Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
DELANEY
“ Y ou’ve got that dreamy look on your face again,” Blake told me as she came into the living room and sat beside me on the sofa.
Cade was lying on the rug, watching Pokémon on the television, but I’d zoned out from that at least two episodes ago. Instead, I was thinking about lunch, and that had inevitably led to what we were going to do next.
Cade had school, but there was no reason why he couldn’t move to the school here. We had the farm. We could stay here until we decided if we wanted to stay in Willowbrook indefinitely.
I glanced at Cade and then back at Blake before I nodded toward the kitchen. She nodded in acknowledgment, knowing what I was silently trying to tell her.
As we stood from the couch, Cade said, “You can talk in front of me, and I’ll just pretend not to listen.”
Blake laughed, and I shook my head in exasperation.
“Maybe we want to talk about you,” Blake told him cheekily.
He quickly rolled toward us with a look of outrage on his face.
“She’s joking,” I said, rolling my eyes as I pushed Blake toward the kitchen. “Trace should be coming soon. You still want pepperoni on your pizza?” I asked him to change the subject.
“ Extra pepperoni!” Cade added quickly, turning back to his show, completely forgetting what we’d been talking about before.
“Pepperoni with extra pepperoni coming right up,” I told him as I followed Blake.
She was already at the coffee pot, pouring another cup, when I made it inside. I swear the woman had coffee running through her veins instead of blood.
Blake lifted another mug, and I shook my head. There was no way I’d sleep tonight if I had one now.
“What do you want on your pizza?” I asked her as I pulled my phone out of my pocket so I could get Trace to add to our order.
“I’m heading out, so don’t worry about me. I’ll grab some leftovers when I get back.”
“You don’t have to go out, you know.” I felt guilty that Blake felt like she needed to give us space when she’d come all this way to help me out.
“I know, but I’ve got plans.”
I looked at her in question, but she turned her fingers over her lips, miming locking them, and then pretended to throw it over her shoulder.
I squinted in suspicion. “What are you hiding?”
“Nothing, Mom .” She dug a finger into my ribs, and I batted her away in annoyance. “It’s nice here,” she added, making absolutely no sense. When she could see the confusion on my face, she continued. “I can see why you might be thinking about staying here, and I think you’re right to consider it.”
“I just don’t know…”
“What about it feels like a bad idea?” she asked, sipping at her coffee and watching me over the top of her mug.
I quickly checked my phone to see if Trace had sent me a message, and my stomach flipped when I found one saying he was already on the way. I was acting like I was back in high school, and we all knew how that had ended the first time around.
“That’s the thing. I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all,” I finally admitted to myself. “Cade wants to be here. I want to be here. Trace deserves the chance to get to know his son. Everyone I’ve met in town has been lovely. I don’t know what’s holding me back.”
“Could it be,” Blake whispered, looking side to side dramatically before asking, “The wicked bitch of the west?”
I didn’t even need to ask her who she meant. It was pretty obvious.
“No,” I answered honestly. “I don’t care what she thinks at all. What’s she going to do about it? Say something mean to me? She might be the devil, but even Regina wouldn’t say anything directly to Cade. If anything, she’ll just ignore him, thinking that depriving him of her presence and family name is the worst punishment anyone could have. I’m an adult now. She can’t scare me away with impossible threats anymore.”
Blake looked impressed with my answer and honestly, I was a little bit as well. There was a time when I’d been terrified of Regina and what she’d said she could do. In fact, it had only been yesterday morning when I’d been in town that I’d realized just how untrue it all was. The world didn’t revolve around Regina Farrington. She might not have realized that yet, but the rest of the world had.
“So, what’s the problem, then?” Blake asked me gently. “It sounds like you only have reasons to do it.”
“I don’t know. I guess it’s a big change, and I never saw myself coming back here. I’ve been trying to find what I want to do with my life for the last six months, and this feels like taking a step backward rather than forward. Plus…I guess I don’t want to leave you behind and the life we’d built there. It was good, I was comfortable, settled.”
“What if you weren’t leaving me?” Blake asked as she turned to rinse her mug in the sink.
“What do you mean?”
“Hell, I like it here, Delaney. There’s something about this place that makes the screaming in my head stop. I’ve even got the start of an idea for a new series. It’s still marinading for now, but I can already see some pieces starting to form. I haven’t felt like this about a painting for a while now. Honestly, I thought I was starting to lose it.”
Blake leaned back against the counter with a sigh as she looked around the kitchen like she was seeing it for the first time.
“I’d really like it if you stayed,” I told her seriously.
Blake wasn’t my security blanket, but she was my person. There was nothing I wouldn’t trust her with, and I knew that no matter what, she’d always fight for me. She was my sister of circumstance and my only real friend in the city. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for her.
“I’d really like that too.” She nudged my shoulder with hers.
“So, we’re staying then?” Cade’s voice asked from the hallway.
“Are you eavesdropping on us?” I wanted to laugh, but I wasn’t surprised. I would have done exactly the same thing as him when I was his age.
