33. AVERY #2
“Anyone can drown. It’s why it’s important to be sensible and stay safe in the water.”
“Don’t you forget that,” Rhett growls in the monster voice that always makes her laugh. “Your suit is hanging in the coat closet if you need it.”
“They’re not actually going in the water. The tide is out far enough this time of year that unless they fall into the rock pools, it should be okay.”
“It’s not that cold today either,” he adds, eating the last piece of his breakfast bar before swallowing it down with the last of his coffee.
“Worked out well.”
“Are you nervous?” Rhett links our fingers, squeezing our palms together. “It’s a big day.”
“Not really. From what my old boss told me, the aquarium here wants to expand their touch tank, and they have a reef exhibition planned. Both projects that I’ve worked on back in Washington.”
I put half of what’s left of my granola bar on Iris’s plate and start clearing up after us. Mornings are always messy for us with me allowing Iris to feed the dogs. I spend more time picking up kibble from the floor than actually making our breakfast and sitting down to eat.
“Baby, I need you to go get ready now or you’ll be late for school,” I tell her once I’ve swept up today’s lost kibble mound.
“I need to head out too. I have an early appointment at the clinic.” Rhett brings his and Iris’s plates over and rinses them both before putting them in the dishwasher as I put the orange juice and milk back in the fridge.
Our routine is fine-tuned to the point that while he chases Iris up the stairs to her room, I make him a short espresso.
When he returns, it’s cool enough that he can drink it in one gulp before kissing me and heading out.
It might seem strange to some, but this right here is all I’ve ever wanted.
Someone to fall in step with but never lag behind or feel as though I’m on my own.
“I’ll meet you after class, Miss Summers,” he calls back with a laugh at the reminder of our tryst last night.
My entire body flames as I follow him to the porch and watch him get in Jo’s truck and drive away, leaving his fancy car for me to ferry Iris to school in.
Ugh, another thing I need to add to my settling to-do list—get myself my own ride. Rhett can’t go on using the old truck while I’ve commandeered his luxury SUV. Even if he’s the one insisting I keep using it.
Within the next half hour, I manage to get myself and Iris ready.
After I’ve dropped her off, I get in the Jag and head straight into town to meet with the director of the aquarium.
I’m not even two blocks from the school when I spot the blacked-out Suburban tailing me.
Of course, all the good juju and energy that’d put a pep in my step disappears.
Without a second thought, I dial Rhett, and when he doesn’t pick up, I try Callie too. But nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Although the voice in my head reminds me that I told Rhett I wouldn’t talk to Mike about the situation—I would leave it with Rowan and Callie, unless they hit a brick wall with it—I find myself dialing him as I pull up to the side of the road, outside my favorite coffee shop.
The line rings a couple times before I decide to listen to my better judgment and hang up, but it’s too late by then.
“Avery,” Mike answers. “Everything okay?”
I look up at my rearview mirror to search for the FBI vehicle tailing me, and it takes me a moment too long to find it parked behind a delivery truck on the other side of the road.
“Doll?”
“Hi, Mike.”
“Hey.”
I take a deep breath, hoping this won’t lead to another argument with Rhett. But I already know that the minute I tell him, he’s going to be disappointed. That on its own is worse than any argument we might ever have. The thought of letting him down when he’s done nothing but looked out for us and—
“Is something wrong?”
“No. I-I…I wanted to check in and see how you were. I guess I’m trying to hold on to the small family I have left.” It’s not entirely a lie, but it sure sounds like it even to my own ears.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on? You know, I can’t help but feel that guy you’re seeing is trying to take you away from the people that love you.”
“What? No! No, Rhett would never…he’s not like that, Uncle Mike.” My heart beats hard enough into my ribs that it winds me. “He’s not like that at all.”
“I’d hate to see you go down that road again. Your father would turn in his grave if he knew the way he bosses you around. Haven’t you had enough of that?”
“That’s not fair! You don’t know him and all the ways he’s trying to protect us.”
“From what?” he counters my angry outburst with a snap.
“The mess Dad left behind! The photos and lists and…and…” I pause, realizing too late that I did the one thing I said I wouldn’t.
