Chapter 16
RILEY
My phone rings at four in the morning.
I answer it. “Hello?"
"Riley Crowe?" A woman's voice, unfamiliar, with the lilt of a Jamaican accent.
"Yeah, who's this?"
"My name is Candace. I’m a security guard at the Detroit Metro Airport. I have a woman here who seems to be having some kind of trouble. She won't say anything but your name and Three Rivers. Her luggage tag says Cadence Creswell, MD."
I blank for a second. "Cade—Cadence? She's there? Now?"
"Yes, sir. She has been here for a few hours. At first, we thought she was waiting for a transfer, but she’s…she's just staring at nothing. Has been for hours. We barely got her to give us your name. Do you know her?"
"Yeah, yes, yes. She's my…yes, I know her. I'm several hours away, but I'll get there as soon as I can. Just…keep an eye on her. Leave her be, just keep an eye on her."
"Okay, I understand."
I throw on yesterday's clothes, cram a hat on my head, nuke leftover coffee and put it in a to-go tumbler, and head south as fast as I can, pushing the envelope of safety and legality. I send Felix and Bear a voice note detailing the situation, and then focus on driving.
I make it to DTW in record time—don't tell Cole, though, or he'll yell at me for speeding.
I park like an asshole in the pickup line at Arrivals behind a few idling taxis and run inside, dodging and ducking, weaving through the crowd.
I make it as far as the luggage carousel, but I'm stopped by a security guard at the door that would take me up to the concourse where Cadence must be.
"A guard named Candace called me," I say, panting. "My…ah, girlfriend is up there—”
“Yeah," the guard says. "You're Riley Crowe from Three Rivers, huh?”
I blink at the interruption. “Oh, uh, yeah, that's me."
"Cmon, man. This way." He does a chin-lift at another guard, who comes to take his place at the door. "Your girl must've been through some kinda shit, bro. She's fucked up."
Fuck.
He senses my urgency—possibly assisted by the fact that I'm clearly about to shove past him and start sprinting. We reach the concourse, and he points to the left. "Down at the end. Gate A3."
“Thanks," I mumble, and take off running.
I'm a sweaty, gasping, shaky-legged mess by the time I get to the far end of the concourse.
I see her. A gate on the left, sitting in one of the blue seats.
She's rocking back and forth, muttering under her breath.
Her arms are wrapped around her midsection, and her eyes are fixed on the floor in front of her, seeing nothing.
She has one small carry-on suitcase beside her with a small brown leather purse on top of it, and the handle of the suitcase slipped through the handles of the purse.
I skid to a stop, dropping to my knees in front of her. Take her hands—she's been picking at the cuticles of her thumbs with her index fingernails so much that the nail beds on each thumb are bloody.
"Cadie?" I whisper, trying to catch her attention. "Hey. It's me. It’s Riley."
"Riley Crowe, Three Rivers. Riley Crowe, Three Rivers." Repeated on a loop, her voice scratchy.
A crowd is gathering, and I glance over my shoulder. "Fuck off!"
An imposing Black woman with pale pink hair hustles over, herding and ushering the onlookers away firmly but kindly.
"You must be Riley Crowe," she says to me once the area is cleared.
"Yeah," I answer, distracted. "Candace?"
She nods. "Yeah, I called you. Poor thing's been there since before my shift started, and I'm about to clock out. Won’t respond to anything, not since we got her to say your name, and now that's all she'll say. She sick or something?”
"Or something," I answer. "I've got it from here, Candace. Thanks."
"I'll be around for a few more minutes if you need anything, yah?"
Even through my worry for Cadence, I recognize the compassion this woman is showing, and I smile at her. "I will. You're an angel, Candace. Thank you so much.”
"I dunno 'bout all that, but anyone can see she is not okay."
"She will be." I squeeze Cadence's hands, kiss her knuckles; her hands are dry and cracked, her lips are chapped, and she has heavy black bags under her eyes. "Cadence, hey. It's me. I'm here."
Her eyes flutter, twitch, and she blinks once, focusing on me—not without effort, either. "R-Rye—?”
I sniff a laugh. "Yeah, honey, it's me. Riley. I'm here. I've got you."
She blinks at me. "Real?"
“Yeah, I'm real." I place her palm on my cheek—I quit shaving weeks ago, so I've got a scraggly beard going. "Touch me, honey. I'm real.”
Her fingers curl into my beard. "Beard."
“Yeah, I grew a beard."
Her eyes go unfocused again. "Riley Crowe, Three Rivers…."
“Hey, hey, hey—baby, come back." I shimmy closer, so she rocks into me. "Cadence, sweetheart. It's Riley, I'm here."
"Riley—Riley." Her eyes try to focus on me, fail, try again. "Riley?"