Cade came into the kitchen, not even looking a little ashamed of himself. “It’s not that I was eavesdropping, more that I was absorbing information that I might need to know.”
I could feel Blake’s shoulders starting to shake with laughter in the moment of laughter that followed.
“You realize this is your fault, right?” I told her. “I’ve heard you say exactly the same thing on numerous occasions.”
“I only learn from the best,” Cade reassured us as he walked over and wrapped his arms around us both. “And I’d really like to stay too.”
I hugged him back. It was impossible not to. Even if I didn’t love the kid with every cell in my body, he was the perfect hugging size at the moment. Seriously, he just fit against me in a way that I couldn’t describe. Plus, I was getting all the hugs I could while he was offering them up. There was a part of me that was absolutely terrified of the day he decided he was too old for random hugs. There was no way I was going to survive his teenage years.
“Okay, how about we give this place a six-month trial and see how we all feel?” I suggested. Cade was nodding already, but before he could say anything, I quickly added. “It’s going to mean changing schools, and the team won’t be able to hold your place back home,” I warned him.
Cade shrugged it off, and I could already see a glimpse of the teenager he was going to become. “That’s okay.”
I doubted it would be if we had to go back, but I’d deal with it then if it came up. I wasn’t inviting problems into my life if I didn’t need them.
“Okay. So, I guess we need to head back home at some point and pick up some more of our things.”
“Oooh, she’s getting ready to make a list,” Blake joked.
“Quick, find a pen!” Cade joined in.
“You’re lucky I love you two, you know. You’re always ganging up on me,” I shouted as Cade darted out of the kitchen, cackling like he always did.
“We need a notepad, stat!” Blake howled as she followed him.
I shook my head at their antics, listening to them running around the house like madmen. This house was made to be filled with noise and happiness. It had never quite reached that level when I was a kid. I was happy here. I had my dad, and we loved each other. But there had always been something missing. It wasn’t just my mom. It was the life and noise that came from a happy family occupying a space together. It was the noise that came with love and life and the people you couldn’t bear to leave behind.
“I wish you could have been here to see this,” I whispered out into the world, hoping that my father was out there listening. “I think you would have liked to be a part of this.”
The sadness and the grief touched me for a moment before I pushed it away again. I couldn’t let myself feel it yet. I just needed to get through the funeral. To get past all the organizing, all the arrangements, and the well-wishing. And then, when I finally made it through to the silence on the other side, I’d let myself feel. I’d give myself the time to feel all the things I was losing, and then I’d pick myself back up and push through again. Because what choice did I have? Cade needed me. I had responsibilities. I didn’t get to lie in bed for a week feeling sad, no matter how much I wanted to.
“I’ve got pizza,” Trace called from the front door as I heard him struggle to make it through the door with what he was carrying.
“Yay!” Cade cried, running into the kitchen ahead of him. “I’m going to set the table.”
I looked at my son in shock, knowing he was a good kid but not recognizing him in the moment. Who was this helpful child, and what had they done with my son?
“I’m heading out.” Blake stuck her head around the door frame and grinned at the domestic picture in front of her. It was what she had always wanted for me, but I couldn’t help but feel like we were leaving her out.
“Are you sure?” Trace asked, “I got plenty for everyone, person whose name I don’t know.”
“Oh my god, I didn’t introduce you to Blake,” I suddenly realized, my hands coming up to press against what would no doubt be my red cheeks. Blake just laughed at the look of utter horror on my face.
I looked between the two of them, embarrassed at my complete lack of manners. How could I have forgotten to introduce him to Blake?
“This is Blake,” Cade filled in while I still held onto my face in horror. “She’s my cool aunt.”
“Aww,” Blake fawned. “I always knew I liked you for a reason.”
Trace held out his hand to her. “It’s nice to meet you, Blake.”
She stepped into the kitchen and shook it graciously, but I could already see the mischief in her eyes, and I was powerless to stop it. I’d learned long ago that you had to let it flow because trying to contain Blake only ended in an explosion of chaotic embarrassment on my behalf. No man could withstand the fury of the pink-haired woman in front of me.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Trace. Well, now. Like six months ago, I would have skinned you alive and hung you up as a warning in the middle of town. But now that I’ve learned you’re not the devil, I’m willing to let you go with all your dangly bits intact.”
“Me, and my dangly bits, thank you for that,” Trace cracked back.
Blake turned to me with a grin. “I like this one. I approve of him courting you.”
Cade was sitting at the table nodding like this was normal, and I could only shake my head and press my hands into my cheeks even harder. At least it was over now.
“Anyway, gotta run. You can fill me in with blackmail material later,” she told Trace and then ducked her head toward Cade. “We will conspire further tomorrow.”
The grin on Cade’s face had me dreading what I’d already missed, and then Blake quickly turned in a cloud of pink hair and skipped toward the front door.
“I like her,” Trace declared, turning back to the pizza and flipping the boxes open. “She has character.”
