Page 18 of You for Her (The Edge of Retaliation 2)
I haven’t told her that I broke into Tatum and Tanner’s house, I just told her I overheard them saying they were going to tag my car. I don’t want to put anything else on her, she’s already going through enough standing beside me like she is. I can’t expect her to involve herself anymore than she already has.
“Technically he’s already run, but I get what you’re saying. All the effort to change his name and disappear but he still calls his mom?”
“If he didn’t, she would have probably called the police,” I point out. “I mean, think about it, she would worry he was dead, or hurt, and would have sent them after him, which would have looked suspicious for him. Instead, he has packed up and left, saying he couldn’t deal with living here anymore, and has decided not to tell anyone where he lives. He calls her every now and then, that keeps her from coming after him.”
“That poor woman.” Jo sighs. “It’s so sad that she has to go through something like that. She must be heartbroken.”
I nod. “She’s hurt alright, no doubt about it. She’s worried for her son, she misses him like crazy, but she’s so down and out that she lets him have it his way. He’s getting away with starting his life over again.”
“Not for long,” Jo mutters. “He needs to face up to whatever he did to Celia, and he needs to own it. He has no right to hide and let you take all the pain from it. We’re going to find him, and we’re going to make him admit to everyone what happened to her.”
“What do you think happened?” I ask, as we round the corner and the restaurant comes into view.
“I don’t know,” Jo says, her voice low. “I’ve thought about it a lot, but the things I come up with that would be bad enough for her to take her own life make me feel sick. Whatever it was, it couldn’t have been good, because nobody does what Celia Yates did unless they feel like they honestly can’t go on.”
I nod, and my heart aches for the girl I’ll never know. For her pain. For her burden. “I wish I could talk to her. If I could have one thing in this world, it wouldn’t be to change that night, it would be to have the chance to sit with Celia for a day and just talk to her, about everything, about anything, and get to know her, secrets and all.”
Jo reaches over and squeezes my arm. “If there was anything in the world I could give you, honey, it would be that.”
I smile at her. “Anyway, that’s enough talk of this. Let’s go drink and eat and for a moment forget this hellish nightmare we currently live in.”
“Sounds good to me.”
We make our way to the restaurant and, when we’re shown our table, we order some garlic bread, pasta, and some wine. Then we drink and talk and laugh. It feels good, to not be constantly living in the web of lies that has somehow managed to weave its way all around us, locking us in.
“How are things with Pat?” I ask Jo when our pasta arrives. “We’ve been so tangled up in this mess, I haven’t asked you about it.”
Jo shrugs. “It’s the same as it always is, Pat is Pat. He is constantly on my case about moving home and getting things back to the way they were, but that’s what he’s not understanding. I don’t want things back the way they were. I want my husband to be a husband. I don’t want to go on expensive dates, I just want to spend a night alone with him, without his phone or his job, or someone interrupting. He can’t let go of those things.”
“I’m sorry things aren’t working out. Are you any close to deciding what you’re going to do?”
She shakes her head and shoves a piece of pasta into her mouth, chewing and swallowing before answering, “I feel like I’m trapped still. I mentioned the other night that maybe we just needed to call it quits, and he lost it. Going on about how he’ll lose everything, and how his business will have to be sold …”
“Does he think you’d take everything?” I ask, frowning.
“I mean, I’d be entitled to a lot of it. I wouldn’t take what wasn’t owed to me, but I’d have to start again, too. He couldn’t expect I’d leave with nothing. It’s expensive to live out in this world now, and I contributed a lot, too.”
“No, you’re right, that wouldn’t be fair.”
“So, he’s making it hard. He wants me to sign all this stuff, which I refuse. Then we went to a family dinner and everyone was putting pressure on me, saying how stressed he is, and how I’m causing so many problems with my up and down. How bad it would be if he lost everything. I feel like I’m trapped. I really do. I wish I could just wipe the slate clean, you know? Just start over again.”
