The Lion's Den (Faraway Book 2) (22 page)

I released Vince from my arms and ran to my bag. The school nurse’s number flashed on my screen. This was never a good call.

“Hello,” I said, not hiding the doom in my voice.

“Mrs. Walsh?”

“Yes. This is Mrs. Walsh.”

“This is Marcia Carter, the nurse at the elementary school. Olivia’s here in my office. She just threw up. Can you come get her?”

“Oh, no. Of course. I’ll be right there.” Poor Liv.

Poor me.

I put my coat on and locked my computer. When I walked back to the break room, he was smiling, having heard my conversation and recognized the gist of it.

“I have to go.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No need to be. Your children need you. You’ve always made it clear, they come first.”

I wasn’t sure if he was talking about just the job, but I didn’t ask. I just turned and walked out the door.

By the time I drove the mile and a half to the school, Liv had already thrown up again. I carried her feverish little body to my car and buckled her in the back. “I love you,” I said and kissed her forehead.

“I love you, too, Mommy.”

I closed her door and rushed to the driver’s side. When I climbed in, she smiled at me as if she felt a little better. “Rough day, huh?” I said, watching her in the rearview mirror as I pulled out of the school’s lot.

“I’m just glad I threw up in the nurse’s office. Nick Louden threw up in class last month and everyone saw it. It had green lumps in it.”

“Okay. I get the picture.”

“I’m just saying. I’m glad that didn’t happen to me.”

“Me too.”

Liv and I rode in silence through the center of town and back to our house. When I turned into our development, she said, “You know what else happened today?”

“What?”

“Evan tried to tell me I wasn’t as awesome as I think I am.”

I stopped the car halfway down our driveway. This had been my greatest fear since she’d begun the “I’m awesome” campaign of self-promotion. That someone, particularly a boy, would knock her off her peg.

“I think he was kidding,” she said and nodded as she stared out the window.

I exhaled and drove the Escalade forward. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. He had to have been kidding.” Liv’s eyes remained on the woods surrounding our house. “I’m awesome,” she said to no one in particular, and I pulled the car into our garage.

J
AMES WAS SAYING SOMETHING AS
we drove to Jenna’s house. It was barely audible from the third row of the Escalade, and even without hearing him, I knew it was probably a question.

I turned down the music and asked him to repeat it. “Nice and loud, so I can hear you all the way up here.”

“What’s a credit score?”

I took a deep breath and exhaled. “It’s a number that represents how good a job you’ve done of borrowing and paying back money. It tells companies that may lend you money in the future if you’re a good risk, meaning that you pay your bills on time or a bad risk, meaning that you don’t pay them on time.” James stared out the window as I spoke, deeply concentrating on what I was saying. I thought. “The score follows you everywhere and is used when you put in an application to rent an apartment. It’s also considered for your car and health insurance rates, because it’s one factor that demonstrates your character.”

“Can someone steal your credit score?”

“No, but someone can steal your identity and ruin your credit score.” I stopped talking. My head began to hurt, and I really hoped he didn’t have any more follow-up questions. “Does that make sense?” I asked, praying the answer would be yes.

“It’s so clear I can see through it.”

“Okay,” I said and turned up the radio.

I escaped the other questions swirling in their heads the rest of the drive. I parked in Jenna’s driveway and the kids both flew out of my car. John was outside, loading up the back of his truck.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” I asked him.

“No,” he said and laughed. I opened the lift gate on the Escalade and removed the sleds Santa had brought each of my kids. “We’ll be fine. My brother and nephew are coming. He’s sixteen.”

“My kids are excited. And when they’re excited, they talk a lot.”

“I know.” John laughed again. “I’m just worried I won’t know the answers to all their questions.”

“Oh, I never do. I make them search Google for things I can’t answer. God, please let Google be right.”

Jenna rushed out the door, kissed John, grabbed my arm, and said, “Let’s go. Before they see me leaving.” She climbed up into the passenger side of the Escalade and left John and I standing in her driveway.

“She needs to get away for a few hours,” he said.

“Or days,” I added. “I bundled them up. They’ll complain the minute they’re cold.” Brad would say that was all my fault because I “kept them in a bubble.” “Call me if you need anything.”

I got in the car and drove back down Jenna’s driveway before she said a word. By the time we were pulling onto the main road, she was relaxed. She cracked her window and lit a cigarette, and I didn’t mind.

“So what do you need to do at the mall?” I asked. Jenna had called and told me we needed to go to the mall and lunch. All of which sounded like a dream. But when she said John would take the kids sledding, I feared I was imagining the whole phone call.

Jenna took an emerald ring from her wallet. It was a round stone surrounded by diamonds with diamonds down the sides as well. “I need to have this sized.” She handed the ring to me.

“Wow! When did you get it?”

“For Christmas, but it’s too big. I’ve never worn it.”

“Tragic,” I said and handed her back the ring, which she put on her finger and admired.

“And because I had to get out of my house. Do you have any idea how hard it is to raise three boys
and
be sober?”

“No,” I said and laughed. “But if anyone can survive it, it’s you.”

We parked on the far side of the mall. The immense lot allowed the frigid air to whip around us as we rushed to the entrance. It was a cold day, even for sledding.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. John will send them down the hill a few times, and once they start to freeze, he’ll take them out for pancakes at the diner.”

