Watch Out for Her, page 25
After our heart-to-heart, and with the lies out in the open, we’re forging a real friendship. Earlier this week, I even invited her over for coffee, and we discussed hiring Emily to tutor both our boys. Starting tomorrow she’ll tutor them once a week. We both have the same goal: to help and protect our kids.
“Jake, time to go!” I call up the stairs, where my son is getting dressed. He bounds down the stairs too fast as usual.
Daniel’s already left for work, and Jacob and I run toward Daisy Drive to catch up to Tara and Cody, who’ve gone ahead with Emily and Roscoe for the walk to school. Emily might not have kids of her own, but she seems to love being with ours. She’s been joining us every morning this week, and it’s a lovely, comforting routine, though Jacob and I usually lag behind and have to race to catch up.
I’m panting when we reach them. Tara and Emily stop to let me catch my breath. “Thank you. In your tutoring sessions, do you ever help kids with life skills? Like getting out of the house faster?” I ask Emily.
She laughs. “I can work on that with the boys if you want me to.”
“Tomorrow right after school still works, right? At my place for the first time?” Tara asks Emily.
Emily nods. “Sounds great.”
Tara and I smile at each other. Finally—the beginning of a real connection with an imperfect-but-trying-her-best mom like me.
We get to the school, and Jacob and Cody race to the back of the building to line up, pushing each other and laughing all the while. I wave to their teacher, Valerie, who’s calmly standing at the front of the line with her clipboard, ignoring the roughhousing. I gulp my own desire to yell out a “Be careful!” to the boys.
Once the kids are safely ushered inside, Tara and I head back to Emily, who suggests a hike in the ravine. My chest warms with the genuine bond the three of us have formed. I’m building a community here, and it almost makes me forget every creepy thing that has gone on since we arrived a week ago.
“I’d love to hike the ravine, but I owe my mom a call, and calls with her are never short,” I say. “She really wanted us to go back to Vancouver for Rosh Hashanah, but it wasn’t a good time this year.”
Roscoe pulls Emily forward, so we start to walk away from the school. She looks over her shoulder to direct a question at me. “It must be hard to be apart from your family. Do you think you’ll go back to Vancouver to visit?”
“Maybe in the spring, or my family can come here. The house is big enough for all of them, though, unless we buy our own place once the lease is up.”
“Maybe buy a place in Blossom Court?” Tara asks hopefully.
I’m touched. I want to stay here in Toronto, set down roots, and finally leave the summer behind. “Daniel and I would both like that. But we’ll have to wait a bit longer and see how things go.”
We chat all the way back to Lilac Lane, where we separate. I watch as they head off toward the ravine, the sun beaming down on them: a blond woman, a blue-haired woman, and a scrappy little dog. I watch until they vanish into the woods.
Then I enter my house, anxious as I always am at what might have happened in my absence, who might have come in, who could be lying in wait for me—inside or outside. I only breathe properly when I do a full scan of every room, and everything seems fine.
I get myself a cup of coffee from the half-filled pot, nuke it in the microwave, then sit at the kitchen table to make a phone call I’m scared to make. It’s not to my mom. Even now, I don’t tell the truth—not completely. The call is to someone else entirely.
Gloria Fielding answers on the first ring. “Sarah? What a nice surprise. How’s Toronto?”
“Hi, Gloria. It’s good. We miss everyone in Forest View, though. How are you and Stan?”
“I’m fine. Stan’s fine, too. He’s at work, then golfing and dinner at the club with John Monroe as usual. I swear I barely see my own husband.”
“Some things never change! But I’m glad you’re both well.” I take a deep breath, then put my question to her as casually as I can. “Listen, I was wondering if you know how I can reach Holly, John’s daughter. I’ve tried calling her, but no success. Jacob misses her terribly and would love to chat with her. You know, just to say hi. Transitions are hard for young ones.”
