Just Stay Away, page 8
If he was honest, he was mostly just anxious to get this over with. It was easy for an idea to sound good in the middle of the night, but when faced with actually talking to Cassandra again, he felt a serpent of nerves coil around his stomach.
This is a bad idea.
But what else could he do? There was no way he could let Levi play down at their house if his mother was going to call the cops every time there was some sort of misunderstanding. Besides, he couldn’t hide from her unreasonableness and allow her to bully him into accepting the role of a neighborhood villain. A new day would allow them to have a civil conversation in which he could explain the series of misunderstandings that had tainted everything.
And if not, at the very least he could say he calmly and transparently did everything he could to straighten things out. Nobody could objectively look at the situation and say he had been anything but forthright.
Craig stifled a yawn that made him consider a second cup of coffee. He’d never really drunk the stuff before he’d started on his book, so he was still getting used to the caffeine boost. When he was at the computer, he thought of it as writing fuel, but figured being too jittery wouldn’t help the awkward conversation to come.
The morning air was fresh and crisp, and a sheen of dew still coated the grass as they started up the block. Alice skipped beside him, pointing out the birds and bunnies that populated their neighborhood.
Taking the sidewalk around the block and up to Deer Ridge took longer than Craig had expected, but Alice seemed to be enjoying herself, so it was worth it. Had they taken the path Levi used through the woods, they’d have been there five minutes ago.
He stared at the huge houses that lined Levi’s street. Their own was the nicest place he’d lived in, and easily the most expensive, but the places up here were on another level. Resentment and judgment threatened to emerge from his gut, but he pushed them back. A little piece of the small town Craig had grown up in always sat on his shoulder, no matter how many times he’d tried to brush it off. He watched Alice peer up at a squirrel in one of the boulevard trees and reminded himself to be glad his daughter got to grow up in a nice, big house in a good neighborhood.
Even if it wasn’t Deer Ridge.
They turned up the driveway to Levi’s house in time to see him come out the front door. He saw them and stopped on the front steps.
“Hi, Levi,” Craig said. “I stopped by to talk to your mom. Could you run in and get her for me?”
“She’s not home.”
“Really?” The boy couldn’t be older than nine, and Craig was under the impression that he had no brothers or sisters.
“Yeah,” Levi often avoided eye contact with Craig, but now held his gaze the whole time. Craig glanced over to the three-stall garage to his right. The center door was open, and he could see a white Lexus SUV parked inside.
“I just want to talk to her quickly.” After what happened when they’d brought him home yesterday, maybe Levi was afraid of a repeat. “To apologize again and smooth things out a little, so if she’s home, I’d really like to talk to her. Is it okay if I just ring the doorbell?”
Levi came down the steps and stood directly in front of him, eyes hard and his voice dripping with defiance. “She’s not here.”
Craig stared down at him, trying to figure out what to do. He could easily get past him—the kid was maybe fifty pounds soaking wet—but who knew how he’d react. And assuming his mom was home, it would be just Craig’s luck she’d look out in time to see him pushing past her son to get at the doorbell.
Definitely not worth it.
He dug out a piece of paper he’d written his name and cell phone number on and handed it to Levi.
“Okay, then, could you give her this when she gets home and ask her to call me?”
He took it without saying anything, and the three of them stood in an awkward silence. Craig looked past him at the window, half hoping Cassandra Ryan would see them and come out to talk, half hoping she wouldn’t.
“Well, all right. Don’t forget to give that to your mom, okay?” The kid didn’t seem to be listening at all. “Hey, Levi . . . make sure you do it, because until I talk to her and get some things straightened out, I don’t think you should come down to play.”
The kid’s head snapped up, and Craig flinched as if he had taken a swing at him. It took a second for him to remember he was the adult in the conversation. “Make sure you give it to her, okay?”
Craig grabbed Alice’s hand and walked down the driveway. He looked back as they hit the sidewalk and saw Levi’s eyes practically burning a hole in the back of his head.
“Can we walk to the park, Daddy?”
He broke away from Levi’s gaze and shook the unease away. “Not today, kiddo.”
He looked at his watch. If they went home now, he’d still be able to get some writing in before lunch. But would he be able to get anything done without Levi down there keeping Alice busy?
For now he’d have to find out.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Craig stepped out of the shower and reached for the towel he’d left on the counter as the Saturday afternoon sun streamed in through the skylight above him. Courtney had taken Alice out to the mall while he’d stayed home and finally mowed the lawn.
He should have gotten some writing in. They hadn’t seen Levi all week, so Craig was falling behind the schedule he’d set for himself. But he’d made an extra effort to spend whatever time he wasn’t sitting at his desk with their daughter. Lots of trips to the pool and going to the park and playing whatever games they could think of in the backyard, which put his normal chores—like mowing the lawn—on the back burner.
He could feel himself wearing thin.
Craig stretched out his sore back and furiously rubbed the towel over his hair. The fluffy terry cloth enveloped his head, but he thought he heard a thump from the bedroom. Courtney had mentioned about four stops she’d wanted to make, so he’d expected them to be gone most of the afternoon.
Another thud.
“Courtney?”
