Page 55 of Wicked Games
“Yeah. It’s too early to start drinking.”
With full mugs, we settle on the same couch that I can see from my living room. There’s more to the house than I thought, and a huge TV sits on an enormous entertainment center. “We should have watched that movie in here.”
“Next time, though I like how cozy the den is at your place. This house has cable, but I don’t know what channel something like this will be on.”
“Brooke’s disappearance will make news. She’s my ex-wife and Vale’s girlfriend. People are still talking about Theo. CNN will have it on.”
“Okay.” She sets her coffee on the table and picks up a slim black remote. She has to click through the channels before she finds the right station.
“Don’t watch much TV?”
She shakes her head. “No. Not really. You?”
“I’ll binge a show here and there, but usually I’m—”
“Working?”
I wince. “Yeah.”
“With Violet?”
“Not always,” I mutter, hunching into the cushion and propping my feet on the coffee table.
“Hmmm.”
A news anchor interrupts us, and she starts talking about Theo’s kidnapping and speculates why Rowan Vale is holding a press conference, where I am, and how I’m handling Theo’s death and my divorce.
Avery glances at me. “Is it strange to hear people talk about you?”
“You get used to it.” I pause. “People don’t talk about you?”
“Not like that.”
I feel compelled to warn her and say, “They will.”
She sips her coffee. “It won’t take them long to find out I’m pretty boring. You didn’t think anything when they started talking about Brooke and Rowan?”
“I didn’t pay attention. Now, if they start talking about you and some guy, that’ll be different.”
“The only man I have in my life right now besides you is Bill.”
“Hattie’s husband,” I ask to make sure.
“Yeah. We’re not close, but I think he’ll depend on me for a while. You know. To have someone to talk to.”
“I’d like to meet him.”
“Yeah?” She sounds surprised.
“Of course. You don’t get it, do you?”
The news cuts to a commercial.
“I’m trying not to jump in over my head. I can’t swim.”
“Don’t worry about it. I can.” I wrap my arm around her and cuddle her to me.
We sit silently through another half an hour of commercials and summaries about my life, Brooke’s, and Rowan’s. Finally, the woman in the studio introduces a news reporter standing near the courthouse in Ashfield. She explains who Rowan Vale is, the awards he’s won, the various projects around the world he’s headed, and that he’d been working with Brooke for the past year on a youth community center that’s set to open in the fall. There isn’t time for her to say anything else, as just then Vale steps out of the courthouse and stands behind a podium.