“Oh, good. I was hoping it wasn’t going to be a long day.”

“No. John gets it.”

I followed Jenna to the jewelry store and perused the glass cabinets full of jewelry as Jenna talked to the sales associate about resizing her ring.

A man who reminded me of my high school principal faced me from behind the counter. “Can I help you with something?”

“No. I’m just looking. I’m here with my friend.” I pointed at Jenna.

“Are you sure? Valentine’s Day is coming. You can pick something out, and I’ll make sure your valentine knows about it.” The nametag on his chest said Chris Remster.

I shook my head. “No. Thank you.”

“Your ring is breathtaking,” he said to me as Jenna walked up beside me.

The only ring on my hands was my engagement ring. It was pretty, but the man’s reaction seemed a bit over the top. His pitch continued as he held my hand in his and tilted my ring toward the lights above us.

“Thanks,” I said and took my hand back.

“May I clean it for you?” Mr. Remster asked, and I was confused.

“Let him clean it,” Jenna said, and after I handed it over to him and he walked away, she added, “It’s free.”

“It’s weird. Did you get your ring sized?”

“Yes. We get to come back in five to seven days.”

“Perfect. Where do you want to eat?”

He came back with my ring and another salesperson. “It’s quite unusual to see a blue diamond of this caliber and size,” Mr. Remster said.

I shook my head and prepared to correct him when the other salesperson added, “It’s exquisite.”

“What? It’s a blue topaz,” I said. Brad knew me well enough to know a diamond was not for me.

They both laughed. “It’s without a doubt a blue diamond. It’s also incredibly valuable. It should be insured.”

“This is not a topaz?” I asked again, looking down at the ring I’d worn since Brad had proposed.

“Did you inherit it?” Because of course, it must have been bequeathed to me. What other explanation could there have been for me not knowing that I was walking around with a blue diamond on my hand?

“Sort of,” was all I said. I needed to get out of there. With a small smile, I grabbed Jenna by the elbow and guided her out of the store.

We walked to the Cheesecake Factory, and she didn’t mention my ring until we were seated at the table and had ordered our meals. Then she hit me with it.

“How could you not know your ring is a blue diamond? I didn’t even know there was such a thing.” Her eyes bore into me. “Let me see it.”

I took the ring off and dropped it in Jenna’s hand. “I told Brad how I felt about diamonds. That so many people were being killed for the mining and sale of them that I refused to encourage more violence by feeding the industry with our money.” Jenna looked at me as if she’d never heard the term “blood diamond” before. “It doesn’t matter why I didn’t want a diamond, what matters is that Brad knew it, but for some crazy ass reason he bought one anyway and lied to me about it.”

“Okay,” she said. Still not as appalled as me. The ring had won her over.

It hit me then that it wasn’t that Brad never listened to me. No, he heard every word I’d ever said. He just didn’t care.

“I’m thinking about getting a tattoo,” I said.

Jenna handed me back the ring and looked down at her menu without another word, and I didn’t explain. Brad was going to hear me, and he wasn’t going to like what I had to say.

LYNN PRATT ENTERED THE POLICE
station like a spring flower blooming. It was unseasonably warm that day, reaching almost to the high fifties and melting a large portion of the snow that surrounded us. Lynn wore skinny jeans, a turtleneck, and a slim gray blazer. She had a multi-chain necklace on that swung as she walked and drew attention to the current trend she was embracing. Her hair was highlighted and blown straight. I almost didn’t recognize her.

“Hello,” I said and worked hard to wipe the shock from my face.

“Morning. How are you?” she asked, and I continued to appraise her.

“I’m good.” Her purse was new. It was a cross-body bag I’d seen in the mall the day I went in search of my dress for Brad’s party. It was expensive and gorgeous. Perhaps it was a Christmas gift. “Lynn, you look great.” I tried not to sound amazed. As if this version of Lynn couldn’t be reconciled with the frazzled, unkempt one I’d known before.

“Thanks. It’s taken a while, but I’m finally pulling myself back together.” At the mention of her relationship with the colonel, I shut down. I couldn’t hold up any part of that conversation. “It’s like I’ve found a part of myself I hadn’t known was missing.”

The chief came out of his office and leaned on the doorjamb. Lynn and I both looked at him. How must it feel to face us both? His wife and his lover, neither of which he was currently with, but both of whom he loved.

“I’m going to run out and get some lunch. Can I get you guys anything?”

They just stared at each other, and I couldn’t get my purse fast enough.

“No, thanks,” the colonel finally said.

“Okay,” I said to no one, because no one was listening to me. I’d been completely lodged in their marriage the year before, and I wouldn’t let myself be anywhere near the middle of it today.

I couldn’t manage a thought until I was safely in my car. I looked at the clock on the dash. It was nine thirty in the morning, hardly lunchtime, not that anyone in the station cared. I drove home and sat in my car in my driveway. I read the news on my phone. Like,
all
the news. Every single story on CNN. I checked the weather for the next few days, and the extended forecast. When I ran out of stuff to read there, I went onto Facebook and floated around there until my phone rang.

It was a call from the colonel’s desk phone.

“Hello?” I asked, because apparently I no longer knew how to answer a phone.

“Meredith?” He sounded drained.

“Yes.”

“You can come back now.”

I exhaled. He knew I was somewhere avoiding being there. “Thanks. I’ll be right there.”