Page 29 of By His Side

“I’m coming to pick you up.”

“Yeah?”

There was surprise in Felix’s voice. I couldn’t exactly blame him. I’d surprised myself with my announcement.Still time to back out. He’s a big boy who’s capable of finding a hotel to stay for the night, and unlike most of your clients, he has the money, thanks to his mother.I was already grabbing my car keys and shrugging into my jacket, though. Thank God I’d foregone any wine and could drive. “Yeah. We’ll work out your next move together.”

“You don’t have to do that, Darien.”

“I do. I’m your probation officer.”

“I don’t think picking up clients at this time in the evening is in your job description.”

“Look, do you want me to come or not?”

A long silence. Long enough that I considered what I’d do if he said no. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Great. Well, that’s decided then.”

Chapter Thirteen

Felix

Resting my elbows on my knees, I leaned forward and watched a swan float serenely on the surface of the water. As was usually the case with swans, there was another a few feet away, the two of them keeping each other in sight. I’d never been jealous of swans before, but I couldn’t help wondering what that must be like to know you were never alone, that someone was always by your side looking out for you.

This afternoon had stung like a bitch, my mother treating me like someone she barely knew when she’d informed me politely but firmly that she’d never signed up for this level of attention, that having her walls defaced by graffiti, and a ravenous pack of reporters camped on her doorstep was upsetting. I, apparently, wasn’t allowed to be upset about it. No doubt she thought I’d brought it upon myself simply by existing. Or if not that, by daring to commit the crime ofhanging washing in the garden beneath the eagle-eyed stare of the next-door-neighbor.

As for what the press wanted from me, I didn’t know. Did they think that now I’d served my sentence, I’d give them a full confession? I’d watched from behind the curtain as not one… not two, but three neighbors had been happy to share their thoughts on the criminal element in their midst. Mrs. Featherstone had been there, of course, her hair freshly coiffed and dressed in her Sunday best. God knows what any of them had said. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

A duck ambled over to me, a mallard, its green head designating it as the male. It pecked at my bag and I moved it farther away, not sure how much damage its beak could do. Not one to give up that easily, it waddled forward again. “I don’t have anything. If I had something, I’d give it to you.” When he persisted, I picked up my bag and put it next to me on the bench. Eventually, it grew bored and slipped back into the water. I even disappointed the ducks.

Darien was coming, though. I tamped down on the warm glow threatening to spread through my body. He was coming because it was his job and he needed to know where I was. Nothing more. He’d made his feelings clear with the questions he’d asked the last time we’d met.Questions you could have just answered.Yeah, I could have done. And in the past, I had. I’d talked and talked, but no one had been that interested in listening when I hadn’t said what they wanted to hear, and I’d long since given up on attempting to convince anyone of my innocence.

Thirty minutes had passed since I’d talked to Darien on the phone. What if he’d changed his mind? Except, even after such a brief acquaintance, I knew he was a man of his word. If he said he’d come, he’d come. And if there were any changes to his plans, he’d at least text. It was more likely he’d hit traffic, or given I didn’t know where he lived,that his journey took a while. Or both. All I had to do was wait, and he’d turn up.

And then what? Would he try to talk me into staying at the halfway house? I was no keener to stay there than I had been originally. A hotel was only a stopgap, though. The money my mum had given me would run out eventually, and I doubted from the pinched look on her face when she’d delivered my marching orders, that she’d be keen to give me anymore. Or maybe she would if I agreed to stay away from her?

It was a crushing thought, and one I might have dwelled on for longer if I hadn’t recognized the long-legged figure making his way around the edge of the lake to my position. He was dressed similarly to the last time I’d seen him—the clothed part of the evening, not the naked part—the T-shirt covered by a brown leather jacket as a nod toward the chill of the evening.

Neither of us greeted the other as he reached my position and lowered himself on the bench next to me, both of us staring out across the lake. It was nearly nine, only about another forty minutes left of daylight. “Did you know swans mate for life?” I finally ventured.

“I did. Although, if their mate dies, they will find another, so it’s not as romantic as everyone likes to make out.”

“Huh.” Well, that pissed on my bonfire.

Darien turned his head my way. “If you want monogamy in the animal kingdom, you need to look farther afield. Try the Atlantic Puffins. They’re socially, genetically, and sexually monogamous.”

“How do you know that?”

Darien shrugged. “I don’t know. I watched a documentary or something. Know what the secret is to their relationship?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t even known there were Atlantic Puffins. I’d thought a puffin was just a puffin.

“They migrate thousands of miles per year.” Darien’s lips twitched before he delivered the punchline. “Separately. And then they both return to the breeding nest each year. I guess it goes to show that every relationship is different.”

I had no idea what we were even talking about. Darien seemed to come to the same conclusion as he twisted round to face me. “Anyway, enough about puffins. How are you holding up? Sounds like the last twenty-four hours have been an absolute shit show.”

“You’re not going to say I told you so?”

“Would it solve anything?”

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