17. Theo
Theo
The phone rang on Wednesday morning, while I was still in bed.
Perez had called me the night before about investing in Stellar, a biotech firm developing a revolutionary deep-brain stimulator to slow the progress of neurological disorders.
Since Perez’s mom had died of MS, he was pushing Stellar hard, but I had misgivings.
We’d gone back and forth for hours, until finally I’d agreed to meet with the firm’s CEO the next time I was in the city.
After we’d hung up, I’d gone for a run on the beach, trying to tire myself out, but no dice.
Instead I lay in bed, thinking about Liv—the lush curve of her breasts, the little moans she made as we moved together.
Finally, desperate for relief, I’d done something about it, imagining her all around me.
The sun had been rising over the ocean when I dropped off at last, soothed by the lapping waves.
I’d dreamed about a small girl carved from ice.
She reached out for me, her mouth forming words, but I couldn’t understand a damn thing she said.
I woke over and over again, sinking back into an uneasy drowse only to see her face.
By the time the phone rang, I was as exhausted as if I’d never closed my eyes at all.
Fumbling for the phone on my bedside table, I grabbed it in time to see Liv’s name on the screen and answer. “Hey,” I managed.
Silence. Then her low laugh came across the line. “Were you sleeping, Theo?”
“What? No.” I blinked, trying to keep my eyes open. “I’m awake.”
“Sure you are. I’ve got a break between clients; someone canceled today. But do you want me to call back later?”
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I propped myself on my elbows. I’d drawn the blinds to fool my body into believing it was nighttime, and a few stray bars of sunlight fell across my comforter. I felt like I was underwater, foggy head and all. “No. I’m good. What’s up?”
Liv sighed. “I talked to her, Theo. To my grandmother. And to my parents, too.”
My heart started thumping, so hard I could hear it. “And?”
“Let’s just say my parents responded exactly how I anticipated they would. As for my grandma, I…um…I told her who you really were. And I asked her for the test.”
I sat up straight, the comforter falling away. “What did she say?”
“She said no, Theo. She said she knew who she was, and taking the test would only cause problems. But she was kind about it. She said she felt terrible for you and for your family.”
I’d grown up skeptical of everyone’s motives, and for good reason. But hearing that Liv had been willing to disrupt her comfortable life for me, to risk angering her family for the sake of a virtual stranger…it moved me.
Goddamn it. Wasn’t it enough that she was hot, sexy, and smart? Did I have to like the woman, too?
“What changed your mind about talking to her?” I asked, desperate to distract myself. “You were pretty adamant about it, before.”
“This matters to me, too.” Her voice was fierce.
“I couldn’t save my biological mom or even get to know her.
But no matter what Grandma Ella said about the test, maybe I can make this right for her.
I know you think of her as part of—of this great evil that’s been perpetrated on your family.
But really, she’s a victim. This still hurts her.
I can see it. What if your grandmother is her sister, and this is my grandma’s only chance to see her again?
” Her voice broke. “I don’t believe in fate.
But I can’t shake the feeling we met for a reason. ”
My heart thumped in my fingertips. “What are you suggesting?”
“After you left my house, I, um, was determined to find a piece of evidence to prove you wrong. Instead, I found a lead. A man, James, who worked at The Players club, disappeared around the same time Grandma Ella did. The club has keys to the park.” Her voice was laced with excitement. I wished I found it less charming.
“I figured if James was the one to kidnap her, then maybe I could trace a line straight from there to Divine Grace, from where my grandma was adopted. If I could do that, then maybe there’d be no need for the DNA test at all,” she went on.
“Anyway, I called the club. There’s this guy, Ethan Polk, whose family’s worked at The Players for generations.
He’s written a book about it, and James is in it.
‘Secrets and Speculations, the chapter’s called.
” She snorted. “Anyway, they said if he agrees to talk to me, it’ll be in person.
So, I’m planning to go up there. And I was thinking, maybe you could come. ”
She’d surprised me twice in one conversation. “Me? Why?”
“This is as much your story as mine. More so, if you consider that I’m not actually…” Her voice trailed off, laced with a note of pain. That bothered me, more than it should.
“Not actually what?” I prodded.
“Nothing. Never mind. The point is, I want you to be there. Maybe you’ll think of questions I wouldn’t, or you know something I don’t. A piece of family history that doesn’t seem important until…well, until it does.”
Gorgeous, smart, likeable, and fair into the bargain. The hits just kept coming.
Still, I couldn’t deny how appealing it sounded to be in New York City with Liv.
