Chapter 13
thirteen
HARLOW
The press release went out this morning. The world knows Cal has a daughter.
“Cal, she needs to nap,” I tell him, attempting to reach for Cora. He spins around, keeping her pinned to his chest and out of my reach.
“I can’t,” he pleads, his eyes wide. There are a ton of reporters at the gate, which we expected. They can’t get in though, and they definitely can’t see into the house. Not with all the curtains closed.
“Keeping her awake and cranky isn’t going to help anyone.”
“She can sleep in my arms,” he counters. I look at Cora, who is currently smiling and gnawing on a teething toy.
“You know she won’t sleep.” I grab his arm gently, and he stops moving. “Jo and my dad will be her soon to meet with us. Cora needs to nap. We’re not leaving the house.”
“But . . .”
“It’s going to be okay, Cal. No one in this house is going to hurt her. She’s as safe as she’ll ever be here with you.”
“And you,” he says, placing his hand over mine where it’s still resting on his arm.
“Family meeting time!” Belle’s voice calls from the bottom of the stairs.
Cal sighs and kisses the top of Cora’s head. “I’ll put her down for her nap and meet you in the living room.” He turns and makes his way into Cora’s room, not waiting for me to respond.
“Do you think you can talk Cal into making Midnight Macaroni?” Belle asks from where she’s sitting at the kitchen island.
I look at the clock on the stove. “It’s one in the afternoon.”
“It’s more of a stress thing than a time thing,” Willa says from behind me, making me jump.
“Maybe we can watch Practical Magic. It’s my comfort movie,” Belle says.
“Mine too,” Willa agrees.
“Where are Kai and Mav?” I ask, looking around and not seeing them.
“Kai went to get Mav. He’s uh . . . not doing so hot after finding out what his dad did to you yesterday,” Belle says, her shoulders slumped.
“I was just freaked out. He didn’t touch me or anything.” I don’t know why I’m defending the asshole. Probably because I hate when people are upset.
“Doesn’t really matter, considering the snowball he set in motion,” Willa says with a shrug.
“What’s Cal’s comfort movie?” I ask, circling back to Belle’s comment. For some reason, it bothers me more than it should.
“I don’t think he has one. Never really needed one.” Belle says, her face scrunched as she thinks.
“Yeah. Cal is never really stressed. He just lets things roll off his shoulders. Always admired that about him,” Willa adds.
I just blink at the two of them. “What do you mean? Everyone needs comfort sometimes.”
“Not Cal. Don’t get me wrong, he gets frazzled when he’s stressed, but that passes pretty quickly,” Willa says.
Are they talking about the same person? The man I know has been in a constant state of stress since I met him. Kai and Mav arrive with my dad right behind them before I can open my mouth to argue.
“Do either of you know Cal’s comfort movie?” I ask the guys. They both look at me, confused. I don’t know if they’re confused about why I’m asking or if they don’t know. There’s no way he doesn’t have a comfort movie.
Apparently, this is a hill I’m willing to die on.
“Talladega Nights.”
I smile but don’t bother turning around. I can feel Cal’s presence. I probably didn’t even need him to speak to know he was in the room.
“Told you,” I say to everyone in the room. They all just shrug.
“How come you didn’t jump?” Willa asks.
“I knew he was there. I could smell him,” I joke. Well, mostly. I can smell his clean, woodsy scent from where he’s standing behind me. Is it weird that I kind of want to stick my face in his chest and just smell him?
Yeah. Definitely weird.
“I’m not sharing my popcorn with you tonight,” Cal huffs in mock outrage. I turn around to see him frowning at me, but then he winks. I know what he’s doing. He’s breaking the tension in the room. I’ve seen him do it a million times over the weeks I’ve been living here.
“You’re the one who steals my popcorn! We went through a whole box last night! That’s eight bags, Cal! You ate eight bags of popcorn!” I shout playfully, going along with him. I think he needs to break the heaviness in the room more than anyone else that’s here right now.
He smiles at me appreciatively, knowing full well he only ate two bags.
“Have you guys watched the latest episode?” Jo asks, making me jump. Willa narrows her eyes, definitely noticing there was only one person in this room that didn’t startle me by suddenly appearing behind me.
It’s because he lives here.
That’s definitely the reason.
“The date he took her on was —”
“Shh! No spoilers!” Cal screams, covering his ears and singing so he can’t hear her.
Everyone laughs in a that’s classic Cal for you way, and I hate it. I’m all for silly moments to break the tension, but that’s not the looks he’s getting. He can see it in my face and shakes his head, asking me to keep my thoughts to myself. I press my lips together and nod.
Only because today is about protecting Cora and figuring out Senator Wolfe’s goal with all this. We’re running with the assumption he needs Maverick, but it’s not a good idea to put all our eggs in that basket.
