Greg made a sweeping gesture, as if the gas logs were arguing with him. He whirled and faced Nathan. “What was the plan after the wedding?”
Greg wanted that question answered. Nathan squared his shoulders. “It’s changed a few times, but it always ends with Laura getting her money, the two of us divorced, and me paid to get out of your lives.”
“Did she plan on leaving the country?”
“I didn’t find out about that part until—”
“Answer me with what you know now,” Greg demanded.
“I think so, sir, yes.”
“She’d go be with that woman and never say a thing to me? To her mother? Her
family
?” Greg asked with his fists clenched and his shoulders shaking.
Nathan wanted to shrink away from this fight, take back all he’d said, or tell Greg it was a cruel joke. “I don’t know, sir.”
“How could she think that?” Greg raged. “How could she think that cheating me like this… How could she
do
this? Why?” He threw his hands into the air and looked to the ceiling, as though asking God for help. “And you,” Greg said to Nathan. “You would cut and run?”
Nathan nodded at the floor, miserable and numb. “Yes.”
“Without one word or explanation?”
“In the end, I couldn’t, sir. That’s why I had to come to see you tonight. And I’d like to offer you my formal resignation. I know I can’t continue working for you.”
“Damn right you can’t,” Greg said.
“Yes, sir. I know.” Nathan stood up on weak legs and set his glass next to Greg’s. “Thank you for listening, and for what it’s worth, I’m very grateful to you and very sorry for everything.” Nathan started to walk to the door.
“I am a blind fool,” Greg said, and Nathan paused.
“Sir?” Nathan asked.
Greg’s mouth tightened, and he didn’t look at Nathan. “I know everyone thinks I fired Doug because he was a homosexual.”
“I never did,” Nathan said. “Think that, I mean.”
Greg shook his head. “I didn’t find out he enjoyed the company of other men until after he’d left. I apparently lack the skill it takes to ascertain if a man… Is that way.”
“Why did you fire him, sir? If I may ask?”
“I fired him because he was stealing significant amounts of money from the petty cash fund, and he was lying on his expense reports. Using the company credit card for personal means.”
Nathan’s jaw dropped. “He was stealing from you?”
“Yes, and for that, I made sure he’d never work in this town again.”
“I… Oh.” Nathan leaned on a chair.
“That stays between us.”
“Yes, sir. I won’t say a word.”
“Thank you,” Greg said curtly. “I’ll keep your trust about your…friend and those circumstances. But I think you should go, Mr. Hunt, before what patience the Lord has given me runs out.” Greg put his back to Nathan. “I need to arrange a meeting with my daughter. Find out why it is exactly that she thinks I love her so little that she cannot be honest with me.”
“Maybe now she can be, sir,” Nathan said.
Greg stilled, and his head dropped forward. He folded his hands behind his back. “Go, Mr. Hunt.”
“Thank you, sir. For everything.”
“Nathan?”
“Yes, sir?”
When Greg spoke, the words were soft, as though they slithered out from beneath great boulders of grief. “Take care of yourself, son.”
Nathan couldn’t answer else the tears that threatened to spill finally fall, so he turned and left the Moore estate.
Chapter Fourteen
On day forty-four of sobriety, the phone rang, and the ring tone indicated an unknown caller. Nathan leaped out of the shower with shampoo in his eyes, and answered with a breathless, “Hello?”
“Hi.”
“Laura?”
“Happy fake wedding day.”
“Laura, I’m—”
“I’m supposed to be walking down the aisle right now.”
“I know.”
“In a white gown, my arm through my father’s, smiling at him as he gives me away and signs over more cash.”
“God.” Nathan smacked his forehead against the foggy, full-length mirror hanging on the back of the bathroom door.
“Instead, I’m sitting at our old place.”
“Which old place?”
“That restaurant where we first met. The Italian joint off Kingston?”
Nathan drove by it all the time, but he’d not eaten there since he and Laura were a team against the rest of the world. “Did you get your Chianti?”
“Yes. All I need now is a nice liver.”
“Do you want me to meet you?”
Laura’s voice went soft. “Would you?”
“Give me half an hour.”
“I’ll order a bottle.”
Nathan rinsed, threw on clothes, and grabbed a coat. His breath fogged on the way to his car, and his teeth chattered as he shifted through gears and roared out of the parking lot. Early Christmas shoppers clogged the streets and interstate, but Nathan made it to the restaurant in exactly twenty minutes. He parked in an alleyway and headed for the front door with the sun turning the sky shades of brilliant pink and orange.