A long moment of drawn-out silence instills between us before he clears his throat and tells me, low and clear, “You’re going to go home and you’re going to get rid of whatever it is you’re talking about. You’ll put it out of your mind and pretend you never saw it. Ever. Am I being clear, Avery?”
“I can’t do that.”
“Who else knows?”
“Nobody,” I reply.
“You’ve seen it, he’s seen it, who else?” he barks, and while normally I would spill it all because it’s Mike, Angry Mike is a force no one likes to deal with, who everyone fears.
This time, I take a deep breath and tell him as calmly as I can, “No one. I was trying to figure it out. What it means. Why he would leave me something like that—”
“I told you to leave it alone! Like I told him!” His yell fills the car, and I shiver as my blood runs cool through me. “You’re both so damn stubborn! You need to stop letting your feelings manipulate you, Avery bear.”
He hasn’t called me that in forever. It used to be his nickname for me when I was Iris’s age and completely obsessed with the Care Bears.
“I know you think you’re doing these things yourself, but…”
“Stop,” I tell him before he says anything bad about Rhett. I can sense that he’s about to. “Rhett is a good man, and if Dad were here, he would love him.”
“But he isn’t because he didn’t listen to me!”
“If you knew all this, why…how could you keep it from me? He was my dad.”
“He fucked with people he shouldn’t have fucked with, and you’re lucky I’ve protected you. So do as you’re told and just fucking—”
Before he can finish, I end the call. I don’t have it in me to listen to his tirade.
I feel bad enough as it is for going back on my word to Rhett.
There’s a sinking feeling in my chest that’s making me feel sick.
It’s only made worse when I start the car up again, heading toward the aquarium, only to realize as the Suburban starts following me again that I didn’t even tell him the agents were back.
When I park at the aquarium, I’m feeling guilty enough that my insides are a nauseated, knotted chaos that I can’t think through to get my head in order for my meeting. It doesn’t matter how many deep breaths I take, I feel as though I’ve betrayed Rhett’s trust.
Before I make my way inside, I decide to try his cell again.
It goes straight to voicemail, which is odd.
Even when he’s with patients, his phone is never off, and it was on charge this morning.
The worst pops into my head after what Mike said, and although I never call the clinic, I dial the number saved on my phone.
Tessa, the receptionist, answers and when I tell her it’s me, she goes off on a tangent. Her nephew is in Iris’s class, and apparently he is super excited for their trip this afternoon.
“Well, let’s hope this weather holds up,” she sings. “Anyway, what can I help you with?”
“Is Dr. Reynolds available?”
There’s a baited moment of silence before she tells me, “Umm…he’s not here this morning. He called in earlier to push back his appointments this morning.”
Surprise hits me square in the chest followed by confusion and then embarrassment. It’s not the first time I’ve been in this situation, and that thought starts a completely different tangent of its own that I can’t quite quell even though I try to ignore it.
“Oh, of course.” I try to laugh so that it doesn’t come across as awkward or false. “I’m sorry, I would forget my head if it wasn’t stuck on.”
“Same,” Tessa replies, sounding amused, and at least that helps settle my chagrin and worry a little. “I’ll let him know you called and make sure he returns your call.”
“Thanks.”
“Bye now!”
Hanging up, I consider trying his cell again but decide against it.
Rhett isn’t Carl. It’s all I keep telling myself as the doubt creeps in, even though I’m fully aware there’s no reason for it. Rhett has been nothing but gracious, kind, and loving…devoted even.
Rhett is nothing like Carl. He isn’t.
Still, I can’t shake off the niggle that follows me into my meeting. Unlike usual, I leave my phone on the table beside me as I take my potential new boss through the project breakdown I’ve put together. Every time I get a notification, I can’t help but peer down at it.
There’s nothing, and the longer there’s nothing, the more the niggle grows and grows.
Like poison spreading through my veins. There’s nothing I can do to stop it either, because that’s the thing about the past—you can walk, run, or drive away from it, as far as you possibly can, but you’ll never outrun it. Its ghosts will always find you.