Chương 6
Skylar called back, “You did.”
Hailey answered after a pause.
“Fair.”
Brandon rubbed the back of his neck.
“I should’ve handled dinner better.”
Skylar shrugged.
“I got pancakes.”
It was not forgiveness.
It was not condemnation either.
Children could be brutal in their economy.
Brandon stood.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
He reached for a hug.
Skylar let him give her one but did not put her arms around him.
Charlotte looked away.
By the time Brandon and Gertrude left, the seafood had gone cold.
Gertrude carried her purse and nothing else.
At the front door she turned to Charlotte.
“You’re going to regret making this adversarial.”
Charlotte held the door open.
“It became adversarial when you signed my name.”
Gertrude’s mouth tightened.
“I was trying to save my son.”
“And you were willing to risk my daughter’s home to do it.”
Gertrude looked toward Skylar’s room.
Something moved across her face then, too quick to name.
Shame might have been generous.
Fear might have been closer.
“You don’t understand everything.”
“Then I’ll learn.”
Gertrude stepped outside.
Brandon followed.
He looked back once.
Charlotte closed the door before either of them could say anything else.
The click of the deadbolt sounded louder than it should have.
Hailey remained in the kitchen.
Charlotte had almost forgotten she was there.
“You can leave too.”
Hailey nodded.
“I know.”
She made no move toward the door.
Charlotte walked back to the dining room.
The food looked obscene now.
Cracked shells, abandoned glasses, melted ice beneath shrimp, soy sauce soaked into the runner.
She picked up one plate.
Hailey picked up another.
Charlotte looked at her.
“I didn’t ask for help.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t make me thank you.”
“I won’t.”
They carried the dishes into the kitchen.
For several minutes they cleaned without talking.
Hailey scraped leftovers into the trash.
Charlotte stacked plates in the dishwasher.
There was something almost offensively normal about rinsing sushi rice from ceramic after discovering financial fraud.
Hailey held up a crab claw.
“Do you want to keep any of this?”
“No.”
“Even the shrimp?”
“No.”
Hailey dropped it into the trash.
“That hurts me personally.”
Charlotte looked at her.
Hailey gave a weak smile.
It disappeared quickly.
“Sorry.”
Charlotte closed the dishwasher.
“Tell me what Evan knows.”
Hailey rested both hands on the counter.
“He knows Curtis.”
“How well?”
“Better than he admitted.”
Charlotte waited.
Hailey stared toward the dining room.
“They played poker together.”
“How often?”
“I don’t know.”
“That means often.”
“It means Evan lies about poker because he knows I hate it.”
Charlotte leaned against the sink.
“Why do you hate it?”
“My ex emptied our rent account at a casino.”
Charlotte had known Hailey’s first serious relationship had ended badly, but not that detail.
Hailey gave a small shrug.
“So gambling with money you need has a certain nostalgic quality for me.”
“Did Evan gamble with Curtis?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s how Brandon met him?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I wasn’t there.”
Charlotte studied her.
“You knew about the investment.”
“Afterward.”
“When afterward?”
“Maybe two months.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Hailey looked genuinely uncomfortable.
“Because Brandon asked me not to.”
“That was enough?”
“No.”
She rubbed the edge of the counter.
“It was also none of my business.”
Charlotte laughed quietly.
“You sat through dinner while your mother told my daughter she couldn’t eat the food on the table.”
Hailey winced.
“That was my business.”
“Yes.”
“I should’ve said something.”
“Yes.”
“I thought Gertrude had given Skylar dinner earlier.”
“Gertrude?”
Hailey looked up.
“You call your mother Gertrude when you’re angry.”
“I call her Gertrude when she’s being Gertrude.”
Despite herself, Charlotte almost smiled.
Hailey saw it and wisely did not react.
“What was tonight supposed to be?”
Charlotte asked.
Hailey exhaled.
“Mom was going to tell Brandon she could get sixty thousand from her condo.”
“And the other thirty-two?”
“Evan said Curtis might settle.”
“Might?”
“He thought if they could show immediate money, Curtis would take less.”
“Why would Curtis take less if he has an interest in this house?”
Hailey went still.
Charlotte saw the answer arrive before Hailey spoke.
“I don’t know.”
“That bothers you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Curtis is not generous.”
Charlotte waited.
Hailey looked toward the hallway to make sure Skylar was not nearby.
“Evan said Curtis has been pushing Brandon hard for weeks.”
“How?”
“Calls.”
“What kind of calls?”
“The kind where Evan started telling Brandon not to answer alone.”
Charlotte felt a colder kind of fear.
“Threats?”
“I never heard one.”
“But?”
“But Brandon stopped parking in the driveway.”
Charlotte looked toward the front window.
His car had been in the garage for almost a month.
She had noticed only because he complained about her leaving gardening supplies too close to his door.
At the time she had assumed it was another domestic irritation.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”
Hailey looked at her with exhausted honesty.
“Because every person involved was trying to prevent the next person from finding out how stupid they’d been.”
Charlotte absorbed that.
It was ugly enough to be believable.
“Does Evan have Curtis’s number?”
“Yes.”
“I want it.”
Hailey hesitated.
“No.”
Charlotte stared at her.
“You just told me I need to know what’s happening.”
“You need a lawyer before you call that man.”
“That’s suddenly your concern?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Curtis scares Evan.”
Charlotte’s fingers tightened around the edge of the sink.
“Evan scares easily?”
“No.”
The kitchen seemed quieter.
Hailey reached into her purse and took out her phone.
“I’ll send you Evan’s contact information for tomorrow.”
“I already have Evan’s number.”
“Not that.”
She tapped the screen.
“A lawyer.”
Charlotte looked at her.
“You have one?”
“Divorce.”
“That inspires confidence.”
“She was very good at making my ex wish he had kept receipts.”
Charlotte’s mouth twitched despite everything.
Hailey typed.
“Her name is Marisol Vega.”
Charlotte’s phone was still with Skylar.
“I’ll get it later.”
Hailey nodded.
May you like
Then she picked up her purse.
At the door she stopped.
