Page 68 of Thicker Than Water
“Did you dance with anyone?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Everyone danced with everyone.”
“You really do look great. I should get a picture of you so we can show Dad.”
“Why, is he awake?”
He doesn’t look at me when he asks it, but his voice is strange, caught between timid and indifferent. It’s like he’s trying not to care about the answer, but he’s scared of it, too.
“Not yet.” I reach over to pat his knee, which tenses beneath my hand. “But we got some good news today. The doctors think he’ll be out of the coma soon.”
He snaps his head toward me. “And then what happens?” he asks.
Like he already knows. Like he understands the story doesn’t end when Jason wakes up.
I inhale deeply, wanting to delay this a little longer. But my lungs fill to capacity, tight and burning, and I’m forced to empty them. Forced to answer.
“Unfortunately, sweetie, he’ll—he’ll be arrested.”
His gaze doesn’t soften or sharpen. He doesn’t spring back in surprise, or even flinch.
“Yeah, I figured,” he says.
“You did?”
His eyes slink away from me, burrowing into his lap. For several seconds, each so taut and heavy, he doesn’t respond.
“So they have enough evidence?” he finally says. “Wasn’t there supposed to be a test or something? On, like, the blood?”
I sip more air, steadying myself. “There was. They got the results back, on Dad’s pocketknife, and… it’s a match. The blood is Gavin’s.”
Aiden’s face darkens, brow slumping deep enough to shadow his eyes. “So he did it.”
A declaration. Not a question.
It practically strangles my heart.
“Auntsy doesn’t think so,” I say. “She thinks there’s an explanation for all of this.”
I’m grateful, in this moment, to still have Sienna to fall back on, to be able to use her voice instead of my own. Maybe Aiden won’t notice. Sienna and I have always been so linked that speaking for one of us usually means speaking for both. Even when her words clash with the ones I won’t say, I’m content to let it go, to let her thoughts sit in for mine.
“What kind of explanation?” Aiden asks.
“Well, she’s… looking into another suspect. She feels like she’s got a really strong lead.”
It’s not a lie, but I know it’s misleading. Still, I’m reluctant to tell him Sienna’s suspect has an alibi, that everything still comes back to Jason in the end. My stomach seizes up with all I’m not saying, but surely there’s no harm in it, giving my son a little bit of hope.
Aiden scowls, yanking his tie from his collar before dropping it onto the couch. He sloughs off his suit jacket, places it over his legs. I look at his wrists, where the sleeves, like his pants, are just a little too short, and nausea spins in me anew. He isn’t wearing Jason’s cuff links.
“Honey,” I start, “are you okay?”
“Areyou?” He slams his gaze onto me, direct and imploring, and it feels like the first eye contact he’s initiated in weeks.
“Yeah,” I manage. “I’m fine.”
It’s definitely a lie this time, and he spots it right away. He answers with a scoff.
I know I should tell him the truth, that I’m further from fine than ever, if only to show him that he can say anything, tell me any truth in return, and I will not scream at him, no matter how scared it makes me. But my throat feels like a rusty faucet, dried out for too long.
