Chapter 5
Brad
“When did he move in?” I asked my mom, still annoyed.
“They moved in a few months ago. Charles and Denise Donovan.”
“I know their names,” I said softly.
Charles Donovan had haunted me for a long time. I couldn’t believe he was right next door to my mom now. I had hoped I would never see the man again. I had done exactly what he’d asked and steered clear of his house and his daughter. I hadn’t really had a choice, considering how he’d brandished a gun at me and said he’d ruin my life if I didn’t.
I had secretly hoped that Carly would somehow come to me— sneak into my room like she used to and tell me that we could be together again, at least in secret if not out in the open. But unless she did that, I didn’t want to get her into any trouble by bothering her. I knew her dad was ruthless and I didn’t want to cause her harm. She never came to me, so I didn’t go to her.
I did what her dad wanted and got the fuck out of Laramie, started playing ball in college and then went pro. I more than fulfilled his command and didn’t come around here anymore, except on these briefs trips to see my mom, where I wouldn’t ever even think of going around to Carly’s house or anywhere else in town for that matter. I didn’t want to know if she had found someone else. Sure, I hoped she was happy in her life but I didn’t want the torture of seeing just how happy she could be with someone other than me.
“You didn’t mention that when you brought me up to speed with the neighborhood gossip,” I said, the words sounding like an accusation.
My mom pulled up her shoulder in a shrug. “I wasn’t sure if it was something you would want to talk about. I know you try to avoid news of Carly. And when he was here that day, I—”
“Don’t, Mom,” I snapped. I took a deep breath and added in a softer voice, “please.”
I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to be reminded. I hadn’t been able to stop what had happened, and I hadn’t been able to get Carly back. Perhaps I had been a chickenshit for not trying harder but I felt I had been between a rock and a hard place. To protect the girl I loved from her dad had meant having to stay away from her.
I hadn’t been the man I was now, though. I had changed— hardened from the teenager boy who wanted to make life easy on the girl he loved and respect her father even if he was threatening to kill me. If he dared to say a bad word in my direction now, I would show him what I truly thought of him.
I had no need to hold back now, since he’d robbed me of the one thing in life I truly loved— his daughter. She had probably long ago moved on, and perhaps having a confrontation with her father was exactly what I needed to do the same.
As he approached us, though, I was surprised to find the hair on the back of my neck standing up, just like it had done on that day long ago. I supposed there was still a lot of unfinished business between us.
“Lydia,” Charles said, coming toward the fence between our houses. He put his arms on the fence, which was just a little lower than shoulder height. “How are you doing?”
“Just fine, thank you, Charles. How can I help you?”
He nodded at me, and I nodded back. He looked at my mom, and he seemed completely calm. Had he completely forgotten about me? Or was his precious little girl not his problem anymore, now that she had graduated and was probably married to some rich guy with a bunch of cute little kids by now? Did he come to gloat and rub it in? If so, then so help me God, I would jump that fence and do the same thing to him that he did to me all those years ago.
My mom was the picture of politeness. I could tell by the tightening around her eyes that she was nervous, but it was only because I knew her that I could pick up on it.
“Where did you get that pesticide you gave Denise the other day? It works wonders.”
It was such an innocent question for him to ask that it caught us both off guard.
“At Wilmer’s,” my mom answered, mentioning the local convenience store. “It’s nothing special.”
Charles chuckled. “You always say that, but your advice is the best. I’ll see you around.”
He lifted his hand in a wave to the both of us and sauntered off. I waited until he was inside before looking at my mom.
“Good buddies, huh?” I asked.
“No reason not to be. It was a long time ago, and he’s gotten rather old and senile. I don’t think he knows that this is the house, that it was you.”
I frowned. Could it be? I knew that I’d changed. I was muscular now, and I’d gotten taller in college. I was confident. I had grown up. Could it be that the man next door, the man that had ruined my life once, didn’t know who I was?
If that was the case, everything had changed. I didn’t have an enemy here. I was just another man who came home to visit his mom from time to time. And if I ever ran into Carly again, everything would be different.
Not just because I was a different person, but because this somehow set me free. Free to do exactly what I wanted to do. He could do nothing to me now.
I thought of Carly with her long brown hair, her big blue eyes, and the way she could wrap me around her little finger with a few soft words. She had been my everything, the girl I had given it all to, once.
And if I saw her again? God, the things I could think of doing to her.
But, I was sure she had moved on. Even if her dad didn’t remember who I was or didn’t care anymore, the chance for Carly and me to be together was long gone. It was all a fantasy now.