Page 128 of Maybe You
He takes another sip, eyes still on me.
“You know, I never was a believer in fate and coincidences. Stella? Stella loved that stuff. Everything has a reason. Every move cements a path. That kind of poppycock.” He shakes his head fondly.
“But now you are?” I ask.
“Not until recently. Not until you came home one day with a boy.” Another sip. “A boy I found on my doorstep one night fifteen years ago or so.”
It’s…
It should be a shock.
But it’s not.
When I was eavesdropping… They knew each other, didn’t they? I just turned a blind eye back then, all my faculties preoccupied with ‘keeping Sutton for now.’
“How?” I ask.
He looks at me without saying a word.
I don’t expect him to say anything.
But then…
He tells me a story.
After… After, we’re both silent for a long while.
Digesting.
Waiting.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I finally ask.
“I don’t like to meddle. Never have. And in a situation like that… How does one decide where their loyalties lie?”
“But you’ve decided now?” I ask.
He merely shrugs before he drains his coffee and gets up. He grabs paper and a pen from the pile on the corner of the counter and scribbles something on it before he hands it to me.
I glance at the paper and what at first glance seems to be an address.
“You have the day off tomorrow. Rent a car. Take a drive. It might clear your head.”
And then he walks out of the kitchen and leaves me there, clutching the paper in my hand.
I park on the street in front of a large white colonial. There’s a two-car garage attached to the side of the house, and a white picket fence around the property. Large trees create spots of shade on the grass in the front yard. There’s a porch with wicker furniture and a flowerbed in front of it. Somebody’s parked their red open-top Jeep in the driveway.
I pull the keys out of the ignition, get out of the car, and lock it behind me.
The house is quiet. So quiet I’m not sure anybody’s even home.
But I make my way to the front door anyway.
Once there, I press my thumb to the doorbell and wait.
For a few moments, everything’s silent.
But then there are footsteps on the other side of the door, and a second later, it’s being pulled open.
