Closing Books (5 page)

“Of course,” Mr. Sawyer said.
 

Evelyn looked at the now retired lawyer sitting next to Marianne, another addition to the group due to the will left behind by Tyler’s grandfather. Mr. Sawyer had moved in last year to ensure that every condition of the late Mr. Hayes’s will was met.

Now that Kate and Tyler were married, Mr. Sawyer had moved back into his own house, but that hadn’t stopped him from dropping by during meal times.
 

The difference between him and everyone else who was there to sponge off Marianne was that he wasn’t there just for the food.

“So, what are you guys intending to do?” Tyler asked.

Kate elbowed Tyler softly in his ribs and finally managed to break free from his arms. “Yeah, what’s the plan?”

Evelyn leaned on her arm and looked at the blissful couple beside her.
 

A corner of her lips curled up as she thought about the shopping trip she had with Kate. They were at the counter, getting ready to pay for their stuff, when Kate took out her wallet and noticed the cards. Kate pulled out all the credit cards in her wallet with a gaping mouth, surprised that Tyler had substituted all her cards without telling her about it.

The bewilderment at the sight of the new cards was quick to pass, and annoyance took over.
 

Once they were out of the shop, Kate called Tyler up to give him an earful. Despite her rant, Evelyn knew Kate hadn’t been happier.

Whenever Evelyn looked at how Tyler and Kate interacted, a part of her longed for a relationship like theirs; a relationship that despite all she’d done, all she might do, the person would still love her.

She blinked, feeling a hint of moisture at the corner of her eyes, and turned away from the blissful couple.

Such fairytale love was for people like Kate, the kind of lady everyone loved. She was always sweet and amiable, and she never turned anyone down whenever they needed help. In less than a year, Kate was able to turn the aloof Tyler into someone who could never stop smiling whenever Kate was around. In less than a year, everyone in the room loved her like a princess.
 

Evelyn, on the other hand, wasn’t that kind of lady.
 

She was one who could never trust enough to be nice to everyone.

While Ryan and Joseph rattled off their plans for the place, Evelyn suddenly felt a gentle squeeze of her hand.

Dan’s warm hand startled her. Her head snapped over to him and she pulled her hand back. She couldn’t allow herself to become needy now. Now, more than ever, she had to be strong. She promised herself that she wouldn’t let a demon from her past destroy what she’d built for herself, and she couldn’t be the tough Evelyn when she had Dan to rely on.

She had grown so used to Dan being her comfort that even until now, each time she woke from her nightmare, her fingers would hovered over the phone while her heart and mind went into battle; a battle between satisfying what her heart wanted and complying with what her mind knew was right.

She wanted to kick herself when Dan withdrew his hand and pretended as though nothing happened.
 

She shouldn’t have pulled her hand back that way. He was merely concerned about her, and all she did was hurt him in return.

Dan could see that Evelyn was already deep in her own thoughts, dismissing him from whatever or whoever was occupying her thoughts.

He looked away and caught Marianne staring at him.

Throughout the whole hot and cold cycle that Evelyn and Dan were going through, Marianne had been nagging him to step up and show Evelyn that he was serious about being together.

Each time, he trusted Marianne and did what she said.
 

Each time, the result that followed was a period where he became the invisible man to Evelyn.

When that happened, Marianne would tell him he wasn’t serious enough and he didn’t show her he’d meant what he said.

Sometimes, he was tempted to snap back at Marianne and tell her to stop meddling in his business. It was easy to blame Marianne for things going downhill, but he had to admit that she was just giving him the push he needed.

He did know what he wanted. He wanted everything with her.
 

He’d heard people talk about how they knew the person they were with was
the one
, and he knew.
 

It didn’t matter that they were running in a circle. It didn’t matter that they might be with someone else in between. There was a knowing in his heart that they would end up together.

She would be the one he would grow old with. The one he would create great memories with. The one he would have a family with.

Dan had lost count of the number of times he’d looked at Evelyn and heard the small voice in his heart telling him that they belonged together.
 

But Evelyn didn’t seem to agree. She knew what she wanted as well.