“Oh,” Blake said as she opened the front door. “Well, hello there, tall, dark, and uniformed,” she purred next.
“Oh, no.” I was standing at the same time as Trace, and Cade started to lean to the side to try to see who Blake was talking to. “This won’t be the first time she’s talked herself into handcuffs.”
Trace snorted a laugh, and I joined him when I heard it back in my head. That wasn’t entirely what I’d meant, not that I didn’t doubt that was true as well.
“Ethan?” Trace said when he saw who was standing at the door.
Yeah, Ethan Yates standing at my front door dressed in a police uniform was not how I thought this night was going to go. Small-town jock turned police officer wasn’t exactly an original story, but it was a surprising one considering who I remembered Ethan to be back in high school.
“Erm, yeah. You got a minute?”
Ethan’s eyes moved from Blake to Trace, then back to Blake as he hit her with one of his infamous smiles. She leaned against the doorframe and looked him up and down.
“Small-town life just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting.”
“Annnd good night, Blake,” I said, leaping into action and shooing her out of the door. She glared over her shoulder at me, and I could see retribution heading my way if I didn’t act quickly. “I’ll explain later.”
“Hey!” Ethan protested. “I’m a changed man.”
“The fact that you need to say that is part of the problem,” I pointed out, waving a hand to invite him in. “I have a feeling this isn’t a social visit.”
“Unfortunately not.” Ethan pulled off his hat and shuffled it uneasily in his hands when he caught sight of Cade sitting at the kitchen table and watching him with wide eyes. “Perhaps we could talk in the living room?” he suggested.
Trace glanced at Cade, and I saw him duck down and whisper something to him. Cade nodded reluctantly and then turned back to his food. I was pretty impressed, and my face must have shown it because Trace just shrugged like it was no big deal and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders and steered me into the living room after Ethan.
“This is nice,” Ethan said, gesturing between us with his hat. “Being a dad looks good on you, Trace.”
“Thanks, man.”
“But, this is about a not so pleasant topic, I’m afraid.” Ethan looked between the two of us before saying. “When was the last time you saw Chelsea?”
My hands came up to my mouth as I gasped.
“No! No, she’s not hurt. Or at least I don’t think so,” Ethan quickly added.
“Jeez, man, think about your wording,” Trace scolded.
“I’m sorry.” Ethan leaned forward to check that Cade wasn’t listening and then added, “But I do need to know if you’ve seen her around.”
“Not since she turned up outside my house and my lawyer passed you the audio recording of that particular interaction.”
“Yeah. Well, I had a call from her landlord this afternoon. He entered her property because she was behind on her rent, and it seems like she’s skipped town.”
“What does that mean for Trace’s case against her? For the restraining order?” I asked, in concern.
We all moved over to the seats, and Ethan sat on the edge of the armchair like he was getting ready to leap up at a moment’s notice. He really did seem different from the teenager I’d once known. I guess we’d all changed.
“She’s technically on bail from the breaking and entering charge, even if the judge was inappropriately biased at her hearing.” I could hear the frustration in his voice, and it was kind of nice to know Trace at least had him on his side. “When she doesn’t show up for the next hearing, there should be a warrant issued for her arrest. I’d expect the restraining order to be made at the same time, especially when the recording is heard in court.”
I sighed in relief. Chelsea clearly had issues, and part of me felt bad for her. But what she’d done to Trace, what she continued to do to him, was completely unacceptable. I was glad she’d skipped town, honestly. Otherwise, I was pretty sure that I’d be the next one arrested when I ran into her in town.
“Well, I’ve still got a few other people to drop in on to see if they’ve had any contact with Chelsea. I’ll let you folks get on with your night.” Ethan stood from his seat and started to walk toward the door before he stopped and turned back to us. “Just be on the lookout, okay? She’s been volatile before, and even though I doubt she’s coming back into town, it wouldn’t hurt to stay aware of your surroundings.”
“We will,” Trace said as he showed Ethan to the door and then shook his hand before he left.
Chelsea had once been my best friend. She hadn’t always been like this. Her childhood had been very much like Trace’s. It was part of why we’d all gotten along so well. The Farrington boys understood her in a way that no one else could. It was a shame that it had turned out like this. That we’d all hurt each other in so many ways.
“You okay?” Trace asked, kneeling down in front of me as he clasped my hands.
“Yeah. It’s just strange how life turns out, you know?” He nodded sadly. “Do you think she’s going to be all right?”
I should hate her. I did, in a way. But I also felt sorry for her. For how she’d tried to build the life she thought she’d always wanted, the lengths she’d gone to just to get it, and how it had all blown up in her face. I couldn’t help but wonder if she had regrets or if she really did think she was the victim in all of this.
“Chelsea hasn’t been okay for a very long time, baby,” he said sadly.
Just one more person dragged into this mess by the adults who thought they knew better.
One more life destroyed.
Only this one didn’t seem to have anyone to help her piece it back together again.