mattie said. Piedmont didn’t deny it. “Both things are either untrue or unnecessary.”
“I hope there’s a follow up to explain,” Piedmont said.
“There is. Paley and I have been friends forever, since she first moved here when we were prepubescent. What you don’t know is we weren’t always a duo—we were a trio. Jenny was our counterpoint, the solidifying member of our group. When we were freshmen, Jenny and I shifted naturally into a dating relationship. It was one of those things where even though we were young, we knew we’d be together forever. And Paley wasn’t a third wheel, it was still the three of us against the world, but the dynamics shifted slightly.
“Our senior year, I had to work one night and the two of them went out without me. Jenny was driving, and a sudden storm sprang up, the kind with wind and a downpour that drops visibility to zero. They hydroplaned and hit a tree. Paley was unhurt, thankfully, but Jenny was killed on impact. The tree fell on the car, trapping them inside. Neither of them had their phones. They weren’t found until two hours later when I realized I hadn’t heard from them and alerted their parents. Everyone went out to look for them. Paley sat there all that time, holding Jenny’s lifeless, cold hand, talking to her, begging her to hang on, to come back.
“We were there for each other in our grief. A few months later, I kissed her, and she kissed me back. We dated for about a month and tried to convince ourselves it was real before calling it quits. We both loved Jenny too much to fake it any longer. I still love Jenny. I always will. Paley and I are friends, but nothing beyond that. It fizzles impossibly, it always has, and it always will.
“You have to understand Paley was our sparkle, our sunshine. Jenny was the reserved, steady one of our group. Everyone liked Paley. She was our homecoming queen, played every sport, was nice to everyone. But after that night…she faded, like someone closing the blinds on the sun. Then she married the jerk, and he tried to tamp down whatever bit of spirit was left in her.
“The last few months I’ve seen her start to come back, to find some of that old sparkle and sunshine, and I guess I do guard it rather jealously, but only because I’m afraid it’s going to go away again. I don’t know you or your intentions toward her. You’re rich and successful, and she’s your maid, never a good combination. Mostly, I don’t want to see her hurt again, to see the girl I know disappear again.”
“What was significant about tonight?” Piedmont asked.
“The accident was ten years ago tonight. It’s always a hard night for both of us. I asked Paley to spend it with me, knowing we’d both need the comfort and commiseration.”
“I don’t think I could feel like any more of a selfish heel,” Piedmont said.
“Probably if I told you she’s upstairs weeping right now,” Mattie said.
Piedmont groaned. “I should go to her.”
“She doesn’t know I’m here, and she’d be mortified if you caught her crying. For both our sakes, you should wait,” Mattie said. “But it sounds like it was an important night for you, too. It killed her not to be there with you, but that’s who Paley is. She’s loyal and she keeps her word.”
“I know,” Piedmont said.
“Congratulations, by the way,” Mattie said.
“Thank you.” He picked up the remote. “Do you want to watch baseball?”
“Less than anything. Let’s watch The Princess Bride.”
“Paley makes me watch that one approximately once a week,” Piedmont said.
“That’s what makes her good people,” Mattie said. He sank lower onto the couch, and they settled in to watch the movie.
The next morning, Paley still didn’t show for breakfast. Piedmont contemplated going to get her, but figured he would let her have some more time to cool down. Tonight they would work everything out. Best of all, he would be able to tell her she hadn’t missed the partner’s dinner, that it was a go for next week. She had set out his coffee, breakfast, and lunch like usual, and he took the lunch this time.
Paley emerged from her room after he was gone, feeling like a coward. She and Piedmont needed to make up soon, but she couldn’t face his anger or hurt today. She knew he must feel both because she had missed his big dinner, and she felt horrible about that. Last night had been emotionally draining on its own with Mattie, disregarding any tension with Piedmont. She couldn’t handle both things right now. Later, she was certain they would clear the air. Or so she hoped.
With that thought in mind, she threw herself into cleaning with a vengeance, tackling everything she had been putting off. She was upstairs when the doorbell rang. She reached for her phone, pushed the button, and saw two men standing on the porch, both wearing suits.
“May I help you?”
“Federal marshals, ma’am, we’d like to talk to you.”
Paley almost ran down the stairs and let them in, but a little warning voice held her back. Instead she called Piedmont, forgetting he was in court. His phone forwarded to Acacia.
“There are two men on the front porch who say they’re federal marshals,” Paley said.
“And you don’t think they are?” Acacia said.
“I don’t know, but Piedmont asked me to be extra careful and wary. I’m not sure how to check if they’re legit or not,” Paley said.
“I’ll call the Marshal’s office,” Acacia said. “Hold on.”
“Okay, I’ll give them an excuse to stall,” Paley said. She pushed the button and spoke to the men. “Give me a second, please, I’m just getting out of the shower.” There was no answer. Frowning, she switched to the video monitor on the phone, but the porch was empty. She flipped back to Acacia. “I think it’s okay, they appear to be go…” She froze as the sound of a gun being cocked registered from behind her.
“Paley, what’s going on, what happened?” Acacia asked, but the next thing she heard was an ear-shattering gunshot.