Chapter 3
CHLOE
“Oh,” I said groggily, backing up against the headboard. “Hey, Effie.”
She put her index finger to her mouth. “Shh…”
“I’m not supposed to talk?” I whispered.
“My daddy told me not to come in here. But I wanted to look at you.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “It’s a school night.”
“Well, I won’t tell.” I grinned. “What time is it?”
“Past midnight.” She climbed onto the bed and made herself comfortable. “Why were you and my dad yelling at each other earlier?”
I played dumb. “Were we?”
“Is it because of the nightmares he has?”
I drew in my brows. “Nightmares?”
“Yeah. The ones where he calls out your name…Chloe.”
For a moment, the world stopped spinning. Calls out my name?
“He does?” I finally asked.
She nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“It happened twice.”
My insides whirled. “How do you know they were nightmares?”
“I don’t. But when I talk in my sleep, Daddy says I have nightmares. So, that’s what I call it when someone talks in their sleep.”
“Did you ever ask him about it?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t think he’d be happy if he knew you told me that.”
Effie seemed to think for a moment. “How do you know my dad?”
“You didn’t ask him that already?”
“I did. But he didn’t want to talk about you. He told me to go do my homework.”
Exhaling, I took a moment to gather my thoughts. “Well, believe it or not, he used to live with my family when he was younger. He moved in with us when he was a teenager.”
“Because my grandma was sick?”
“Yes.” I nodded somberly.
“He told me about that. He said when my grandma got sick, he went to live with her best friend’s family.”
“That’s right. My mother was your grandmother Carmen’s best friend.”
“That’s so cool.” She smiled, but then it quickly faded. “Was your mom sad when my grandma died?”
“She was very sad. They were best friends from childhood, so much so that she trusted my mother to look after your dad, even if he was almost old enough to take care of himself when she died.”
“How old was Daddy when he went to live with you?”
“He was about seventeen when he first moved in. He was still in high school. Your grandma had to sell the house to pay for her treatments, so he moved in with us when she was in the hospital.”
“How old were you?” she asked.
“Your dad is five years older than me. I was twelve.”
“Four years older than I am now. I’m eight,” she offered.
I smiled. “What time do you have to get up for school tomorrow?”
“Seven.”
“You should probably go to bed before your dad catches you in here, then. Is he asleep?”
“I don’t think so. I heard him talking to his girlfriend on the phone.”
Girlfriend. My heart sank. Why did that bother me? I guess old habits die hard.
“She calls him late so they can talk while I’m sleeping,” Effie added.
“How do you know that if you’re sleeping?” I winked.
Effie shrugged. “I stay up sometimes. He tells her he doesn’t have time to talk when she calls him during the day or when we’re having dinner.”
It impressed me that Evan set such boundaries for his daughter. “What’s her name?” I asked, even though I had no right to that info.
“Naomi.” She scrunched her nose. “I don’t like her.”
“Why not?”
“She laughs funny and puts weird food in the fridge when she comes over. She never stays overnight, though. I think she’s away right now. She lives here, but she travels for her job.”
“I see.” An unsettled feeling developed in my stomach.
“She tried to sneak spinach into my smoothie once,” Effie added.
“Yuck.” I laughed.
“I know. I hate spinach.” She paused. “But you know what I like?”
“What?”
She grinned impishly. “Sour peach rings.”
Just as I considered opening one of the bags of candy for her, I heard footsteps. Feeling like a kid myself, one who was about to get caught for doing something bad, I gave Effie a look that said, Oh crap.
Evan rapped gently on the door before he peeked his head in. “Hey…” he scolded her in a tone that sent a jolt through me. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
“It’s okay.” I straightened against the headboard. “We were just talking.”
“It’s not okay. She needs to be up for school in the morning.”
She scooted off the bed. “Goodbye, Chloe.”
“Bye, Effie,” I managed before she ran off.
Evan left the door open a crack as he followed her. I wasn’t expecting him to return, but a few minutes later, he did. He knocked lightly and stopped just inside the doorway.
I moved to sit at the edge of the bed. “She’s very sweet.”
“She’s sneaky, is what she is.” He sighed. “I see you conceded to staying here.”
“Actually, my body just shut down. I thought I was kicking my feet up for a bit, but I fell asleep.”
“Well, at least your body has some common sense, unlike the rest of you. Did Effie wake you?”
“No, I woke up on my own, and she was just…staring at me.”
Evan nodded. “She likes to do that. It’s a little creepy.”
“I thought it was cute.” Silence filled the space between us. “I’m sorry about this,” I added. “Clearly you have enough on your hands without a surprise house guest.”
“It’s really no skin off my back.”
He couldn’t have meant that. Although…maybe I had it all wrong. There was always the possibility that I simply didn’t mean all that much to Evan anymore, so my being here didn’t faze him as much as I thought.
Evan leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Exactly how bad is your mom’s condition?”
“She doesn’t remember much of anything anymore.” I paused. “Well, last time I was here, there were occasional blips of reality, but they were few and far between. I’m told things are worse now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Chloe. Truly.”
“Well, not everything is worth remembering, right? I guess the consolation is that she doesn’t remember the demise of her marriage, nor will she ever know my father remarried. Maybe sometimes it’s better to be out of touch with reality.”
Evan frowned. “You’re not speaking to your dad at all?”
“Barely.”
“That’s a shame. You two were close.”
“It is what it is,” I said, pain tugging at my chest.
“Did you have to quit your job to come here?”
“Thankfully, no.” I shook my head. “I’ll be working remotely.”
“Where do you work?”
“I’m at Lakeview Technologies in Chicago, working as a project manager.”
“What do they do?”
“They make healthcare software. We have several contracts with hospital systems in multiple states.” I tilted my head. “Where are you working now?”
“Still at the power plant, believe it or not. Just in a different capacity.”
“What do you do there?”
“I worked my way up to a senior engineer position about five years ago, but I got promoted last year to operations manager. Pretty much run the place now.”
“That’s impressive.”
I’d never doubted that Evan was destined for great things. When I’d left, he was studying engineering and already interning at the power plant. Word around town at the time had been that they loved his work ethic and planned to try to keep him.
A question was at the tip of my tongue, and I couldn’t help but unleash it. “You’re not married anymore, I take it, if you have a girlfriend?”
He arched a brow. “How did you know that?”
“Effie. She told me you were talking to your girlfriend on the phone. That’s why I assumed—”
“Effie has a big mouth. But yeah, her mom and I officially divorced a few years ago.” He moved away from the wall and took a few steps back toward the door. “Anyway, it’s late. I’ve got to get her up in the morning, so I’d better head to bed.”
My attempt at prying apparently caused him to shut down and flee.
“Yeah. Of course.”
Then, before he left the room, Evan walked over to the closet and opened the sliding door.
That might not have meant anything to most people, but it meant a lot to me.
It meant he remembered my fear of sleeping with the closet door open, and that after all these years and despite the tension between us, he still took joy in taunting me.
It meant that maybe, despite the tough front he was showing me now, he hadn’t forgotten everything.
“Goodnight,” he said curtly, as if he hadn’t just done the sweetest thing, even if it was meant to be mischievous.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Goodnight.”
After Evan left, I felt empty inside again.
Despite his teasing, our communication was now at a bare minimum when at one time he’d been my best friend and confidante.
All these years, I’d assumed he’d stopped thinking about me.
But after what Effie told me about his nightmares, I had to wonder if maybe I was wrong.