She had told him right from the start that she wasn’t interested in relationships; never had and never will. Still, he dove in head first, thinking that things would change.

There was nothing he could complain about. Evelyn did tell him straight to his face, it was his stupidity in thinking that he could change things.

Maybe he was wrong; maybe it was just the spillover effect of Tyler finding love that made him think otherwise. Maybe this time, things were really through between them.

Pushing the food away from him, he tuned in to the conversation around the table.

“Eve always said she wanted to learn self defense. We just never got to it. If you start one, I bet she’ll be your first customer,” Kate said.

He had tuned into the conversation just in time to disapprove of the idea that Kate had suggested.

“Yeah, of course,” Evelyn replied after a moment’s lapse as if she, too, was daydreaming. “It shouldn’t be too difficult for you guys to come up with the lessons. You guys learned judo, right?”

Ryan raised his brows. “True.”

“Will you ladies be our guinea pigs?” Joseph asked Kate.

“Why not?” “No.”

Two people spoke at the same time, but all heads turned toward Tyler. Even if they hadn’t recognized his voice, it was obvious he was the one rejecting the idea.
 

“They’re clumsy; you might get hurt,” Tyler said to Kate.

“Thanks for thinking about me, too,” Evelyn stated sarcastically.

“
Both
of you may get hurt,” Tyler corrected.

For once, Dan was grateful for Tyler’s protective nature. He grew up with the guys and had lost count of the injuries he’d sustained while playing basketball with them. He didn’t think it would be dangerous; he knew it would be. But unlike Tyler, he’d no right to speak up about it.

A silent frustration over the ambiguity of their relationship bubbled within him; a frustration over his lack of rights to be frustrated.

Though he never fooled around in relationships, he’d never felt so possessive over someone, especially someone he wasn’t even officially dating.

The worst of it was knowing how ridiculous it all seemed. He wasn’t in high school anymore; such trivial and petty relationship problems should no longer be an issue. Why couldn’t he just close the chapter he had with Evelyn and move on?

“I don’t think Ryan is in a position to hurt anyone,” Kate said, pointing to the cast on his hand. “And Joseph is a doctor, I’m sure he’ll be careful.
And
I’m going to ignore you now.”

“Don’t worry, Ty. We won’t risk your ‘precious’ in anyway. Promise,” Joseph assured.

There wasn’t any point in trying to fight it, Tyler seemed to know it was a lost cause. He shrugged and smiled at Kate. “You do know they’ll be dead if you end up getting hurt.”

“Ignore him,” Kate said.

Dan turned to Evelyn and saw, for just a moment, the hint of sadness in her eyes.

Perhaps her words meant more than she let on.

His fingers twitched as he fought to keep his behavior in check. She didn’t want him touching her, not even to console her, so he pulled his hand back a few inches and tightened his grip on his fork.

A moment of silence took over as everyone continued to devour the food Marianne had prepared. There was nothing more to discuss until Ryan and Joseph put more work into the gym.
 

“Would you like to join the self-defense guinea pigs, Lydia? After all, lawyers work horrible hours. It’s good to learn something to keep yourself safe,” Mr. Sawyer said.

Lydia’s head shot up. She blinked and looked around the table, clearly surprised that a question was directed toward her.

Although Dan wasn’t magnanimous enough to forgive Lydia, he did admire her courage to show up each time Kate invited her over. Everyone was angry at Lydia for various reasons; for Dan, it was because Evelyn could have died in the fire.
 

The thought of losing Evelyn in the fire was too much to think about, and each time he saw Lydia, he was reminded of the fact that the arsonist was still at large and Evelyn’s life might still be in danger.

“Sorry, maybe another time,” Lydia finally said.

Without much subtlety, Ryan rolled his eyes.
 

Lydia didn’t have to explain her lack of time. Everyone knew she was still obsessed with the cold case.
 

Then, Ryan suddenly asked, “What about you, Joanne? Everyone is offering some form of help. What are
you
going to do?”

“Marianne and Mr. Sawyer didn’t offer their help,” Joanne retorted.

Laughing at her statement, Marianne said, “If Joseph is planning healthy meals, who do you think will make it edible, dear? And of course, Mr. Sawyer will be taking care of all the legal matters.”

