Luke
We drive to work in our own cars since I’m planning a visit to my father later. On time, Lily’s knock steers me from my desk at noon.
We share our lunch together, and then I treat myself to dessert between her legs. When I’m through with her, she’s a sweaty, naked mess from the waist down on my desk. Her nipples push up at me through the silk of her blouse.
When I right her and help her get her undies and jeans on, I lead her to the door with my plans for the rest of the afternoon.
“He’s going to find out eventually, and I’d rather I tell him now before he starts wondering why I’m avoiding him,” I explain. I kiss away the worry clouding her features. “He’ll love you. Floyd’s not as scary as he sounds or looks.”
I kiss her again as I lock up my office and head out of the dealership to have an overdue chat with my father. On the road along the outskirts of town, my phone vibrates and my dash’s screen lights up with Russ’ number.
“Yeah?” I answer.
“Hey, it’s Dayton.” Russ thrusts me into the drama unfolding in St. Louis.
I nearly pull the car off the road, but I keep it aimed in the direction of my father’s home. “What the hell do you mean he spoke to Angelina? What did she say?”
“I have no clue,” Russ says. “I couldn’t ask without losing his tail. He was on the move. He went to talk to Maurice.”
“Where the fuck is Keith?” I snap. “There’s two of you. I want one of you talking to Angelina.”
“That’s the thing. We split up and he’s not answering my calls.”
I’m seconds away from turning the car around to head to the city and clean this mess up myself. “Russ,” I breathe, sucking in all the calming energies to get through this conversation, “Figure it out. Follow Dayton. Don’t lose him, but track Keith and get his ass on board with Angelina.”
Russ clicks off. He’ll get the job done, I know, but it’s hard to concentrate now I’m thinking on Dayton.
Bastard. I haven’t given him a square foot of my mind since Chief Isaac called to let me know he talked to Dayton and pulled him off the Derrick Smyth case.
My childhood home commands my attention, bringing me back to the reason I traveled out to the ends of Potentia’s town limits.
Ellen answers the door. She’s been mopping the white marble foyer. She draws me into a tight hug, forcibly lowering me to her short five-two. She’s even tinier than Lily by a couple inches. And despite the head of snowy white, Ellen is sprightly for her sixty-some years.
“My father?” I ask.
She gives me a long, censuring look, and then she points quietly upstairs. His study, she means.
“He misses you,” she says softly, again plowing me with the guilt. God, she’s so maternal.
It had occurred to me that there might be some romantic feelings between Ellen and Floyd; something that occurred in the absence of my mother. After all, why else would she put up with him all these years, good money aside?
Maybe Lily’s affecting me, but it wouldn’t hurt if Ellen and Floyd started seeing each other. I should suggest it. Or not.
One look at my father tells me we’re not going to be discussing his romantic life right then.
He peers up from the laptop screen; his reading glasses perched atop his head. “The prodigal son stops in.”
“Stop,” I say, smiling. “You’re starting to sound like Julie. I visit. Maybe I should be doing it more often, but I do visit.”
“Okay, okay.” Floyd tosses up his hands from his keyboards. “I got it, kid. I was joshing. Take a seat, make yourself comfortable, and tell me your troubles.”
“And you’ll make them disappear?” But I do take a seat.
I study my father. I’ve been doing it for years, almost all my thirty-three, but there’s something new to find each time.
Usually the addition of wrinkles in the afternoon light from his study’s tall, wide picture windows, but there’s also the spreading white around his temples, his dark blond hair receding further from his forehead, and the fair age spots dotting his hands and cheeks.
He’s a tall man; tall and thin to my mom’s curvy and short. It’s not unlike what Lily and I have going as a couple.
Also, I’m blond where Lily is dark-haired all over, including the adorable patch of soft pubic hair over her mound. I must be smiling at the image because Floyd calls me out.
“You’ve either hit the big lottery or you’re in love.”
My smile widens and I lean back, letting him take his guess of the two. Floyd could never let a good gamble go. He used to try to guess what mom would surprise us with for dinner.
She loved making up recipes on the fly. She said it was from her days of living off of my father’s meager salary, back before I was born.
“In love then?” He nods, knowing when he’s nailed it. “Who’s the lucky lady? Or should I say, who’s got you feeling so lucky?”
“Definitely the latter,” I laugh. “And her name is Lily Erickson. You should know her; you hired her.”
“I did?” He gives it thought. “Oh, yes, Lily. The nice administrator. She’s still working with us then.” He chuckles. “Honestly, I gave her a bit of a scare when I hired her. All that talk of working with rough, tough men all day. I didn’t think she’d stay past the three-month probationary period. She surprised me then and she’s surprising me now.”