I imagined taking her to all my favorite places: Pier 25, where you could play mini-golf on the Hudson; the opulent Campbell Bar in Grand Central Station; the steps of the 42nd Street Library, where I loved to people-watch while eating honey-roasted cashews purchased from the ancient vendor across the street…
I derailed that train of thought before it could leave the station. If Liv and I did go to the city, we wouldn’t be sightseeing. What the hell was wrong with me, envisioning taking her to all the places I loved, like she was my damn girlfriend? I needed to get a grip.
Going to New York was a purely practical decision. I could ask Perez to schedule that meeting with Stellar while I was up there, kill two birds with one stone.
“Okay,” I said, getting to my feet and pacing onto the balcony, “I’m in. Do you, um, need a place to stay? My apartment has two bedrooms—”
“Nice try, Theo, but I’m pretty sure staying with you isn’t the best idea.” Her voice was wry, and I wondered if she was remembering the same thing I was: how good we’d been together, how we’d christened damn near every surface in her house.
Liv cleared her throat. “I’ll stay at the Gramercy Park apartment, where my cousin Krista and her family live.
They’re going up to the Catskills the Friday before Thanksgiving.
I’ll just tell my parents I need a vacation; that way, they won’t freak out any more than they already have. And it’s Gray’s weekend to have Chloe.”
Ah yes, the obnoxious ex. What kind of ass would cheat on a woman like Liv? I might not be much for commitment, but once I made a promise, I kept it. I had no patience for men who didn’t. “Great,” I said, biting out the word.
“My family’s donated a lot of stuff to the Historical Society, but still, maybe there’s something we can dig up in the apartment that might help. What do you think?”
“I think,” I said, propping my feet on the railing and deep-sixing the appealing image of waking up to Liv for an entire weekend, “that if we’re going to go up there, we should do more than talk to a guy who might or might not know something.
What about checking to see if Divine Grace’s archives still exist?
Or we could look into police records, see if any other girls matching Ella or Lily’s age and description disappeared around the same time.
Lots of people surrendered their kids back then because they couldn’t afford it.
But that’s different than a girl just…showing up somewhere. ”
The rustle of paper filled the space between us, like she was stalling for time. And then, “Another girl did show up, Theo. You know that story, right?” She paused. “Or…maybe you wouldn’t. I don’t know if it made it into the papers.”
Taking my feet off the railing, I stood. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s just a story. An ugly one, really.
” She paused again, and I imagined her twirling her hair around her fingers or smoothing her hands down her jeans.
“I heard my father talking to my uncle about it once. He said police reached out to every orphanage and children’s home in the city when Charles and Elizabeth filed the report.
None of them had a child matching Ella’s description.
Then the police found a girl, lost in the street.
She died, Theo. Of frostbite. Charles had to go identify the body. But…it wasn’t Ella.”
The words struck me like a blow. “You’re saying it could have been Lily.”
“I…maybe. Because, well, two little girls disappeared, right? My grandma was only one of them. So, something happened to the other. And I keep thinking, if she was still alive, surely she would’ve turned up somewhere by now.”
“Unless the records got lost,” I argued. “Lily was so young. What if her name got recorded wrong, or something?”
“Maybe,” Liv said again, but she didn’t sound convinced.
The girl Charles Carter had identified as not-Ella couldn’t be Lily Dressler. It wasn’t possible. If that was what had happened to my great-aunt, then one of the basic tenets of my life had been based on a colossal misunderstanding. And I couldn’t accept that.
“We don’t know that dead girl was Lily,” I said. “Not without proof. I’ll go online and look for records we can access when we’re up there. There’s got to be some information, a date or something, that’ll point us in the right direction.”
“Great. I have a client in five minutes, so I have to go, but…I’ve got a couple of days off next week. I could leave on Wednesday morning. Gray can probably pick Chloe up from school, and as long as I get back on Sunday in time to do the exchange, that’ll be fine with him. Does that work for you?”
“Yeah, sure. I’d be flying up for Thanksgiving anyhow. This’ll just get me there a little early. I’ll book my flight tonight.” I paused. “Thank you for thinking of this. For being open-minded. And for being willing to go to so much trouble.”
“You’re welcome.” Her voice was soft.
I swallowed hard, then went for it. “For what it’s worth, I don’t hold you responsible for what your family’s done. You’re nothing like them, Liv. And I’m glad I met you.”
Silence followed my little speech. And then she said, so quietly it was almost lost in the sound of the breeze that blew across the balcony, carrying with it the scent of the sea, “I’m glad I met you too. Talk soon, Theo.”