He wrapped the towel around his waist just in case Alice was out there with her, and stepped through the door to their bedroom.
Levi was standing by their bed, rifling through the bedside table.
“Levi?”
The kid didn’t even turn around, and Craig’s brain struggled to comprehend the input it was getting. He just stood dripping on the carpet, staring at the back of the kid’s head until he found his voice again.
“What are you doing?”
“I wanted to play with Alice.” The boy turned to face him and stared at him with the same blank, unreadable face he always had. It was like the kid didn’t process things the way most did. Or chose not to react. “Why are you naked?”
The question hit Craig between the eyes with the reality of the situation. He was wet, naked, and alone in his bedroom with someone else’s kid, and before Craig could think of anything to say, Levi turned back to the bedside table and resumed digging through the drawer.
A warning flare shot up from the back of his head, reminding Craig they kept a few things in that drawer he wasn’t about to explain to a nine-year-old boy. He shot across the room, barely remembering to hold his towel together, and pushed the drawer closed—narrowly missing Levi’s fingers as it snapped shut. The kid snatched his hand back, and his calm mask fell away, giving Craig a fleeting glance at something that looked like anger.
He stepped back and grasped at the front of his towel before it fell. The bedroom door stood open across the room, as did the blinds over the window to their left.
“Jesus . . .” Craig muttered as he frantically looked around for something to put on. “Levi, you can’t . . .” He spotted Courtney’s robe draped on top of the dresser, threw it on over the towel, and tied the belt. It was fluffy, pink, and barely went to his knees, but at least it covered him up. “You can’t be here.”
Whatever Craig thought he’d seen on Levi’s face was gone, and the calm, almost disconcertingly robotic voice was back. “I can go where I want.”
“No, you . . . you can’t just come in someone else’s house like this. I mean, I was in the shower.” Craig’s head buzzed with fear and, for some reason, embarrassment. It was like one of those dreams where you showed up to school naked combined with having to dismantle a bomb.
The boy showed none of the awkwardness that coursed through Craig’s veins. Like they were just hanging out in the backyard.
“You’ve got to go. Now.”
When he didn’t move, Craig stepped toward the kid as if to usher him out to the steps, but Levi jumped back like he’d charged him with a knife.
“Don’t touch me!”
Craig jolted back like he’d touched an electric fence. “Sorry . . . sorry, Levi, I wasn’t going to touch you . . . you . . . you just have to leave, okay?”
He ran his fingers through his still-wet hair. It felt like he was tumbling down a spiral staircase. He could hear the phone ring, Cassandra Ryan’s voice wanting to know why the hell her son was alone with Craig in his bedroom.
And why the hell he hadn’t been wearing any clothes.
No, it wouldn’t be the Ryans that called—it would be the fucking police, and they certainly wouldn’t be as inclined to take his side this time.
Levi stood next to Craig’s bed, defiantly not moving.
“Please, just go outside.” The freak-out was still amassing on the horizon, just begging to invade, but he fought to control his breathing. Did he hear something downstairs? Courtney could be home any minute, and then he’d have a whole other front to the battle. But she’d at least believe him, right? He tugged the robe’s fuzzy belt tighter for no reason and tried another deep breath. Good god, he had to get that kid out of there.
“If you just go outside now, I won’t tell anyone that you were in here, okay? I mean, technically it’s illegal, like . . . breaking and entering. You don’t want to get in trouble, do you?”
Craig knew his rationale was lame the minute it left his mouth, but it was all his jumbled brain could come up with in the moment. Besides, he was dealing with a kid. Kids would believe anything.
“I don’t get in trouble.” The confidence and matter-of-factness of his voice were striking. Another kid would be embarrassed and scared, but Levi stood there fully composed.
“Right, but remember how mad your mom was the other day? If she finds out about this, she’ll probably get mad, and you won’t be allowed to come back and play with Alice ever again.”
“I can do what I want.” It was like the kid was sharpening his voice with a honing steel. Levi held Craig’s gaze for a while, almost as if he was purposely making him sweat. If he was, it was working.
“You have to leave now, okay? Go home, and we can . . . we can forget all about this, okay?”
After what felt like an eternity, the kid turned and walked out of the bedroom. Craig’s knees gave out as the door closed, and he dropped on the bed. He sat there, head buzzing, trying to figure out what to do. He thought about calling Levi’s parents right away, laying out what had happened. Honest, up front, because he’d done nothing wrong. But Cassandra’s voice still echoed in his skull, and if she couldn’t see his side about what happened the other day, there was no way she’d listen to him about this. He didn’t even have her phone number, which meant he’d have to go up there in person, hair still wet, trying to explain why he’d been naked and alone with their kid.
The sight of Levi smirking on the sidelines, not saying a word to back him up, came back to him.
I don’t get in trouble.
A fresh spurt of acid roiled around in Craig’s gut just before the rumble of their garage door came up from below.
Courtney and Alice were home.
Craig threw on jeans and a clean T-shirt as fast as he could. How long had it been since Levi left? Had Craig heard the front door? The kid wasn’t sitting down in their living room, was he?