Laura was at their usual table, the corner booth in one of the side rooms, and Nathan shrugged out of his coat as he made his way past families enjoying appetizers. Laura wore jeans and a white sweater, and her hair was loose around her face. She sipped the last of her wine as Nathan slid into the seat across from her.
“Hey,” Nathan said, shaking his head when Laura offered to pour him a glass.
“No wine?” Laura asked.
“I’m trying something new.”
“Oh?”
“Sort of a cleanse.”
“Mmm.” Laura drank. “I should kick your ass.”
“Probably.” Nathan waved the waiter away when he tried to approach.
“You told Daddy.”
“Yeah. I did.”
“Everything.”
“Every last bit, yep.”
“Bastard,” Laura said without any punch to the word.
“My mother would probably disagree, but seeing as she’s not here…”
Laura sighed. “Daddy said… The explosion at the warehouse, that was you, wasn’t it?”
“Not exactly.”
“Bullshit.”
“None better.”
Laura’s features could have been carved from stone. “Tell me you’re not in the line of fire here, Nathan.”
“No, we’re safe,” Nathan reassured her. “The good guys won.”
“You’re sure?”
“As I can be.”
“You’ve got to be… Do you have any idea how worried I was?” Laura suddenly yelled, earning them glances from nearby patrons. “And pissed? And fucking terrified? One text that night. ‘I’m fine.’ And then a handful of calls with you sounding like death warmed over for another round of golf in hell. If Daddy hadn’t been giving me updates and asking me questions…”
“Is that what he was doing?” Nathan asked, mildly.
“I couldn’t answer any of them, by the way.” Laura drank. “I made shit up and hoped it was at least reasonably true. ‘He’s sick,’ I’d say. ‘He’s upset over Paul.’ ‘He’s got cold feet.’”
“I’m sorry you had to lie,” Nathan said.
“Oh no, that last part was true.”
“I’m sorry,” Nathan said again, and he meant it. All the anger that had once lived inside him had moved on to the next host. Fury would have been proud.
Laura skewered Nathan with her gaze. “Daddy called me over to the house the same night you were there.”
“What did he say?”
“He disowned me, hugged me, told me God would forgive me, but he wasn’t sure he could. And not for being gay, Nathan. No, no.” She laughed and rubbed at her eyes. “For deceiving him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Laura took a harsh breath in and blew it out, wiping her hands on her thighs. “I bet you are.”
“I am.”
“Mmm.”
“You want to yell at me some more?”
“No. I’m tired of it.”
“Impossible.”
Laura snorted and crossed her arms. “You just couldn’t stand it, could you? Had to say something.”
Somewhere, Fury’s cross hung from his rearview mirror. “I did,” Nathan said. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ve got some balls.”
“Nice of you to notice.”
Laura shook her head. “I knew it was over, Nathan. I think I knew the day you missed that fucking lunch with the family.”
“It unraveled pretty quickly after that, yeah,” Nathan agreed. He’d come a long way since the gay bars and the drives of shame that came afterward. “I’m sorry,” Nathan said again.
“Quit saying that.”
“I’m… Okay.”
Laura tucked her hair behind her ears. “Turns out you’re a sweet guy, Nate. Too sweet for the likes of me and my goddamned plans.”
“It wasn’t one of your better ones, the whole marriage scheme thing.”
“Shut up. It was great. Would’ve worked too.”
“Different time, different place.” Nathan shrugged. “Maybe.”
Laura wiped her nose. “You got a job, yet?”
“Not yet. I’m looking, though, and something will pan out.”
“You and that big guy with the crazy hair still together?”
Nathan picked at the tablecloth. “Not really.”
“Did he get arrested?”
“No. God, no, nothing like that.” Laura cocked an eyebrow, and Nathan sighed. “We’re trying to work things out.”
Laura nodded and kept nodding as though she was having trouble stopping. “I’m going to Italy.”
“You are?”
“I am.” Laura’s smile was thin but genuine. “Leaving today. Sold all my stuff. Carl bought my car. My bag’s in the rental. Siena’s picking me up from the airport when I land.”
“I’ve always loved how fast you work when you know what you want.”
