A Place Called Home (22 page)

He walked into the kitchen to get himself something to drink. It was all part of his plan to appear casual, not overconfident. He’d go to the door twenty or so seconds after she rang the bell, Pepsi in hand, and affect ... what? Warmth? Mild surprise? Enthusiasm? He decided on mild surprise as the least threatening response. Pretty darn good plan.

There was a last-minute change of Pepsi to Dr. Pepper, but Mitch was flexible on these details. He popped the top, wiggled the tab free, and threw it into a plastic container on the countertop with the rest of the twins’ collection. The elementary school was collecting them to help kids visualize the enormity of a million, and Mitch promised the boys he’d do his part, though he wished the school had decided to collect beer caps.

Okay, where was she? The doorbell should have rung by now. Switching soft drinks was one thing, but she was playing hell with his timing. Mild surprise could easily evolve into mild annoyance.

Mitch watched the clock on the microwave advance another minute before he sidled into the living room. He could see her car through the sheer curtains, but he couldn’t make out whether or not she was still in it without parting them. He caved to curiosity and knelt on the sofa, inching the curtains open with his free hand.

She was talking on her cell.

Rolling his eyes, Mitch let the curtains fall in place. He turned around and dropped into a half-reclining position on the sofa, resting his head on the curved back and stretching his long legs out in front of him. He held the cold can between his palms at the level of his belt buckle and wondered how long he might have to wait her out. The question of the identity of the person on the other end of that call occupied Mitch’s thoughts for a while.

The likelihood that it was Joel Strahern did not bode well for the smarmy seduction thing he’d been contemplating.

Thea pressed the phone closer to her ear. “What if this is a mistake, Rosie?”

“What if it is?” came the practical reply. “How you gonna know if you don’t give it a shot? Anyway, isn’t this a little late to be asking the question?”

“I’ve been asking it the whole way here,” Thea said. “I just couldn’t reach you until now.”

“Robby was on the phone, and he never answers call waiting. That’s another reason I’m going to divorce his ass one of these days. But back to you. Since this is the first I’ve heard about this trip and we’ve been on the phone about three times already this week, I’m thinking you don’t really want to be talked out of it.”

“Then why I am calling you?”

“You want my blessing.”

“You think so?”

“Honey, I’ve been there. You’re setting me up to take the fall if this doesn’t work out.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Sure you would. But you’d be real nice about it. I’m giving you a gift here. You decide. You live with your decision. You live with the consequences. And no matter what happens, you don’t beat yourself up or reach for the pills. It’s just life happening to you, honey. Nothing more.”

Thea took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Just life. She would rely on herself, not emotional painkillers. She
would.
“Mitch is going to be wondering what’s keeping me,” she said, glancing toward the house. At least he wasn’t staring at her from the living room window.

“Let him wait. It won’t kill him. And if it does, he’ll die happy.”

“Is that what Robby tells you?”

“No, that’s what I tell him.”

Thea laughed and the timbre of it was only a little shaky.

“See? You’re sounding better already. What did Joel say when you told him about going up to Mitch’s today?”

“What makes you think I told Joel?”

“Because as much as you don’t mind foolin’ yourself, it pains you to deliberately fool other people. So what did he say?”

“He said I should do what I need to do.” There was a pause, and Thea could imagine Rosie was screwing up her face in disbelief. Her next words verified it.

“He really said that?”

“He really did.”

“Then there’s something’s wrong with him, honey.”

“He’s trying to be supportive by giving me time.”

“Time to step out on him? Supportive of you with the other guy? I don’t think so. That man’s whole life has been mergers and acquisitions.”

“What are you saying?”

“Me? I’m not saying anything. You still wearin’ that rock?”

Thea looked down at her left hand lying over the center of the steering wheel. “I took it off Tuesday after I talked to him.”

“Then I guess you know what I’m not saying.”

Perhaps she did, Thea thought. Joel hadn’t put up much of a fight when she told him about Mitch’s request. Thea hadn’t really wanted to think about that. Rosie was right about her being willing to fool herself. “I didn’t leave it at home. It’s in my purse. I could still put it on.”