Having no other defense, Joanne turned and shared a look with Evelyn.

“Stop disturbing her,” Evelyn interjected.

Dan narrowed his eyes at Joanne. He saw the look between the Joanne and Evelyn. Something was wrong.

Joanne had been disappearing a lot lately, and she would get all flustered each time he asked her what she was up to. Now, there seemed to be some shared camaraderie between Evelyn and Joanne. “Yeah. What are you so busy with that you can’t help? You’ve been rather secretive lately, Anne.” Dan stared at his sister, worried that she was getting into some sort of trouble.
 

“Everyone has secrets. Let her be,” Evelyn stated.

You definitely have yours.
He pried his eyes from Evelyn and turned back to Joanne, waiting for her explanation.

Dan saw Joanne swallowing hard and ducking her head as her eyes moved to her plate.
 

He held his stare. He wasn’t going to back down. If Joanne was up to something, he was going to find out right now.

“I’m leaving for Paris next week and I won’t be back for at least a year,” Joanne said, her eyes still on the plate.

“What?” Dan exclaimed. “Why?”

“To study. I’ve been accepted to study interior designing there. Everything is settled. Evelyn found an apartment for me and went shopping with me for all the necessities I need.”

Evelyn knew all along?
“And how long ago was this decision made? Do Mom and Dad know about this? You’ve never been away on your own for so long. How are you going to survive?”

“Oh, Dan, you should be glad. It’s a fantastic opportunity, it’ll be good for her,” Marianne said. “Good luck with your studies, Joanne.”

“Glad? She’s never done her own laundry. She doesn’t know how to cook—”

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you. I’m always just your baby sister. I don’t want to be just your sister anymore.”

Clueless about what Joanne was talking about, Dan turned to Evelyn with a slight frown.
 

“Let her go, she’ll be fine,” Evelyn stated simply.

Dan sighed softly.
 

“Look, Evelyn taught me how to do my laundry, how to cook can food and ramen noodles,” Joanne said.

Evelyn taught her?

Joanne continued to rattle on, “Always lock my doors and windows when leaving the house and when going to bed, do not walk in dark alleys, always be aware of my surroundings, and a whole load of other stuff that Evelyn has already been nagging me about.”

“Nagging?” Evelyn arched a brow.

“Kidding…kidding.” Joanne gave Evelyn a nervous smile.

“How long have you been preparing for this?” he asked.

“A while.”

And Evelyn had been helping her.

She wasn’t fond of Joanne at all, not after all that Joanne had done to Kate. So why was she doing this?

His gaze fell on Evelyn. If only he could read minds.

“I’ll be fine,” Joanne continued when he said nothing.

Evelyn had been living on her own since she was sixteen. There couldn’t be a better person helping Joanne. And for the first time since the conversation took a turn, he finally breathed easier.

He leaned back and nodded. “When were you intending to tell me?”

“Soon, in a less public scene.”

His head bobbed up and down as he thought things through. “Everything is settled? School admissions…money?”

“Yes. And probably yes. Evelyn settled all the admission stuff for me. I
think
Mom and Dad will help me with the money. Otherwise, Kate has agreed to help me with whatever I need while I find a part-time job.”

He turned to Kate and smiled gratefully, though he was somewhat offended that Joanne hadn’t come to him for help. He was glad that she’d chosen the next best alternative.

“I’m sorry, she made me promise not to tell,” Kate said with a smile.

He already knew how good Kate was at keeping secrets, but he couldn’t believe that Evelyn hadn’t told him anything when they were going out. Then, a sudden realization hit him. “Kate knew, that means you knew,” he said, while glaring at Tyler.

Applying his signature style to avoid talking, Tyler merely shrugged.

“Forgive him, I made him promise not to tell,” Kate interjected. “Joanne wanted to make sure that everything was settled before announcing it.”

There was no way he was going to win the war. Putting aside his bruised ego for being blindsided, he had to admit that it was a positive step forward for Joanne. “Looks like you’ve got everything covered. If you need anything else, I hope you’ll remember that you’ve got a brother.”