Together With You (9 page)

He glanced at his watch, saw it was time to head for the theater, and approached Eric and Nathan from behind. “The movie starts pretty soon. Let's get in line.”

“Do we have to?” Eric asked.

“Yes, we do.” Ryan sounded stern even to himself.

Eric traded a “my dad's a pain” look with Nathan, who gave a little shrug. “It's okay with me. I kind of want to see it.”

“All right,” Eric agreed. “But Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Could we sit by ourselves?” Eric's round face turned tomato red. “Mom would let us. We like the front row, and she hates it.”

If he told the boys they had to sit with him, Eric would resent him. On the other hand, what good was sitting on opposite sides of the theater? There was no good answer, so he mentally flipped a coin. “You can sit wherever you want. We'll meet outside the exit.”

He bought the tickets, and the three of them stood in line, Eric and Nathan keeping their backs to him. When the doors opened, they zipped to the front row while Ryan took a seat in the very back.

The spot reminded him of sitting on the bleacher with Carly. He enjoyed her company, and that was a problem. Nature had a way of asserting itself, something he couldn't allow. His sons needed to see him living with integrity, and Ryan needed to redeem himself
in his own eyes. Dallying with the nanny like a lecherous duke in a romance novel was out of the question.

Even so, alone in the crowded theater, he wondered if she'd enjoy the documentary about the marvels of the ocean. When the lights dimmed and the movie started with birds chirping like the ones on her ringtone, he decided she would, in part because Carly enjoyed everything in life except spiders, burnt toast, and smog. The chirping birds segued into plucking violins. An ocean wave exploded on the screen in a roar of blue and white, and the surround-sound shook with the force of nature's power. Ryan didn't believe in God, but sometimes he wished he did. A man couldn't help but wonder about a supreme creator at the sight of such magnificence.

Somehow it made a man feel small.

So did sitting alone.

He tried to lose himself in the story about sea life and food chains, but his eyes kept dipping to the back of Eric's head. The day was far from a success, but Eric seemed to be enjoying the movie. When a great white shark shot onto the screen, everyone gasped, and Ryan heard Eric shout, “Wow!”

The movie ended with a round of enthusiastic applause, the crowd filtered out, and Ryan met the boys at the exit.

“So what did you think?” he asked them.

Nathan, always polite, answered first. “It was cool. Thanks, Dr. Tremaine.”

“Yeah, Dad,” Eric added. “Thanks. Can we go to the gift shop?”

“Sure.”

The boys dashed ahead of him, crossed the sunbaked plaza to the Science Center, and raced to the store in the main building. When Ryan caught up to them, they were in the ocean section and rummaging in a barrel of plastic sharks, whales, and sting rays. Bags containing colorful fish and sea plants hung nearby, and an assortment of books for all ages was displayed face-out on a low shelf.

Ryan saw a chance to be an ordinary dad, took out his wallet, and gave each boy spending money.

Nathan's face lit up. “Thanks, Dr. Tremaine!”

“Yeah, Dad,” Eric added. “Thanks.”

While the boys shopped, Ryan wandered to the other side of the store. On his own, he bought each boy a T-shirt, one for himself, and a glass paperweight with an ocean scene for his desk. He didn't know if the day had been a success or not, but
“Thanks, Dad”
had a nice ring to it.

Y
ou can't have it,” Eric shouted at Penny. “It's mine.”

Carly raced from the laundry room to the kitchen, where she'd left Eric and Penny at the table just long enough to switch a load of whites from the washer to the dryer. Eric was making a diorama of the ocean in a cardboard box he'd spray painted blue and silver. Since the trip to the Science Center, he'd been obsessed with sharks. He still oozed resentment and barely spoke to anyone—especially not to Ryan—but yesterday he had ventured out of his room and asked for a ride to a hobby store for paint, glue, and glitter. With Ryan's permission, Carly obliged, and Eric had been occupied for several hours with his modeling project.

With his shout in her ears, Carly strode into the kitchen just as Penny reached the foot of the stairs with a plastic shark clutched in her hand. Carly intended to make her return it to Eric, but Eric reached her first. “That's mine!”

“I want it!”

Penny was no match for Eric, who jerked the toy out of her hands. “You brat! I hate you—”

“I hate you, too,” Penny yelled back.

Carly winced at Eric's rage but chose not to address it in the heat of battle. As soon as she finished with Penny, she'd talk to him about the difference between hating a person and hating what they did. But first she needed to control Penny. “We're going to the quiet room.”

“No.”

“Yes.” She walked Penny past the kitchen to the maid's quarters, now the nanny room, added on to the side of the house. Carly used it as an office and a personal retreat, as well as a place for Penny to calm herself. With its plain walls, white furniture, and sky blue drapes and bedding, the room suited her purposes to a tee.

