Page 151 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
We’llfind someone new. The two of them. Together.
God, that felt good to hear.
“I was thinking of looking around Houston for a new doctor.”
She sat on the bed next to him. “That’s better than what you have around here,” she conceded, lost in thought. “Houston will have more options.”
They went quiet, the emptiness of Parkland Grounds surrounding them. Once, this house had been full of staff, a person assigned to every whim of the Fairweathers. Now it was nowhere near the grand home it had been. Lost to time and neglect, Parkland had become a haunted house, holding all the Fairweather secrets.
Or was that Haven House? God knows his family had enough skeletons to fill more than one home’s closets.
“If I go, then you need to find someone as well.”
Simone bristled at the idea. “I think not.”
“Why the hell not?”
“As we just said, the doctors around here aren’t worth anything, and besides, nobody needs to know my business.”
“Why do you have to be so stubborn all the damn time?” He heaved out an exhale, knowing he’d already lost the battle. “But that’s your personal choice, and I’ll respect it.”
“You’ve never respected anyone’s personal choice.”
“Neither have you, so let’s accept that lie and move on.”
She pressed her lips together while staring at the bank of windows along the eastern wall. The view overlooked the gardens, a place that was once his mother’s cruel joke. “You’re making a deal with me. You make deals with everyone else, and now I’ve come to collect mine.”
It almost made him smile. “Let’s hear it.”
“I go first,” she whispered, the rays of afternoon light tracing the tears rolling down her cheeks. “You have to be the one who stays behind. That’s my deal. Youstayand take care of yourself and them. You stay until Father Time drags you off.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Simone.” He seized her hand, not giving a damn if she didn’t want him touching her. “You’re stronger than me.”
“Oh, I know that.” She laughed, wiping her tears with her free hand. “But I want you to take care of yourself, and I’ll do the same, but when the day comes—when something happens, and they say it could be the end of the road for either of us—I want you to continue to fight tostaybut if it’s me, let me go in peace.”
“What you’re talking about won’t happen for years.”
“Be that as it may, I want your word.”
“You have it,” he promised. “We have a deal, but I have a counteroffer for you to consider.”
“I’m listening.”
“I want more time with them.”
It would probably sound ridiculous to anyone else in the world, a man negotiating to have more time with his children, but they weren’t normal and never had been.
“Evie is getting ready to start college. She still has her moments, but they come few and far between now.” A wistful smile tugged at thecorner of Simone’s mouth. “And with Samuel having just been at the house, she’s all up in her feelings.”
“Why the hell do they have to fight all the damn time?”
“Oh, is that what they’re doing?”
He didn’t know what that was supposed to mean. The battle of Samuel and Evie had raged since they came into existence, and it would never change. They entered this world snarling at each other and would continue to do so until the day they left it.
Not that his two cents mattered on the subject, but he wanted Simone to understand that he did pay attention to what was happening with the kids. The big and little things that made up their lives. “I know Evie has come out of her shell more, and with high school over, I thought it was a great idea that she chose to stay close to home to go to the state college’s satellite campus.”
Of all people, it had been Samuel who argued against the decision. He wanted Evie with him and Selah up at Georgia Tech, telling anyone who would listen how Evie’s mathematical brilliance was being wasted.
