Mark set aside his coffee cup and cradled my hand in both of his. “Eddie tried to evade the police and lost control of his car. It flipped at least three times and hit a concrete barricade roof-first. He didn’t make it.”
Mark’s expression finally made sense. If I’d still been in the trunk, I’d be dead, too. The thought didn’t quite sink in, but I knew from experience that it eventually would. It’d become another thing that I had to work through with my therapist and my PTSD support group.
For now, I’d accept the numbness gratefully. “So how bad am I hurt?”
Mark smiled just enough for his dimples to peek out. “Not as bad as it could have been. You lost a layer of skin on your arm and thigh, and the doctor thinks you have a bone bruise on your knee. You’ll be on crutches for a few weeks, and you might need some physio, but…”
But given how bad it could have been, physio and crutches were a small price to pay.
There was one thing about it all that still worried me though. “Does this mean we’re going to have to miss our flight?”
We did end up having to delay our return home. Since we didn’t have travel insurance, the airline refused to refund our money or change our flights until we let my dad talk to them. Even airline bigwigs were no match for him.
The extra couple of days in DC turned out to be a benefit. After everything that happened, Ahanti and Geoff eloped after all. Ahanti decided that a big wedding wasn’t as important as being married to Geoff, and Geoff decided that leaving most of his stuff in storage until they could find a bigger place was a small sacrifice to make to be with Ahanti.
And Terrance was even well enough to attend, albeit in a wheelchair. Mark and I picked him up for the ceremony, which also gave me my chance to apologize.
Terrance, back to his old self, barely seemed to pay attention to it.
He and Ahanti had already had a long talk as soon as he was allowed visitors. Ahanti agreed to give him another chance, but she wouldn’t be loaning him any more money. If Terrance so much as asked, he’d be finding himself a new place to work.
Because my crutches made returning the rental car and then catching a shuttle to Dulles almost impossible, my dad actually offered to drive us.
Mark went inside to get a wheelchair for me, leaving my dad and me alone for the first time since I’d moved to Fair Haven.
My dad had never been a man who tolerated small talk, and I knew better than to ask if he and Mom would be up to Fair Haven before the wedding. My mom had already taken too much time off to visit in May, and my dad got twitchy with the day or two he’d taken off for our truncated sailing expedition. They’d be there for the wedding, but not much more.
I still didn’t know where our relationship stood. My engagement to Mark seemed to have mellowed him enough that he was talking to me again at least, but things still weren’t the way I wanted them to be.
I’d been brave enough to talk to my mom, and it’d made things better between us than they’d ever been before. Things with my dad couldn’t get much worse, so I really didn’t have anything to lose.
“If Mark and I decide not to move to DC, will we go back to you giving me the silent treatment? It’s not going to affect my decision. I’d just like to know what to expect.”
It came out a lot more confrontationally than I’d intended. I cringed internally, but kept my body perfectly still.
But my dad actually smiled. And it almost looked proud.
It was like I was Dorothy in the old Wizard of Oz movie. I stepped out of the black and white and into technicolor and saw things the way they truly were for the first time.
My dad had been angry because he saw me as weak and foolish. In standing up to him during this visit, I’d finally earned the respect that I could never get by trying to do everything his way or by avoiding a confrontation with him. Those things had only reinforced his opinion of me as someone who couldn’t think for herself enough to be trusted to make good decisions.
He reached down beside his seat and handed me a manila envelope. “This should help you along toward making the right decision.”
He jutted his chin toward the envelope in the universal sign for go ahead.
I pulled open the flap. Inside was an official offer for a job, written up in the same way that my parents would present it to any new prospective employee. Only this time, it was for me. When I’d graduated and passed the bar, there’d never been an official offer. It was assumed I’d work for my parents, and that’s what I did. I didn’t look for other jobs. I never considered negotiating over what my dad stated they’d pay me.
This offer made my previous salary look paltry. Mark and I would easily be able to afford a house with a yard for the dogs if I accepted. It also included the promise of a partnership after two years—a carrot making it more palatable for me to return to being a defense attorney. Once I was a partner, I’d have more control over what cases I worked on and the role I played in them.
My dad tapped a finger on the edge of the papers. “Your mother also insisted I include the person you should contact if you’d rather work longer hours for less money.”
His tone of voice let me know clearly what he thought about that idea, but he kept it to himself otherwise.
I flipped to the last page. My mom had written down a name, phone number, and short message. Assistant DA is moving to another state in six months. They’ll be looking to replace him.
I tucked the papers back into the envelope and threw my arms around my dad. I didn’t care that hugging wasn’t what we did.
Because I finally saw those offers for what they were. They weren’t my parents trying to control me. They’re weren’t my parents meddling.
They were my parents saying, in the only way they could, that they loved me and wanted me to come back home. Now the challenge was that Mark and I needed to decide if we wanted to stay in Fair Haven or return to DC.
What will Nicole and Mark decide? And why is Elise suspended from the Fair Haven police? Start reading the next book, Tapped Out, to find out!
Free Book Offer
What we don’t know can hurt us…
The worst way to find out that your boyfriend is already married is to see it on the news. The only way it could be worse than that is if his wife died under suspicious circumstances.
Unfortunately for criminal defense attorney Nicole Fitzhenry-Dawes, that’s exactly what happens. Her now ex-boyfriend insists he’s innocent, and he begs Nicole to find out who really killed his wife. She’d like to simply leave him to his fate, but her sense of justice won’t allow it.
With few clues to go on and her emotions getting in the way, Nicole worries that she won’t figure out the killer in time. And as she begins to unravel the truth, the killer turns the table on her, making it look like Nicole was the one who committed the murder after all…