“As long as we’re piling on the surprises…you’re going to be a grandfather.”
Floyd sobers and he gives me the same long, concerned look Ellen doled out at the front door.
“You knocked her up, you idiot?”
“I love her,” I say, realizing it’s the first time I’ve said it out loud. The first time I’ve admitted to myself, actually. “It’s mutual. We’re going to get married, she’ll have my kid, and more if I have a say in it. She won’t have to ever lift a finger again either. I’ll provide for her and our brats. It’s the picture perfect life.”
Floyd shakes his head. “You got her in the family way. Jeez-us.”
I’m annoyed he won’t let it drop. So, what? Lily’s pregnant. He knows nothing about us. When I open my mouth, he holds up a hand.
“Listen, kid, it’s great. Seriously. I’m sure Lily’s good for you. I interviewed the gal myself, didn’t I?” He touches his hand to his chest. “But raising a family takes more than gut, it takes heart. Money is great, but your mother and I made it work with love. We loved each other and we loved you.”
“I do love her. She loves me. We’ve got this.” I couldn’t be surer of my next breath. Lily and I are going to make it.
Besides, Floyd wasn’t exactly the perfect husband.
As much as I love Julie, and I wouldn’t dream of hurting her, at one point the news of her existence had hurt my mom. Floyd’s affair had shattered her. And it wouldn’t be until Julie was two, until my mom first saw her, before she forgave the child who unknowingly usurped her happiness.
I never did ask if my mother forgave Julie’s mother—Floyd’s then mistress. She took that answer to the grave with her.
But I don’t open old wounds here and now. It’s pointless, and Floyd is moving on.
“I heard from Jack Isaac,” he says.
Chief Isaac hadn’t been kidding. Were these old men becoming a bunch of gossip-mongering biddies?
“He tells me you’re welcoming a new detective to Potentia.”
I smirk. “The chief can be so diplomatic. I wouldn’t put it like that. I’d like nothing more to send the detective packing on a one-way ticket out of town.” And before Floyd’s frown tells me what I don’t want to hear, I continue, “I’ve got it handled.”
“I hope you do. I haven’t had a problem with officers in Potentia ever.” Floyd plies me with a stern look. “Don’t make this detective think less of you.”
“I won’t, sir,” I mock-salute him, standing and changing topic. “You visited Mom.”
“I did.” Floyd smiles. That throws me. But then he says, “Ellen suggested I go. She’s right. It has been too long. She wanted to see her, too. They were close, as you know.”
Ellen? I knew it.
I can hear wedding bells. I keep that to myself, seeing my way to the door with a quick goodbye. I wink at Ellen on the way out, smacking a kiss on her cheek. And because I’m in such a good mood, I share the news over my shoulder. “I’ve got a girl I’d like you to meet, and I’m going to be a father.”
“Luke,” she calls for me, following me out, her face caught between bewilderment and happy anticipation. I wave at her before I head into my car. I know we’ll be talking soon enough, but I need to go home and get the house prepared for Lily. She’s coming home with me tonight, forever.
# # #
Russ’ call splits my attention off the road back to the heart of Potentia.
“Luke.” He hardly ever uses my first name, so I’m all ears. “I’m here. I followed Dayton back from the city.”
I know I spent some time driving to and talking to my dad, but has an hour flown by? What were they doing—shirking the road laws and hitting eighty on the drive back?
“I lost Dayton though. I think he knew I was following him.”
I try not to cling to the immediate panic that rears its ugly head. “So, where are you now exactly?”
“Standing by his car, in front of the station. And before you ask, he’s not in it.”
“I figured,” I roll my eyes. I know Russ is waiting for instructions, but I’m all out plans. I want from a high to a confusing low in a second.
Finally, I tell him, “Stick around. See if he shows up. And you’re sure he’s inside the station?”
“He went in there. Where else would he be?”
Fuck if I care. Right now I need to be sure where Dayton is. I can’t have him running around chatting up Angelina and seeing Maurice in his cell.
“Keith?” I ask.
“No clue.”
“Shit. Your boy needs a GPS collar and retractable leash.” I pause, confirming our plan. “Just stay with Dayton at the station, and I’ll see what I can dig up.” We hang up, and I push the gas, testing speed limits I shouldn’t. Glancing at my dash, now cleared of Russ’ call, I see it’s four.
Is Lily at her place now?
My gut churns with queasy intuition. Usually the idea of Lily safe at home incites peace in my mind, but I can’t squelch the flaring panic that rises up. Whatever it is, I listen and steer the car her way.
I need to know my Lily is safe.