“Oh, poor little guy. I’m sure he’ll settle in soon, though. As far as I know, Holly’s on some ‘finding herself’ retreat. At least that’s what John told Stan. She’s taking a semester off medical school.” She releases a tinkly laugh. “This generation and their ‘self-care.’ ”
I laugh as I’m expected to. “Do you know where the retreat is, by any chance?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m sorry. John and Lisette aren’t thrilled with Holly’s decision not to go right back to school, so we don’t talk about her much these days. You know I don’t like to intrude.”
“Of course.” I wait a second then ask, “And her boyfriend?”
“Boyfriend?” Gloria says. “Does Holly have one?”
“Oh, I thought she did,” I say. “I thought she mentioned something.”
“I don’t think so, but then again, what do I know?” She pauses. “Funny, I can’t imagine her father letting any boy near her. That family. The company is so important to all of them, and she’s been very involved on the sales side. She is a charmer, that’s for sure.”
I cringe. “Yes, that’s definitely the right word.”
Gloria laughs again. “I mean, I think she’s gotten half the men at the Canyon Club to invest in Health ProX.”
Gloria might have just unknowingly given me the path through the labyrinth.
We chat for another minute, then I hang up and search the Health ProX website, this time clicking through the clinical trial pages to find a list of investors. Holly’s role was to snag funding, and, according to Gloria, much of her success was through the Canyon Club, where most of the members are middle-aged men, like Daniel, and even older.
I want faces and names.
But that proves frustrating and time-consuming because I have to click through PDFs of financial reports and drug trials to find corporate sponsors for each medication they’ve produced or that is currently being researched. I grab an envelope off the counter and jot down the drugs and names of the investors from the last year. There are ten men listed, and I know only one: Stan Fielding. He’s definitely not the man in the video.
I open the video and search Google images for each of the other names to see if I can find a match. Finally, after forty-five excruciating minutes, I find a photo of a familiar, creased, tanned face, his full head of salt-and-pepper hair, and a self-important smile. Charlie Lang, a married Vancouver-based commercial property developer with two teenagers, worth close to a billion dollars. He was the man screwing Holly in my living room.
Daniel said he didn’t recognize the man from the video. It’s possible Charlie Lang and Daniel haven’t crossed paths. Possible, but is it likely? Stop, I tell myself. I’m rushing to conclusions without anything to base them on.
I go to the Canyon Club website and search every photo posted there, but it’s all interior shots of the decor and the pristine golf course. I head to Google and search “Canyon Club; social events” and finally I hit on images of parties, tournaments, and charity events, scanning each one for Charlie Lang. There he is. Teeing up on the course with a local politician. Clearly, he has power and influence to match his money.
If Charlie sent me this video, if he’s my stalker, what does he want from me? There’s only one person who can give me the answers I need.
I need to talk to Holly. Calling her didn’t work, so I’ll try social media. But I can’t figure out how to reactivate the Instagram account Holly made for me, and I’m afraid I’ll lose my nerve. I set up an entirely new account with the same name as before: Sarah Goldman Photography. I leave my bio blank.
I follow Holly, whose last photo is still the same one of the girl doing yoga on the beach. Taking a deep breath, I create a public post that I know will make Holly take notice. No photo, just words. Woman to woman. I tag her like she taught me.
Holly,
I miss you. You belong with us. You’re family, and we want to keep you close.
And it’s done. I wait, sick to my stomach, but also eerily calm. It’s time for all the secrets and this toxic, codependent relationship to end once and for all.
A few minutes later, my little mail icon alerts me to one new message. I click. It’s from Holly.
I’m closer than you think.
CHAPTER THIRTY HOLLY
Before
After getting tomatoes, noodles, ground beef, and even chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles for Jacob at the grocery store close to Cliffside Road, Holly drives back to the Goldmans’ and parks Sarah’s car in the garage. Daniel’s Audi isn’t there, so he’s not at home yet. That’s good because she’s still too angry with him about their discussion at the bar to fake normalcy right now. Now that he and Sarah are in a good place, all loved up from the night away they couldn’t have had without Holly, he’s trying to distance her from the family. He promised to let her continue living with them, but how long will that last if he’s found a way out of the grave he’s dug for himself? At least Sarah and Jacob will appreciate the delicious dinner she’s making for them. Or so Holly hopes.
