Page 72 of The Facilitator: Part 2
“He’s still angry with me. I get it; I lost it when his mom died. I couldn’t be on my own and he resented that. I didn’t grieve; neither did I give him the chance to. I shut it all away, emptied the house of her the day after we buried her, and I regret all that. I didn’t even bury her where she wanted, which was right here. Because I was a coward, and I just couldn’t live knowing she was under my feet, and I couldn’t be with her. Does that make any sense toyou?”
“Perfect sense, and if you give him the chance to hear that, it will make sense to Mackenzie as well. Please, for his sake, make time to tell him how youfeel.”
Mack nodded. He tried to rise from the low chair but struggled. I stood and held out my arm. At first he waved me off, muttering expletives under hisbreath.
“You can tell me to fuck off all you want. Now take my hand and stop being a dick,” Isaid.
His eyes widened, his mouth opened, and he laughed so loud and for so long I thought I’d finished him off. He wheezed and held his chest; I grabbed his glass and raised it to hislips.
“Oh, Lauren, that was just perfect. You are going to make the most amazing daughter-in-law. I just hope I’m around to seethat.”
I wanted to cry for the old man. I wanted to be his daughter-in-law, but I doubted that would ever happen, let alone in hislifetime.
“Well, you might have to hang on for that to happen, now take myhand.”
I pulled him from the seat, which, bearing in mind he was twice my size, was no mean feat. I walked him to the front of the house and into an open-topped car. It wasn’t my place to ask whether he should be driving or not, but by the way he narrowly missed every plant and post on his way to the gate, someone oughtto.
He reminded me of the guy inRoad House, a movie I’d watched once. That guy, like Mack, drove a soft-top and weaved along the road as if he owned it. Although I doubt Mack drove that badly because he owned the drive, which I suspected he still did, more so because I wondered if his sight waspoor.
I grabbed the blanket, my book, and I wandered down to the beach. Despite hearing voices earlier, there wasn’t a soul to be seen. Not even if I squinted enough to see up the tourist end of the beach. I guessed the earlier voices to be owned by locals walking their dogs,maybe.
I settled down to read, hooking my sundress up to my thighs before deciding to go all out and remove it. I wore matching underwear and hoped, should anyone see me, they would assume it was a bikini. I hadn’t thought to pack one. I laid my book down, closed my eyes, and let my skin soak up thesun.
“Very nice,” I heard, some time later. I opened my eyes, shielding them with myhand.
Daniel stood to the side of me, holding my dress in his hands. The way his eyes travelled over my body made me cringe inside. I reached out to grab the dress but he pulled it away. I stood and glared athim.
“Give me back my dress, Daniel,” Isaid.
“I’m flattered you remember my name,” he said. There was a slur to his voice and I wondered if he was drunk or maybe ondrugs.
“If I hadn’t, I would have punched you square in the face, so stay flattered. Now, give me my fucking dress.” I wasn’t going to back down, despite him licking hislips.
“I wanted to see my old friend, Mackenzie. Shame he left you here on your own,” hesaid.
“I’ll let him know you visited. I’m sure he’ll be super pleased to hearthat.”
I leaned down to collect my book and blanket. “Keep the dress, Daniel. I’m sure it will suit you.” I walked back to thehouse.
Although I kept my chin up, I shook inside. I fumbled with the key to the back door lock and refused to look over my shoulder to see if he had followed. When I got the door open, I rushed in and quickly shut and relocked it. I stood to one side of the window, hoping the drape would hide me. I could see he had, indeed, followed me. He stood at the bottom of the steps to the veranda. I watched as he brought the dress to his nose as if smelling it. He then hung it over the banister before leaving. My skin goose bumped as fear crept over me, yet I wasn’t entirely sure what I should be fearful of. I didn’t like him, instinctively. Forget what he had done with Addison, his cousin, he was creepy. I hadn’t heard a car and it worried me he could be lurking around. I took the stairs to the bedroom two at a time, but not before making sure the front door was double locked. I grabbed my phone and sat on the bed. I rang mymum.
We chatted about the weather in both the U.S. and Cornwall. I told her all about the house, Mackenzie’s dad, and that he was poorly. We talked about Sebastian, and Mum thought he needed to see the GP; he’d had a cold that just didn’t seem to want to leave him. Despite the nature of our conversation, it was nice to chat to her. I started to settle down against the pillows. We continued our conversation for an hour until she panicked it was costing me too much money. She cut off the call without so much as a goodbye. I also suspected she was about ready forbed.
I startled when I heard someone bash on the front door. I crept down, holding my phone in my hand in case I needed to call Mackenzie. Someone knocked again,forcibly.
“Who is there?” I calledout.
“Lauren, it’s me. The door is locked, or jammed shut maybe,” Mackenzie calledout.
I breathed out a sigh of relief and unlocked thebolt.
“Why was the door locked?” hesaid.
“I got spooked. Sorry. How did your meetinggo?”
“Spooked, by what? As much as I love you in your underwear, why are you creeping around the house like that?” Concern laced hisvoice.
“I was on the beach. I took my dress off thinking no one was around. Daniel cameand...”