But once this is all over, I am not keeping quiet. These people are his family and as much as they love him, I don’t think they even know him.
“The initial response is positive overall. Your fanbase was relatively unsurprised you have a child,” Jo says, looking over analytics on her iPad.
“Really? Because it shocked the shit out of me,” Cal says, making everyone laugh. I smile at the joke, but I’m watching Jo’s eyebrows slowly draw closer and closer together. She’s seeing something she doesn’t like.
“What was the crowd at the gate like?” Kai asks my dad.
“As we expected, but the police are there keeping them in check,” my dad answers. “And we’re sure we’re not worried about your neighbors selling pictures?”
“No. You don’t live in gated communities unless you want to keep people away from you. There’s no way they want reporters in here,” Kai answers.
My dad nods in agreement, and I know that’s because he already ran background checks on everyone that lives here.
“Where are we on connecting my dad to Ezra?” Mav asks.
My dad stills and looks at me. I tilt my head in confusion, waiting for whatever he has to say.
“I think I have a way to get Ezra’s cell. From what my contact tells me, it’s still in evidence. I’m working out a way for it to go ‘missing.’”
“Dad!” I blurt, shocked. My dad has always been very strict about doing things by the book, so any case he helped with couldn’t be thrown out.
“I know, Harlow. But it’s becoming clearer the more I search and find absolutely nothing, that there is something to hide. The fact that the phone even still exists means someone forgot about it. Right now, it’s the only lead we have.”
“And you think there will be something on there to incriminate my dad?” Maverick asks.
My dad shakes his head. “Right now, I’m treating these as two separate cases. I’m hoping the phone will give us a lead on either where he went or why he ran. As for your dad,” he looks at Maverick in a way that tells me he’s trying to choose his words carefully. “Is there a way you could meet with your mom without alerting your dad? Maybe ask her some questions?”
Mav sighs, leaning back into the couch, his head tilted to the ceiling. “She asks me to meet her for lunch all the time. At least she did when I still lived in Maine. I’m sure I could arrange that.” He sits forward and looks at my dad. “I have to be honest, though. She’s become more of an accessory for my dad than anything. I doubt she knows much.”
“You’d be surprised. Those are the people who usually know the most.” All eyes swing my way. “What?”
“She watches a lot of true crime,” Jo mutters, still glaring at her iPad as she scrolls furiously through something.
“You’re one to talk,” I scoff.
“Wait. So all this time we could’ve been watching murder documentaries and instead you have me waiting to see if the deaf man and the blind lady can figure out how to communicate and fall in love?” Cal asks, an affronted look on his face.
“Stop acting like you don’t text me after every episode to talk about it,” Mav says.
“Bro! That was our secret!” Cal complains.
He’s playing it up again, but his hands are in fists in his lap like he’s barely holding it together. And yet again, no one else notices. He catches me watching him and gives me a forced smile. I don’t return it. The slightest shake of his head lets me know he doesn’t want me saying anything right now.
“How did you not know? The girls want to start a podcast. That’s their career goal.”
Well shit.
I glare at my dad, who looks at me like he has no idea why I’m mad at him. And I guess it might be my fault. Anytime an end date is brought up, I brush it off since I don’t have one to give. I know he’s asking so he can plan for the future.
I risk a glance at Cal, and he is absolutely fuming. Great. Perfect. Our one day of friendship is over.
“The Internet is trying to figure out who Harlow is,” Jo interrupts.
“What the hell for?” I yell, a little too loudly, judging by how Willa flinches. She’s sitting directly next to me, and I definitely just screamed into her ear.
“Someone got a picture of you pushing a stroller. It’s far away and grainy. Cora can’t be seen at all, but your hair is hard to miss,” Jo says.
“He did say Cal has a type,” I mutter, patting down my hair like it’s wronged me.
Kai snorts. “You’re too smart to be his type.”
“Cal isn’t stupid,” I defend immediately. I’m sick of everyone implying he is. I’m getting a lot of startled and confused looks right now, and it’s making my skin feel itchy.
“Can we get back to the matter at hand, people?” Jo phrases it as a question, but her voice is sharp.
“I’m heading up to Maine tonight to retrieve the phone,” my dad says. “Maverick, let me know when you set up that meeting with your mom and we can go over questions.” Mav nods. “Harlow, try to stay out of trouble until I’m back.”
I scoff, actually offended. “Shopping and walking with a baby in a stroller are hardly things I should be in trouble for.”
My dad ignores me, kissing the top of my head as he leaves.
“I’m going to keep monitoring this,” Jo says. “Harlow, don’t leave the house for now.”
I don’t have time to answer. She just turns on her heel and leaves, Mav getting up and following her immediately.
“Is there something going on there or am I crazy?” Willa asks what I was just thinking.
“Well, she ignores him most of the time. So I’m going to have to say no,” Belle says.