Gripping Penny's hand, Carly led her to an overstuffed chair wedged in the corner. She sat on the ottoman, turned Penny to face her, and kept eye contact. “The shark belongs to Eric.”

“But I want it.”

“It belongs to Eric,” Carly repeated.

“But—”

“It belongs to Eric.” She spoke the same words in the same cadence with the hope they'd penetrate Penny's brain the way a carpenter deepened a cut with precise strokes of a saw. “It. Belongs. To. Eric.”

Penny huffed, a sign she understood.

“You have to say you're sorry.”

“I'm sorry,” Penny said, though Carly suspected she didn't comprehend the real meaning.

“Let's go say it to Eric.”

She led Penny back to the kitchen, but Eric was gone. Assuming he was in his room, Carly took Penny upstairs where, for once, Eric's door was open. She peeked inside, didn't see him but spotted a computer tablet glowing face up on his rumpled sheets. She glanced at the screen, saw foul words on his Facebook page, along with a picture of Penny at her worst and the caption
My Sister, The Monster.

Carly inhaled sharply. At the same instant, Eric came into the room with a charger he'd probably borrowed from Kyle or Ryan, because his own room was such a mess he couldn't possibly find a thing. When he saw Carly, his eyes dipped to the tablet, and his cheeks flamed red.

She took the embarrassment as a good sign and confronted him with more calm than she felt. “I saw the picture on your Facebook. After Penny says what we came to say, I'd like to talk to you about it.”

“It's just a picture,” he mumbled.

“A hurtful one.” Carly indicated that Penny should face Eric. “Do you remember what to say?”

Penny hid her face against Carly's leg in an attempt to avoid everything—the confusion in her mind and the messy room. Carly gently turned her around, then prompted her with a squeeze of her hand. “You're sorry you took the shark.”

Eric glared at her. “I don't care what she says.”

“I do,” Carly replied. “And I care about you, too. So let's do this. Penny, tell Eric you're sorry.”

“I'm sorry,” she said, maybe understanding but probably not.

Carly tipped up Penny's face with a finger on her chin. “Now go to your room.”

Her bottom lip trembled. “I don't like it in there.”

Neither did Carly. With its frilly curtains, bright colors, and gingerbread shelves, the room was a little-girl paradise, unless the little girl had a disorder that made smells, noise, clutter, and bright lights painful to her. Tonight she'd talk to Ryan about the room as well as the shark incident.

Carly gripped Penny's hand and led her out the door. “You can play with Miss Rabbit now.”

Consoled, Penny walked with Carly to her room. Carly set her up with Miss Rabbit and Lance, then returned to speak to Eric. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with the tablet in hand, his
mouth tight and his eyes burning with anger. As Carly leaned against the doorjamb, he tossed the device on the bed so she could see his Facebook. The ugly picture was gone.

“Did you delete it?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“That's good, but I'm going to be very direct with you, Eric. You're old enough to understand what happened to your sister.”

“
Half
sister.”

“That's right.” Carly shifted her weight, slouching a little to keep the mood casual. “You know the facts, and you're smart. I bet you get good grades.”

“Not as good as Kyle.”

Sibling rivalry. Carly hid a wince. As the youngest in her own family, she had competed with her sister and brother in everything and lost every time, until she discovered a knack for working with kids.

“You're not Kyle,” she said to Eric. “You have your own talents. It takes time to figure out what they are, but I've noticed a few things about you.”

His head jerked up. “Like what?”

“You're quiet, but you watch people. You notice things, like Kyle forgetting to take out the trash.”

Eric almost smiled. “He does that a lot.”

“You notice things about your dad, too. I bet you can tell me what color tie he wore to work today.”

“It was blue.”

The color of his eyes. Carly had noticed, too. Her mind wandered to this morning and how they had chatted over coffee before Ryan left for the office. He was almost late for work, and she worried until he texted that he arrived in time, a friendly gesture that made her feel important to him, which was silly.

Annoyed at herself, she focused back on Eric. “I've noticed other things about you. For instance, you're good at jigsaw puzzles. That
one in the family room—” She'd found the sea-life puzzle in the closet and put it out just to see what would happen. “You finished it in what? Three hours?”

He shrugged, but his shoulders seemed a little broader. “I was bored. There was nothing else to do.”

“Sure there was.” Carly crossed her arms. “You could have picked a fight with Penny, caused trouble for me, or run off without telling us where you were. But you didn't do any of those things, even if you wanted to. That tells me you have a lot of self-control.” It also meant he tamped down his anger. “Penny doesn't have that ability. It's my job to teach her as much as she can learn. And that's the problem—her mind doesn't work like yours or mine. Learning is hard for her.”

“That's what my dad says.”