Rosie snorted. “Sha-zaam!”

Silence followed. “I get your point,” Thea said finally, quietly. “The ring doesn’t have any magical properties to protect me.” Or at least it didn’t anymore. If she put it back on now she would know how self-serving it was, even if Mitch didn’t. She couldn’t do that. It wasn’t just that it was dishonest to Mitch, but that it meant using Joel so dishonestly. “Maybe I should put it in the glove compartment.”

“Leave it where it is. You can’t find anything in that purse of yours anyway.”

Thea smiled. “I’m hanging up, Rosie.”

“Have fun!”

Trust Rosie to get in the last word before she ended the call.
Have fun.
Easy for her to say. Thea turned off her phone and dropped it into her purse. She looked over at the house and tried to remember if she had ever known how to have fun. The fact that nothing specific came to her mind wasn’t at all encouraging.

Thea rang the bell, startled when the door opened immediately. Mitch was standing there with something like a scowl on his face and a crushed Dr. Pepper can in his fist. She actually took a step back. “Do I have the wrong day?”

“No.” He held the door open for her but she didn’t move in his direction.

Thea’s weight shifted from one foot to the other. “I’ll wait here until you get your coat. Or weren’t you planning to go to the dealer’s right away?”

“That’s fine.” He disappeared into the house. Out of Thea’s sight he did a mock banging of his head against the wall before he got his jacket. Feeling marginally better, he pitched the pop can then found his shoes and slipped them on. Thea was waiting by her car when he returned to the front porch. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she suggested he ride in the backseat.

She didn’t. They got in simultaneously and buckled up. Thea started the car but didn’t take it out of park immediately. She looked over at Mitch. “Am I late?”

“You can’t be. I didn’t tell you a time.”

“Then I interrupted you in the middle of something.”

“No.”

“So you’re irritated because ...”

“I’m not irritated.” He flashed her a grin. “See?”

Thea regarded him skeptically, her mouth pursed to one side. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” She put the Volvo into drive and started down the street. “You never did tell me where your parents took the kids this weekend. Emilie said something about skiing when I spoke to her but I wasn’t sure I got it right.”

“You did. They went to Seven Springs. Dad’s going to spend the weekend in the hot tub, and mum will have the kids on the beginner slopes. It’s still cold enough for making snow. If the forecast is right, they might get some fresh powder tonight.”

“There’s snow in the forecast?”

“A couple of inches the last time I checked.”

Thea glanced at the sky. It was still clear and sunny, not a cloud on the horizon. Although she realized the temperature had been dropping since morning, she figured Mitch’s sources were wrong about the snow. The first day of spring was only a week away, and there was that adage about March going out like a lamb to consider. Doppler radar was overrated.

“Why didn’t you go with them?” asked Thea.

“I thought about it, but I realized I could get a lot done if they were gone. Besides, Mum and Dad really wanted to do it. They’ve taken the kids before, even when Gabe and Kathy were alive.” He heard his words and fell silent.

More to herself than to Mitch, Thea said, “It’s still hard to believe.”

Mitch simply nodded.

“Last week I picked up the phone and called Gabe. I had his number on my speed dial. I didn’t even realize what I’d done until I heard the voice telling me the number had been disconnected. I cried off and on for the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling.”

She believed him. “What do you do? I mean, with the kids around.”

“They pick up on it pretty quick so there’s no point in trying to pretend it’s something else. I tell them I’m sad and why and we talk about it and go on. Emilie tends to cling a little more to me than the boys do. Maybe it’s because they’re identical and have some kind of twin weirdness happening.”

Thea smiled. “Wonder twin powers! Activate!”

“How’s that again?”

“It’s from a cartoon show that Gabe and I used to watch. The twins would put their rings together and say that phrase and take on the bad guys. Maybe that’s what Case and Grant do, in their own way.”

“Makes sense to me. It’s better than my alien theory.” He glanced over at Thea and saw her smile had deepened. Better. “Anyway, getting Emilie out was a good thing, I figured. She was allowed to take a friend and that seemed to help. She only asked two or three times if I was going with them.”

