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Bennett’s lips parted, though he didn’t speak. I knew I dumped too much on him at that moment. I needed to say it.Hadto say it. And so much more.
His eyes fell. “Connor…”
“Sorry. That was too much.”
His head shook. “No, it’s fine. I’d love to get caught up, too. I’m just pretty zonked right now, you know?”
I stood. Abruptly enough that I saw his face go on high alert. “God, you’re right.Bah. Silly mistake. You need to get some rest. I’m chatting your ear off. Go home and sleep. Text me when you wake up?”
Bennett stood. He blinked rapidly now. Something was up. “Yeah, I can do that. Thank you again.”
“Of course, of course.”
I walked him to the back door. I had my hand on the knob, about to turn, when Bennett spoke. “It’s been twelve years. Okay? Twelve years. That’s a long time. This is all sudden and there’s so many things that went unsaid that I don’t even know where to begin.” He blinked so fast I couldn’t count them.
My breath quickened. I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. I removed my hand from the doorknob in fear he’d see me try to crush it. “I know. I know that. I just… when you pulled me over. And I saw it was you. I… it was like the universe was… I dunno. It…”Fuck!Where were the words! Had I grown too accustomed to people writing this for me? Did I not have a modicum of my mother’s talent to create something beautiful and original to say to this man?
Serendipitous, a voice whispered to me. The term Rachel had used.Say it, idiot! Tell him fate brought you back together!
The pager in my pocket went off. A loud shrill cut through the silence surrounding us, followed by a nagging vibration. “Shit. Damn it. Sorry. That’s my mother.Shit.”
Bennett stilled me when his hand gripped my bicep and squeezed. My entire body petrified at the touch. Breath frozen inside partially inflated lungs. “We’ll talk. I’ll text you.”
Halfway out the door, I blurted a response. “I don’t want to scare you away. If I’m being toome, tell me and I can dial it back. Just don’t…”Leave again.
Blinking so rapid it reminded me of a machine gun. “I’ll text you.”
I closed the door. Heard his car engine revving, then leaving. My pager beeped again.
“I’m comin’, Ma, I’m comin’,” I said to no one in particular.
I had a day of meetings. Errands. Being a nursemaid.
All I wanted to do was erase the last twelve years and pick up where everything stopped. To select the moment after we ended whatever it was we had and hit refresh.
We’ll talk.
But what would we say?
ChapterSix
ANARCHEDWINDOWoverlooking a courtyard framed Prudence Fuller who sat behind her mahogany desk. An assortment of papers lined the leather-matted surface, two green banker’s lamps bookending each side. A closed MacBook anchored one corner, copper carafe on the other. She had shoulder-length gray hair—brunette the last time I saw her—with a pearl necklace lying atop a black turtleneck. Her lips were a shade of coral pink, the corners a webbing of wrinkles.
We had finished conducting business. I must have read through ten manuscripts’ worth of legal jargon while she explained everything in layman’s terms for me. As my parent’s trust lawyer, she had intimate knowledge of everything happening with Cordelia and the expectations in six to twelve months.
Business now concluded, she sipped at a porcelain cup of tea that no longer wafted steam. I let my eyes unfocus while I stared behind her at the fountain in the courtyard. Buds had formed on bare branches, promises of a bountiful spring. Inside, a wall clock ticked methodically.
“Has anything changed since you’ve been back?” Prue asked. “Besides that hideous new big-box store and far too many chain coffee shops.”
I chortled. “I’ve been destination-driven since I got back. Haven’t had much time to take it all in and go for a leisurely drive through town.”
“I can imagine after spending over a decade in Los Angeles that Concord seems impossibly small.”
I leaned back in a chair that had been comfortable when we started two hours ago. “Pleasantlysmall would be a better way to describe it. I was suffocating out there. Onnothing, if that makes sense.”
Her silver eyebrows inched upward. “The scandal, right?”
Ugh. Even my mother’s lawyer knew about how I was chewed up and spat out. “You mean thelies. None of it is true. None of it.”