“It's true.” She had his attention, so she slipped down to the floor and sat with one knee raised. “I don't think you hate your sister. I think you hate some of the things she does, like when she took the shark and messed up the diorama.”

“Yeah!” he said, facing Carly fully. “Or when she has a meltdown in front of my friends.”

“Or kicks the table.”

“She drives me
crazy
! Why does she have to be here anyway?”

The question was as multifaceted as a human life. Why was Penny born in the first place? Why had Ryan broken his wedding vows? Why was she suddenly a forever-piece of Eric's life, sharing his father and living under the same roof? Until Penny's arrival, he'd been the baby of the family. Now he was caught in the middle. As Ryan had said back at the Animal Factory, the situation was complicated.

“I can't tell you why Penny's here on earth,” Carly said to him. “But I know God loves her.”

“My mom talks like that.”

“Your mom's a smart lady.” Carly hadn't communicated with Heather personally, but she saw her heart in her boys, and Ryan
spoke well of her. “Here's the deal, Eric. I can tell your dad about the picture or you can. I don't keep secrets, because most of the time they hurt people.”

Eric kicked at some dirty socks on the floor. “I don't like talking to him.”

No surprise there. Carly thought for a moment. “Let's do it this way. I'll tell him the whole story, including how mad you were at Penny for swiping the shark. I'm sure he'll want to talk to you, but this will give you time to think about what to say. By the way, does he have the password to your Facebook?”

“Yeah.” He rolled his eyes the way only a thirteen-year-old could. “My mom has it, too.”

“We both know you can change it, even set up a ghost account.” Like Allison did. Her accounts were all under AlleyCat117. “If I were you, I'd give your dad the password again, tell him you were mad at Penny and you're sorry. I think he'll understand.”

When Eric stayed quiet, Carly pushed to her feet and left. He had some thinking to do, and Carly needed to text Ryan to make sure he'd be home on time. She sent the message and was in Penny's room when her phone rang and she saw his office caller ID. Wanting privacy, she slipped into Ryan's bedroom and closed the door. “That was fast.”

“Carly, it's Fran.”

“Oh!” She hadn't spoken to Fran since they arranged the interview, but they'd hit it off. “What's up?”

“Ryan got your text. Dr. Shaya called in with a migraine, so he's been covering her emergencies. He's slammed today.”

“I can imagine.”

“There's another problem. Dr. Shaya was supposed to meet tonight with a new doctor they're considering for the practice. The woman's from out of town, and someone has to take her to dinner. The other two partners bowed out, so it's Ryan or no one. Can you stay late tonight? If you can't, I'll babysit.”

Carly hated getting home after dark, but the conversation about Eric couldn't wait. “I'll do it. What time do you think he'll be home?”

“Not too late. Maybe ten?”

“That's fine.”

“Wait. Hold on.”

She heard muffled sounds, then Ryan's deep voice. “Carly?”

A little charge rippled down her spine. “Hi.”

“Thanks for staying. What happened with Eric?”

“It's a long story.” One she didn't want to tell over the phone when he needed to return to his patients. “Everything's fine, but you'll want to have a sit-down with him.”

“A sit-down?”

“That's my dad's expression for a talking-to.” Kentucky leaked into her voice. In a year or so she'd be home for good. Homesickness washed through her, and her chest tightened, but it tightened even more when Ryan's deep voice echoed in her ear.

“A sit-down, it is,” he said, sounding tender. “Thanks, Carly. I'm glad you're there.”

“I'm just doing my job.”

“And doing it better than anyone.” He paused, maybe to let the compliment soak in. When he spoke again, his voice came out lower, more personal. “I'll get home as soon as I can.”

“I'll be waiting.”

They said good-bye at the same time, awkwardly but with a lingering warmth that made her soft inside. Unnerved, she sat on the foot of his bed and tried not to think about Ryan having dinner with a colleague. A female colleague. Unwanted pictures flashed through her mind: a cozy table for two, candlelight, Ryan gazing into the eyes of a willowy redhead who shared his view of the world.

Jealousy snaked through her, which was ridiculous. Ryan was her boss, and they were friends. She should be hoping he had a good time at dinner, not reacting as if she had a crush on him. That was just plain silly.

She pushed off the bed and headed for the door, but before opening it, she turned. With its modern furniture and silver and black bedding, Ryan's bedroom reflected the hard edges of his personality. His cell-phone charger sat on the nightstand, plugged in and ready to go. An adventure novel lay face up with a bookmark tucked between the pages. There wasn't an item out of place, except for a bureau drawer left slightly ajar. As perfect as Ryan tried to be, he was still human.

So was Carly.

Determined to hold back her silly feelings, she blinked away the picture of silver and black and went to take care of Penny.