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.

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