"Yeah, right here. Hey, look at me, yeah?" I clutch her hands inside mine. "You wanna go home?"
"Home?"
"With me."
"Three Rivers?"
“Yeah, honey. Home to Three Rivers with me."
"Home to Three Rivers with you."
My heart is in a billion shards, seeing her like this. Fuck me, what did she go through over there?
I slide backward and start to rise to my feet, but she abruptly and violently lurches at me. She hits my chest and we tumble backward together to the floor. "NO!" She clings to me with shocking strength. "Don't leave me! Don't leave me!”
"I'm not leaving you, I'm not—" I cradle her against me, but she's shaking and sobbing. "I'll never leave you, sweetheart. I've got you."
"Got me," she repeats. "Got me."
"Yeah, honey, I've got you. Just…just hold onto me."
"Hold onto you."
I work to my feet with Cadence clinging to me like a spider monkey baby with its mother. Her legs are around my waist and her arms around my neck, her face buried in my throat. She’s shaking, trembling violently, now.
"Riley?" It's a shredded whisper. "I’m thirsty."
I twist around, looking for Candace, catch her gaze; she's a few feet away, watching with concern all over her features. "Can you get her some water?"
She bustles off and returns with a sealed bottle. I crack it open; Cadence is clinging to me so tightly I have both hands free.
"Here," I whisper, perching on the edge of a seat. "Drink."
She turns sideways on my lap and takes the bottle from me in a quaking hand—water sloshes out. "C-can't."
I put it to her lips. "Just a sip at first."
She takes a mouthful and swishes it around; another, just as small.
Sip after sip, until her hands stop shaking and she can drink it on her own.
When she's finished most of the bottle, she sets it aside and turns back to me, legs around my waist, and rests her cheek on my shoulder.
“Home,” she whispers. "Home to Three Rivers with you. "
I carry her through the concourse like that, Candace trailing behind with the suitcase. I reach my truck, finding the security guard who met me at the stairs guarding it so I don't get ticketed or towed.
I set Cadence in the passenger seat and buckle her in. "I'm not leaving, just going around to the other side."
She reluctantly releases her grip on my wrist, but her eyes don't leave me as I circle the hood. As soon as I'm behind the wheel, she latches onto me again.
Once we're on the freeway heading north, I unbuckle her and slide the console up out of the way and pull her toward me. She curls up against my side.
She doesn't move the rest of the way.
Felix, Ember, Cole, Nyx, Bear, and Noelle are all at my house when we arrive. It's a noisy bustle in my tiny kitchen, and Cadence shrinks against me.
"She's gonna need some time before she's ready for visitors," I say. "An' I don't know any more than any of you."
Bear claps his huge hands once. "Out."
Cadence stirs at the clap, seems to momentarily tune back in. "I am very tired," she whispers. "I am sorry."
Ember, with Ella cradled in the crook of her arm, kisses Cadence on the cheek. "We're all here for you, Cadence. We're all glad you're back safely."
"Safe?” She repeats the word as if unsure of its meaning. "Safe."
Noelle looks at me quizzically, but I shrug—I don't have any answers. Everyone but Fee files out.
"You good, bro?" he asks, his eyes full of concern.
"Me? I'm fine. Just gotta get her settled."
"Want me to wait?" His voice is pitched low.
"Nah," I say. "Just cover me at work for now, yeah? Dunno how long."
"Long as you need," he says. "Long as she needs."
"Thanks, brother."
He claps me on the back and heads out, but not without one last worried glance at Cadence, who's clinging to me in a way that suggests she may never let go.
Fine by me.
I bring her into my room, sit on the edge of the bed. Pull her back enough that I can look at her. "Hey—you with me?"
Her eyes focus on me slowly. "With you."
"Do you want to take a bath?"
She frowns. "Bath?"
Dirt and dust cakes her face around her eyes.
She’s wearing a set of blue surgical scrubs with filthy, once-white Keds sneakers, and, strangely, some kind of black fabric wrapped in a tangle around her neck like an oversized scarf.
One of those headwrap-things women over there wear?
I dunno. I doubt she's changed those scrubs in days, if not longer.
And not that I mind, but she smells like she's gone for who knows how long without a shower.
Her eyelids flutter and her eyes flicker with life, with thought. "A bath. Yes, please." Her green gaze flicks to mine. "Riley, I…"
I kiss the knuckles of one hand. "Hush, baby. I've got you."
She seems to sag at my words, as if whatever strength has kept her intact thus far is fading fast. "So tired."
"Let's get you clean." I brush filthy, tangled hair out of her eyes—the rest is bound up in a tight knot at the top and back of her head, out of the way. "Can I leave you here for a second while I run the bath?"
Panic fills her eyes at the suggestion. "No!"