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“How long has my daughter been working for you?” she asks softly.
“A couple of months.”
“And she’s doing well?”
“Exceptionally. She’s an integral part of my operation.”
“No, I meant personally. Is she eating alright? Sleeping enough? Getting enough vitamin D?”
I sit down in my chair and lean back, keeping my eyes on the woman. “How am I supposed to know those things? You could just ask her yourself.”
Annabeth chews on her bottom lip. “She’d never talk to me. Not after… Not after I’ve been away for so long.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“What?”
“She told me, you know. How you left after the divorce and didn’t look back.”
Annabeth pales. “She really believes that?”
“That’s what she told me.”
“Oh, Hunter. If Eden knew the truth…”
“I took care of Walton, Annabeth. I told you that you were free and clear to stay in Los Angeles to be with her.”
“He would have gotten out eventually. And he did! Did you hear they let him out early for good behavior?” She laughs bitterly, taking a seat in her daughter’s chair across the room. “Monsters like him always find a way to crawl right back. After what he tried to do to me… I was too scared to come back, Hunter.”
I clench my jaw. To this day, I can still hear the screaming, can still smell the blood and feel the bruise of my knuckles. It was a good thing I was nearby to intervene before the situation escalated out of control.
“Do you know how many years of therapy I had to get through to finally get over that night?” Annabeth asks. It’s a rhetorical question. I have no doubt that it was many. “And to think Thomas put me right in his lap…”
“Thomas didn’t know what Walton was capable of. If anything, you should be blaming me. I didn’t warn him in time.”
“You’re defending him?” she snaps, incredulous.
“Fuck, no.”
Annabeth rubs her temples. “The only reason I gave him full custody was because I was too much of a nervous wreck to raise my daughter. I thought he was in a better financial position than I to take care of her. I hadn’t booked a paid gig inyears.” She shakes her head, glaring at the floor. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. Eden obviously hates me.”
“She doesn’thateyou.”
Annabeth rolls her eyes. “I know what hate looks like, Hunter. We can barely get through two sentences without snapping at each other. I don’t know how to talk to her anymore.”
“Well, it certainly doesn’t help when you’re being a diva.”
“You heard about that, huh?”
“This is my domain, Annabeth. I hear everything and I see all.”
Her laugh comes out as a snort. Eden sounds so much like her. “Is this your attempt at sounding intimidating? Because you just sound like an ass.”
I laugh with her. A lifetime ago, Annabeth, Thomas, and I were as thick as thieves. She was always a good friend, easy to be around despite her occasional theatrics. When I think back on our time together, I pull up nothing but good memories. Things were great.
Right up until they weren’t.
“Where is Eden, anyway?” Annabeth asks after a few moments. “I haven’t seen her around set the last couple of days.”