She unlocks the front door, imagining a perfect dinner, with Sarah sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of wine and Jacob learning to cut his food himself. Maybe Sarah will immortalize the night in a photo. And perhaps she can tell Sarah to post it on Instagram—or add it to the family photos on the wall in the living room. Humming to herself, she carries the bags toward the kitchen, passing the living room, where she sees a blond stranger sitting on the couch.
She drops the bags. “Who the hell are you?” Holly asks.
“I’m Nora. I live three houses down the road,” the girl replies. “Sarah went out. She’s going to meet Daniel.”
Holly balks. Went out? But she’s making Sarah and Jacob dinner. And Holly had Sarah’s car, so where could she have gone? In her mind, she quickly replays everything she and Daniel discussed at the bar after the phone call he’d taken from Sarah. He never mentioned going anywhere.
Miss Thing sticks out a small, freckled hand, which Holly shakes, because she has no choice. The girl’s fingers are sticky.
“Do you know when they’ll be back? I actually live here, you know. Did they tell you that?”
“They did,” she says, taking her hand back and smiling uncertainly. “They said they’d be back after Jacob’s bedtime. They went out for a walk and dinner.”
“Where’s Jacob?”
“In the bathroom.”
If Jacob weren’t in the house, Holly would rage or cry. Why on earth did they suddenly hire another sitter? What’s going on?
She goes to the kitchen and calls Sarah. There’s no answer, and she doesn’t leave a message, because she doesn’t know what to say. Next, she opens her texts to find the last one Daniel sent from his secret phone and tries to call him. He doesn’t pick up, either.
“Shit,” she says as she decides not to leave a voice mail in case Sarah’s close enough to hear Holly yell at him. Finally, she checks the tracker app on Daniel. The red dot isn’t moving, which means he’s turned off his phone.
Then it hits her. They’re ghosting her.
“Holly? Why are you home? Mommy said you can’t babysit for me tonight,” Jacob says when he walks into the living room from the bathroom.
She arranges a smile on her sad face and goes to him, pulling him into a tight hug. “Hey, Jakey. I’m not going anywhere tonight. I’m making you dinner, remember?”
Jacob looks nervous. “Nora ordered pepperoni pizza for us. Mommy gave her some money.”
So no fucking lasagna for dinner.
“You loved the pizza, right, Jacob? You ate three slices!” Nora chirps, obviously not picking up on Holly’s frustration.
Holly kisses Jacob on the head. “Yup, pepperoni-scented hair.”
He giggles, and it breaks her heart. She’s going to lose it if she stays inside with them much longer. She grabs the package of chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles, hands them to Nora, and says, “I’ll be out by the pool.”
“Can we go swimming?” Jacob asks hopefully.
“Your parents asked me to keep you inside tonight,” Nora tells Jacob, bypassing Holly completely.
“Sorry, Jakey. Maybe tomorrow.” Holly swallows, then slides open the glass door and stands on the pool deck, fuming. She turns once to see Jacob and Nora devouring the special treat she bought just for Jacob.
For the next two hours, she sits on a lounge chair, glaring at the cabana. Her phone is silent. Only Alexis has texted, but Holly can’t think straight enough right now to write her back.
At 8:00 p.m. Jacob comes out onto the deck and plops next to her on the lounge chair. “Are you mad, Holly?”
Instantly she feels guilty. “No. Just thinking.”
He cocks his head. “Can I think with you?”
She’s about to say yes when Nora steps outside and joins them. “Bedtime, Jacob.” She looks at Holly, no longer trying to be nice for appearances sake. “Sarah wants him asleep by eight thirty at the latest.”
Holly stands and kisses Jacob good night. Then Nora takes him inside. Before the sliding doors seal her out of the house, Jacob, clearly confused, asks, “Is Nora my new babysitter?”
