Delphine surprises me the following morning by gently shaking me awake with her hand on my shoulder.
“Tess has asked that you move upstairs to your bedroom for now,” she says, giving me a sad, heavy sort of smile. I’m assuming that since she’s back, she must’ve passed her background check. I sit up suddenly, a little sore, a little guilty, but … I glance over to find Chasm awake in the chair, one elbow propped on the arm, his head in his hand.
He’s just fucking staring at me, and I can barely deal with it.
I look back at Delphine, dressed in her black and white maid uniform, the apron pressed and fresh, the frilly little headband nestled in her mousy brown hair. It falls around her face like a shield, her thick-rimmed glasses sitting on the tip of her nose.
She seriously looks like an anime character or something. Also, her outfit makes me think of JJ. The girl who’s missing, who isn’t accounted for. The girl who, I suppose, wasn’t actually a victim of the Slayer at all, but that pervert, Mr. Fosser.
Tess sweeps into the room, an earpiece in as she talks to someone on the phone. She doesn’t skip a beat, making herself a flat white as she carries on her conversation. It’s hard to hear over the steaming of the milk, but I don’t need to hear what she’s saying to know what it’s about.
Parrish.
“I honestly don’t know what to say to you, Caroline,” Tess snaps as soon as I can hear her again. She slams her mug down on the counter as I sit up the rest of the way and swing my legs over the edge of the couch. “Yes, well, he is your biological son.”
Biological son?
My head snaps over to Chasm, and I find him frowning in Tess’ direction. He lets his gaze slide over to me and raises his brows. I get the idea that he doesn’t know anything about this either.
Caroline? Is that really the name of Parrish’s mom? I’d heard off-handedly from Tess that she ran off when he was a baby. But that’s about it. She clearly has no bearing on his life; he said as much himself.
“Yes, well, when you decide to start caring that your son might be dead, give me a fucking call!” Tess hangs up and then leans over the counter like she’s about to have another breakdown. Eventually, she gets herself together and turns around to find the three of us staring at her. “Delphine, if you could start with this room, I’d appreciate it. We’re having another press conference tomorrow, and it needs to be spotless.”
Hearing her order Delphine around rankles me a bit, but Delphine gives a simple nod of her head and goes about clearing Chasm’s nest of dishes and food wrappers off the coffee table.
“The two of you up and out,” Tess says, waving randomly in Chasm’s and my direction. “We need to get this placed cleaned up. You.” She points at Chasm. “You can sleep in Parrish’s room with Maxx tonight.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Chas grumbles, pushing himself up and out of the chair. He helps me gather the blankets and pillows off the couch, our elbows bumping together. We glance over at each other, and I can’t help it. I smile. A real smile.
It feels like a knife going straight into Parrish’s fucking back.
Chasm smiles back at me, but I can’t handle it, so I look back down at the blankets, bundling some into my arms before taking off for the stairs. As per usual in this house, it’s an ungodly hour—even though it’s Saturday. Not that it matters since we’ve got work to do today.
We head upstairs together, dumping the bedding on the floor of my bedroom. Neither of us is brave enough to wake Maxx up just yet. My heart aches with the thought that I can’t talk to Maxine, can’t ask her how she’s doing, if she’s hurting, if she misses X already.
If she misses me.
God, what my grandparents must think of me right now … I wonder if they hate me, if they’re glad I’m no longer a part of their family, if Maxine has even told them. It’d be like her not to, in order to spare everyone else’s feelings.
“Good morning,” Chasm says finally, glancing my way. I look back at him, and my heart thumps strangely, making me feel lightheaded.
“Good morning.” I glance over at my bed, and my cheeks heat with memories of last night. “Do you, um, know anything about Caroline?”
Hearing Tess speak to Parrish’s bio mom was weird as hell.
It takes me back to all those early feelings, those strange musings on what makes family, family. I’m here because I’m Tess’ biological child; she’s desperate to find Parrish because she loves him more than she loves me. And yet, from the sound of it, his bio mom isn’t concerned with his disappearance?