He looked around the bedroom but didn’t notice anything out of place, so he went downstairs. He made it as far as the kitchen when the back door opened and Courtney walked in with a couple of bags.
“Hey, babe.” She spoke with a weekend smile. “How’s it going?”
“Ah . . . good.” Craig tried to dump as much normal into his voice as he could, but he still sounded weird to his own ear. “Good.”
“You just get out of the shower?”
He stared at her for a second before remembering his wet hair. “Yeah.” The damp combination of water and sweat soaked through the back of his shirt. “I mowed the lawn and was kind of grimy.”
Courtney plopped her shopping bags on the kitchen table. “Thanks.”
“Did you guys get . . . get what you were looking for?” Craig asked, fighting for normalcy as he got further from the bedroom. Levi was gone; no reason to explain anything to Courtney. It would be fine.
“Yep. Got Alice some shorts and then stopped at the greenhouse on the way back.” She continued detailing their shopping adventure, but Craig was still too muddled with seeping adrenaline to pay much attention. It took a minute to realize their daughter wasn’t buzzing around, regaling him with every aspect of their shopping trip. “Where is she?”
“Alice?” Courtney gave him a funny look and nodded toward the backyard. “Out playing with Levi. He was sitting on the front step when we pulled up. You were probably in the shower and didn’t hear the doorbell or something.”
She grabbed one of the bags and headed toward the stairwell. He wanted to tell her—knew he should. They didn’t keep secrets from each other. If nothing else, she’d be able to back up his story if Levi ever mentioned anything to his parents.
She’d believe him. He was sure.
Craig looked out back and watched the two kids swinging and laughing together.
Courtney returned to the kitchen. “Anything exciting happen when we were gone?”
He looked away from the backyard.
“Nope.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Rain slapped against the window with the enthusiastic but slightly disjointed cadence of a fill-in drummer desperately trying to make a good impression. Craig stared out the window, laptop ignored on his desk, the birch tree out front nothing more than a shadowy smear through the curtain of water dripping down the glass.
He turned back to the blinking cursor and braced himself to take a run at the brick wall that had formed between him and the page.
Things had been flowing slower lately but had now devolved into full-on writer’s block.
Lighting flashed a split second before thunder rattled the windowpane and snapped his attention away from the task at hand. He pushed back from the desk and wheeled over for a pointless look outside.
It was a summer storm, nothing more, and Craig had no idea what he expected to see, but looked anyway.
Maybe he should quit for the day. If baseball teams take rainouts, why can’t writers?
Because the Twins don’t have a deadline.
Craig scooted back to his computer and reached for his water bottle just as another clap of thunder boomed outside. His hand jumped and knocked the bottle onto the desk. Water poured from the mouth, and Craig scrambled to pick his laptop up before the tide hit.
He stood the bottle back up and examined his computer for any signs of moisture.
Whew.
Craig set it aside and pulled a handful of tissues from the box on the corner of the desk. He offered thanks to the gods of good fortune as he wiped the water from his desk. He’d been lazy about backing up his manuscript on a USB drive, so hopefully this near disaster would be the reminder he needed.
The wind howled outside as he shook his book’s near-death experience out of his head and gave himself a few mental slaps.
Time to work.
Alice was somewhere on the other side of the office door, playing happily and quietly. Even with the storm raging outside, she hadn’t disturbed him all morning, yet he could still feel her out there. The anticipation of an interruption was as bad as the interruption itself. An empty house had become as much a part of his writing routine as the turntable spinning behind him. Like it was more of a talisman than a necessary environment. It was an effective drug, and the withdrawal was real.
Or maybe he was just in his own head about it.
Another, more distant, roll of thunder called out to him, but Craig ignored it.
At least he tried to.
He glanced over at the orchid on the corner of his desk. The leaves were a little less than perky, so he unscrewed the top of his water bottle and poured what was left into the white ceramic pot, where a wick would suck up the right amount and deliver it to the roots above. Courtney had bought it for him back when he first set up the office. It was idiotproof, she’d said with a smile, and therefore perfect for him.
It sat on his desk just below the calendar he’d hung on the wall, where MinnLit loomed large in red Sharpie, creeping steadily closer.
Twenty-four days.
Those letters had been so motivational when he’d written them down, fingers crackling with anticipation. But now, with the writing faucet shut off, they were intimidating. A door to the Authors’ Club that could just as easily slam shut in his face if he wasn’t ready to push it open.
Quiet footsteps on the stairs outside the office grabbed his attention and snapped his head around. Alice was bounding up to her room, and Craig felt a surge of annoyance that shocked him with its potency.
Jesus, calm down.
He took a deep breath and reminded himself that no matter how much work he needed to get done, footsteps were not a crime. Alice was allowed to go up to her room.
He blew the frustration out and turned back to his book, doing his best to ignore the red letters looming over him from the future. Tomorrow was supposed to be a beautiful day. Alice would be able to play outside, and he’d get back on track.
Hopefully.
Craig wanted to blame his blockage on the rain keeping Alice inside, but if he was honest, it wasn’t the only thing. Finding Levi in their bedroom had shaken him, and while he told himself all he needed to get back in a groove was a quiet house, deep down he worried that might not be enough anymore.