“I think she has a crush on you.”

“Don’t say that. It creeps me out.”

“Why? She probably had a crush on Gabe. Didn’t you ever read Freud? Then there’s the whole transference piece that I don’t really understand, but it’s probably important.”

“If you start talking about penis envy I’m throwing myself out of the car.”

“Don’t worry. No girl really wants one of those.”

“I beg to differ.”

Thea couldn’t look over because of the traffic, but she bet he was smirking. “I don’t think we’re talking about quite the same thing any longer. Clean it up, Mitchell, or I’ll throw you out of the car myself.”

“Are you certain you haven’t talked to my mother?”

“I’m certain, but I’m thinking more and more it’s a good idea.” The next sound Thea thought she heard was Mitch’s mouth clamping shut. “It’s perfectly natural for Emilie to develop an attachment to you. It will pass eventually. How does she act around Gina?”

That was hard for Mitch to answer since he and Gina hadn’t done more than talk on the phone a few times since the we-can-be-friends speech. “For a while I thought there would be a catfight, but she’s been better lately.” That was true, at least.

The line of Thea’s mouth flattened so she wouldn’t laugh. A catfight? With Gina? Good for Emilie. When she was certain she was composed, she said, “One day you’ll come to the realization that Emilie no longer thinks you hang the stars and—”

“And I’ll hate it,” he finished, resigned. “I know. I’ve thought about that. She has me wrapped.”

Thea didn’t say anything.

Mitch looked over and saw her pensive expression. “What is it? You think it’s a problem she has me around her finger?”

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Thea didn’t answer immediately. How much did Mitch really want to know about her? How much did she want to tell? “I was thinking she was lucky,” she said quietly. “It wasn’t like that with my father. Either of them.”

Either of them? Mitch frowned until he remembered the past that Gabe and Thea had really shared. “That’s right. You were adopted.”

She didn’t glance in his direction. “I always wondered if you knew.”

“Was it supposed to be a secret?”

“No, not really. I’m not ashamed of it or anything.” There was a little catch in her breath as she heard herself say the words. In the back of her mind she could hear Rosie again.
Foolin’yourself, honey.
“Gabe and I were in the same foster home until we were five.”

“The Reasoners.”

Thea nodded. “They adopted him when he was four but they weren’t allowed to take me. I had some medical problems. For a while the doctors thought I was going to lose a kidney. The surgery, the drugs, the aftercare ... no one thought the Reasoners could financially handle it. There was no real help for adoptive parents in those days. They had to manage on their own. As long as I remained in foster care the county’s children’s services looked after me and paid my medical bills.”

“But you were eventually adopted.”

“Uh-huh. I stayed with the Reasoners another year as their foster child. They shuttled me to doctors, watched what I ate, made certain I had my medicine. I didn’t understand there was any difference in Gabe’s status in the home than there was mine. He was just my brother. I knew the Reasoners weren’t my parents because I could remember my own, but it seemed to me that Gabe was really my brother.” Thea paused and resolutely pushed down the lump in her throat. Her eyes remained dry. “Do you know what permanency planning is?”

Mitch shook his head. “I never heard of it.”

“It’s a policy that holds to the notion that foster kids shouldn’t be shuttled from place to place.”

“That seems reasonable.”

Thea went on. “But stability isn’t supposed to be achieved in a foster home if it can be helped. That’s success of a lesser nature. Adoption is the holy grail.”

Mitch understood the problem. “So, for permanency planning to work for you, you had to be moved from the foster home. Is that what happened?”

“In a nutshell.” She shrugged. “I suppose it depends on your point of view as to how well it worked. Children’s services saw it as a coup. They got me off their rolls and into a family that could financially absorb my medical bills. The Wyndhams were like the poster parents for the adoption advocates, so it was good for them. I had to leave the Reasoners and Gabe but ...” Thea simply allowed her words to trail off. It still caught her off guard sometimes, this pain.

“Thea?” Mitch said softly. “Are you all right?” Her face was pale and in profile her features appeared cast in marble.