“Thanks. I kind of like it too, actually.” Laura leaned to one side and dug into her pocket. “Figure I’ll stay in a foreign country until Dad cools off. Maybe someday…”
“He’ll forgive you,” Nathan said.
“You think so?”
“I do. He loves you, Laura. I know he does.”
Laura fidgeted, uncomfortable, and she pushed a folded piece of paper across the table. “What’s this?” Nathan asked, taking the page and unfolding it.
“A statement from my bank guaranteeing the transfer of your half of the engagement money.”
Nathan almost dropped the thing. “No,” he said. “Laura—”
“There’s some paperwork that has to clear, so it’ll be a week or two, but it’s going to happen.”
“I couldn’t. I—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Laura said dully. She drank. Nathan waited.
“You know I hated you for a while there. For being able to do crazy shit that was also true to yourself. I hated you for being able to have even that much honesty. And then that night when I saw you with whatshisname—”
“Hale,” Nathan nearly whispered. “His name is Hale.”
“When I saw you with Hale, and I saw what you were willing to put on the line for him… I don’t know. Something broke. I’d always known on some level that asking you to do the wedding was wrong, but I also knew you were getting paid. I told myself it was no different than doing any other job you hated. I told myself you were a grown man and maybe you really did have to live by punishing yourself, by keeping secrets, you know, like me. But then you started to change, and then you went and you told Daddy. And while he’s telling me that he doesn’t know if he can ever forgive me, he’s asking me if I knew you had an addiction problem. If I knew you’d been involved in this drug scandal… And, of course, I did. I’d known for a long time that a lot of shit in your life was slowly killing you, but it was worth it, right? Because of the money.”
“Laura—”
She held up a hand. “So I’m standing there, on my own front porch, begging my father to listen, and he does for the first time that I can remember. I tell him all the things he didn’t know, and he says to me if the cash meant so much, then I could have it. And then he slammed the door in my face.”
“I—”
“Shut up,” Laura said, her voice cracking, and Nathan obeyed.
Laura took a breath. “I was furious right up until I realized that I was also free. Then I was angry, but more at myself than you. I’d gotten exactly what I wanted, and I also got to tell my father who I was. Or well, you did, but I finished the job. And now I get to be with Siena. See if we can really make it work. So take the damned money, Nate. It was the only good thing you were ever going to get out of knowing me.”
“That’s not true.”
“Thanks for saying so.” Laura finished her drink, fished out cash for the bill, and started putting on her coat. “Stay out of trouble?”
“I will,” Nathan promised, and he stood when Laura did, blocking her exit. “Stay in touch? Please?”
“I’ll send you a postcard.” Laura’s smile threatened and then struck. “Covered in naked Italian women.”
“Deal.” Nathan opened his arms, and he held Laura for the last time. The final piece of his old world order was about to fly away, and for a second, he wanted, against all odds, to go with her.
“It’ll work out,” Laura said against Nathan’s shoulder. “With Hale. I saw the way he looked at you. Like he’d never seen another person before he laid eyes on you.”
Nathan gnawed his lower lip raw and kissed Laura’s hair. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Laura gently pulled away. “And if he doesn’t realize what he’s got in you, then he’s a complete idiot. And if he doesn’t know how much you’ve done to be with him, then he’s a completely blind, deaf, and dumb idiot. You’re free now too, of me, my father, and everything else. You’ll be all right with or without him.”
“Maybe,” Nathan said. “Thing is, I think I’m better off with him.”
Laura lifted one shoulder. “Then do it,” she said, the force of her conviction like a brush fire kissing a frozen lake.
“Just like that?”
Laura laughed. “Sure Nate. Just like that.”
Still chuckling, she started to go, heading for her car and her plane with a confident sway in her step. “Good-bye, Madam,” Nathan called.
Laura spun, glancing backward one more time. “Take care of you, boy.”
“I’ll try,” Nathan said, and he stayed to order dinner and dessert.
* * * *
Nathan shut the car door and hit the button to lock the Corvette. It was dark and cold, but Nathan’s timing had him arriving at the apartment complex just as the safety lights clicked on. Nathan laughed at his path through giant pools of artificial white, and so it was with a grin that he found Fury hovering in the breezeway. Fury wore a black coat with the hood up, and he pushed it down when Nathan approached. He had shaved his entire head, the scalp evenly burred with dark hair, and his features were sharper without anything to distract from them.