“No way, Jakey. This is just for tonight,” Holly says. She’s near tears, but she can’t let him see her cry.
Is Jacob right, though? Is Holly being replaced? With Jacob gone and with nothing else to do, Holly goes back inside and down to her basement bedroom. She crawls into bed, dejected and rejected. She hears the front door open around midnight, Sarah and Daniel whispering. “I’ll walk Nora home,” Daniel says, and she hears the front door close.
Sarah’s light steps cross the floor above her, then she hears the sliding doors to the pool open and close. Holly debates going up to talk to Sarah alone but decides against it. Maybe if she can just get some sleep, everything will be better tomorrow. Back to normal. As though nothing ever happened. Holly waits until she hears Daniel come home, then she gets out of bed to eavesdrop through the air duct in her closet. But besides a few whispered niceties, she hears nothing. They’re quiet now. And she’s entirely shut out.
The worst part? She hasn’t done anything wrong.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE SARAH
Now
I’m closer than you think.
The Instagram message from Holly is chilling. Does she mean she’s here in Blossom Court? Here at my doorstep? Here inside my house? I don’t know what to do. I’m nervous to communicate with her again, but I have to find out what she wants so I can figure out how to remove her from our lives forever.
After Tara and I pick up the boys from school, I ask if Jacob can have a playdate for a couple of hours with Cody at Tara’s. Once Jacob is next door, I wait alone in the house for Daniel to return from work. When the mudroom door slams shut at 5:00 p.m., I run to him.
“I know who the man in the video is.”
His eyebrows shoot up, and he puts his satchel on the floor. “Who?”
“Charlie Lang.” I search his face for any recognition of the name.
“I’ve heard of him, but I don’t know him personally. How did you figure it out?” He turns to take off his leather jacket and hangs it on a hook by the door.
“I called Gloria and put some pieces together.”
He fiddles with something in his jacket pocket, not looking at me.
“Dan, this is important.”
He faces me. “Sorry. From what I know, Charlie is a busy man, and I highly doubt he sent you that video. Pretty gross, though, that he was involved with Holly.”
I decide to drop the next bombshell. “I think Holly sent it. And I think she’s here in Blossom Court.”
“What?” Disbelief, confusion—and something that looks a lot like fear—suddenly cloud his face.
I fill him in on the Instagram account I made and show him the direct message Holly sent me. Daniel shakes his head. “She’s a piece of work.”
“Maybe a dangerous one. Remember the night we saw the video and we asked Nora to babysit? Nora was scared of her, too. She practically ran out of the house when you walked her home.”
“Can I get a beer for this conversation? It’s been a long day.”
We go to the kitchen, where he grabs a beer from the fridge and sits at the kitchen table. I’m too wired, so I stand.
“Here’s what I don’t get,” Daniel says. “Why would she wait until we moved to get in touch? Why not torment us from the day she was fired?”
“Why? To fuck with us. I think she knows I photographed and videoed her. And I think she’s furious we sold the house, left her behind.”
“How would she even get here? John and Lisette disowned her.”
“She stole things. She told me she stole a really expensive bracelet from Lisette just because she could. I should have twigged then to how unstable she is. She could easily have stolen things to pay for a plane ticket. Plus, who knows how much money she had sitting in her bank account. Her father’s rich after all.”
Daniel takes a long sip of his beer. “So, what do you want to do?”
“Confront her. In person.”
His hand jerks when he puts the bottle on the table. He’s quiet, and I think he’s about to tell me I’m crazy, but he nods. “I’m going to lure her here. And we’ll talk to her. Here. On our turf, in our home. We just have to make sure Jacob’s not around.”
I swallow hard because, even though I think it’s the right plan, I’m scared to even send her a message in reply. “Emily’s supposed to tutor Jacob and Cody at Tara’s tomorrow at four. I’m sure Tara will be okay with Jacob staying longer if we need him to.”
