Page 145 of Forever Dark
“She was smarter than me.I still use her best lines.She’d be glad you came tonight.”
Selena looked up.
Robert had both hands in the pockets of his cardigan now.His shoulders were slightly rounded, but something in his face had eased.Not healed.That was too much to ask of one conversation.But eased.
“Tell Diane I’m sorry I never saw her this time,” Selena said.“I’ll catch up with her properly next time.”
Robert gave her a look.“You might want armor for that.”
“I know.”
“She’s got a temper.”
“So do I, but hopefully I can avoid using it.”
He nodded.
Selena smiled.“I’ll call her.”
“Good.”He opened the door wider again.“You sure you won’t come in?”
“I can’t tonight.If I sit down, I might not get back up.”
“That bad?”
“It’s been a long few days.”
Robert studied her.“I heard some of it.”
“Small town.”
“Small county.”
She nodded.“Yeah.”
His voice gentled.“You did good, Lena.”
For a second she was no longer an FBI agent, not a woman of forty, not someone who had faced down killers and committees and the wreckage of her own choices.She was a tired daughter on her father’s porch, wanting his approval and hating herself a little for how much it still mattered.
“Thanks, Dad.”
Robert stepped out onto the porch.
Selena met him halfway.The hug was careful at first, both of them negotiating years of distance and the frailty in his body.Then his arms tightened around her, and hers tightened back.
She closed her eyes.
No speech could have done what that moment did.No clever apology.No polished explanation.Just the two of them standing under the porch light while the night carried on around them.
When they finally separated, Robert cleared his throat and looked toward the yard as if something there needed his attention.
Selena followed his gaze.
“The old swing still work?”she said.
Robert slipped one hand around the porch rail.“I oil it every now and then.Don’t know why, really.”He looked at the swing, its seat waiting beneath the maple.“I guess it can be hard to let go of things.”
Selena looked at him, then back at the yard.