“He might have some sort of mean woman kink because she is not nice to him,” Kai says, shaking his head.
I snort. “You didn’t hire her because she’s nice.”
Willa laughs and then stands. “Let’s go, losers. I don’t want to be here when Cal explodes.”
I hear the three of them leave, but my eyes are on Cal. He’s practically vibrating with rage.
“Uh. I think I’ll just go to my room,” I say quietly.
“Sit the fuck down, Harlow.” Cal’s voice is low, menacing.
I’ve never sat down faster.
“You’re just going to leave m-Cora?” His voice is calm, but like that eerie calm before you’re suddenly hit by a storm that pulls your house off its foundation. His reaction is confusing since I never promised to stay forever. But maybe he’s feeling just as attached to me as I am to him and Cora.
“You want the truth, Callahan?” I fight back.
“Always,” he growls.
“I don’t fucking know!” I stand up and pace the length of the room. “Jo and I have had a dream of starting a true crime podcast. But not like the ones that are popular right now. We want to start one that only goes over cold cases and enlist the help of specialists, like my dad, to try to get closure to families. That’s what I want at some point in my life.” I stop and take a deep breath, deciding the full truth needs to be said. “I initially took this job because I thought our first case could be Ezra’s. That maybe you guys had information we could use to find him or to help in some way while also bringing a lot of attention to the podcast.”
Cal’s frown deepens, and I know I’m just digging myself into a hole that I’ll never find my way out of. So might as well keep digging.
“But the more time I spent with you, with all of you, I realized that approach might do more harm than good. You guys are already in the spotlight, which puts Ezra’s case in the spotlight without any help.” I bite my lip, nervous that he hasn’t said anything. “And what if this just reopens old wounds for people instead of healing them, like what we intended?”
“Now that you can’t profit off our pain, do you plan to quit?” he asks between clenched teeth.
Alright, we’re going for broke here.
“No. I love Cora. I love being part of her life. I love being part of your life and being your friend.” The word ‘friend’ feels wrong on my tongue, but that’s all we’ll ever be. Especially now. “I had no intention of deceiving you. Podcasts can take years to take off. I would never have left you high and dry.”
“You love Cora?” he asks, only slightly less angry.
“How can you even ask me that? That little girl stole my heart the moment I walked into this house, and you know it.” It’s my turn to be pissed.
“Yeah. I know, Firecracker.” His lips twitch with the hint of a smile.
“Since we’re laying the cards on the table,” I say, crossing my arms and glaring at him. “What the hell is with the dual personalities?”
Cal shakes his head. “You’re the only person that’s ever noticed.”
“Not an answer, Cal.”
He sighs, gesturing for me to sit next to him. I don’t. I just keep my arms crossed and glare. But he waits.
“Goddammit,” I mutter, taking the seat next to him.
“Has Belle ever said anything to you about how we grew up?”
I shake my head. “The only thing I know is what you told me that first day. Your mom doesn’t know, and you want to keep it that way.” My eyes go wide. “She knows now! Shit.”
“Don’t worry about that right now.”
“Fine, but I’m going to worry about it later.”
Cal chuckles.
“My mom was and is all about appearances. She married my dad because he made good money. She became friends with Kai and Ezra’s mom because Adira was popular in social circles. She had kids because it was what you did to secure your husband.”
I scrunched up my nose in disgust.
“Yeah. She was never really a mother. She didn’t work and was somehow still less of a parent than my dad, who worked two jobs to keep up with her spending.”
“I can see where you didn’t want her in Cora’s life. She would just use her for money or clout or something.”
Cal nods. “She would.”
“What does this have to do with your dumb man act?”
“My mom never really liked Belle for some reason. Willa’s theory is that Belle is prettier than my mom, and my mom hates her for it. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but Belle would always be pushed on me. When we were small, I was resentful that I always had to take my baby sister everywhere, but as we got older and had the same group of friends, I became protective.”
“You divert the attention and alleviate the stress by acting stupid and making jokes,” I surmise what I already figured out weeks ago. I just didn’t know the why behind it.
Cal’s eyebrows shoot up. “I shouldn’t be so surprised you figured that out.”
I shrug.
“I’ve been doing it for so long, I don’t think they know what my actual personality is.”
“Do you?” I ask.
“I think you might be the only person who does,” he admits softly.
“I’ll help you figure it out.”
He reaches for my hand and squeezes. “Tell me you’re staying.” His words are steady, but the worry in his eyes is clear.
“If you’ll let me.”
He lets out a breath. “Let you? I think Cora would leave with you.”
We both laugh and then settle quietly into the silence that follows. I gave him until I figured out my next step when I interviewed, but I don’t think that’s what he’s asking. I can read between the lines and see he wants me for much longer than that, but the lines are messy, and we’re too confused to explore it.
“Cal?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know, Firecracker.”