Page 78 of Break Your Fall

“And I figured she needed time,” he continues. “I wanted to give her that. But I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let her know I’m still around when she’s ready, and if I kept going, they’d find their way to her eventually.” He says this as if he can sense his daughter’s needs, knowing the worst thing he could do is stop showing he cares, especially once he’s started, and this brings my smile back. “I just didn’t expect Jessa to be the coercer,” he adds through a laugh.

“I wasn’t coerced,” I say. “I haven’t met Jessa, and Reyna doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Dammit, Dad, you left the door unlocked again.”

We look to the entrance at the voice and the footsteps that almost cut me off, and the girl I’m guessing is Jessa stops dead in her tracks when her eyes find mine. I feel a flush at the way she looks me over. I’m not the guy who automatically assumes he’s the one a girl’s checking out, but her trailing eyes behind her glasses are unmistakable.

She has Reyna’s face. Well, some of it.Shelookslike her,I correct my thought as I laugh to myself, at myself.She’s not Leatherface.And now I’m suddenly wanting to escape this situation the longer this girl stares at me by hurrying home and popping inThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

“Who are you?” she asks me, and I tell myself I’m imagining her small emphasis onyou.

“Tommy,” I say after shaking off her gaze. “I’m one of Reyna’s friends.”

“Jessa,” she tells me, standing taller at the mention of Reyna, the same way their father had, searching for her with glances around the gallery. “Is she with you?”

I smile again at the eagerness to see her sister, then I repeat, “No.” And when her eyes reconnect with mine, I give her an assuring, “I’m working on her.”

Reyna may be understandably undecided if she has a sister, but Jessa is sure she has one. And Reyna needs that certainty, so we both need Jessa and Dominic to hold on.

I share the look with Reyna’s dad so he doesn’t let her go, either.

“Studio,” Jessa announces, passing by before I can face her again to head toward the back of the gallery.

“So,” Dominic chimes with a clap of his hands and shifting his stance. “Would you like me to show you around?”

“Uh, no,” I blurt out, stopping him before he can start a tour. “I can’t be too much longer. But another time?” I’m knowing and hopeful with the half-question, wanting to leave it for next time, my encouraging look letting him know there should be a next time.

He returns the sentiment, staring me down in a way that assures me he needs there to be a next time, too.

“Reyna’s not Valerie,” I say to her father now, even though part of me feels like I’m wasting air at this point. These first few minutes I’ve spent with him have shown me that he’s not shit people. But I have to make sure he stays that way.

I hold his stare, let the words sink in to where they’re deep enough to leave a permanent impression. “Don’t ever treat or look at her like she is, because if you do, I’ll know about it, and there’s not going to be another shit person in her life.”

Yes, it’s a threat, and it’s the truest threat I’ve ever given.

His hands are on his hips and he’s shaking his head. “That’s not in my plans.”

“What’s in your plans?” I ask in an overly suspicious tone that makes him laugh.

“I wrote them down for a year,” he points out, reminding me of the letters, and I catch where he’s going before he gets there. “I’d like to keep some things between me and my daughter.”

I’m nodding when he assures me, “It’s been a long time. I’m not who I used to be.”

“Well, good,” I echo his words, and his hand clap as I step backward to make my leave thanks to my sudden self-inflicted awkwardness that seems to amuse him. “And it was good to meet you,” I add before turning my back.

“Hey, Tommy,” he calls after me and I spin back around, the familiarity already in his tone for me reigniting my hope for Reyna. “I already know she’s not like her mother. She’s smart enough to have a guy like you in her life.”

I stare off as a slow smile stretches my mouth, Reyna at the center of my entire thoughts when I look back at her father, my head shaking. It’s not me. It’s her.

“Reyna’s a masterpiece. And you’ve really missed out.”

Dominic cements himself to my good side when he doesn’t refrain from showing me the need in his eyes to not miss any more.

23

Wrong Turn

Reyna

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