Page 113 of Margot
I rinsed my mouth out and looked at my eyes in the mirror. I saw Sutton staring back. I blinked a few times and looked at Lennox. “Yeah, of course. I didn’t know you had someone to meet with today but I’ll be there.” Since I’d been so far away from Sutton for so long, I wasn’t privy to every little thing happening in her life. I did know she wanted to crucify DuBois though.
I was all in.
We got dressed and Lennox made coffee while I sat at the piano and played. It wasn’t perfect and my nerves still ate away at me in the background but I felt more relief than agony now. It was just another sign that I was doing the right thing.
When Lennox handed me a mug of coffee, I sat at the piano and sipped it while I listened to him catch me up on everything going on at Red Wing. Well, I kind of listened. For the most part, I was busy soaking him in.
I wanted to commit everything about him to memory. He was the most perfect man I’d ever seen. He restored my hope in men altogether.
“Shit, I’m running my mouth. Let’s go, baby.” He took my empty mug and put it in the kitchen sink. His long legs made purposeful strides toward the front door. After focusing for a moment, I followed behind him. We got dressed in silence. For once, I didn’t have much to say.
Lennox noticed my silence once we got in the car and he’d been driving for a few minutes. “You’re not very talkative, Margot. Everything okay?” Lennox rubbed my knee as he took the highway.
“Just reflecting on a lot of things,” I told him honestly. “Where are we meeting the girl’s mother?”
“Oh, she’s in Annapolis where DuBois is located. Sutton agreed to come to her. Her name is Monica. We’re meeting at a bookstore.”
“So am I going to have to pretend to be Sutton?” I quizzed with a frown. I felt a jolt in my head and I knew it was Sutton slamming against the closed door I created in the headspace. She was muffled from the other side but she made her wishes clear.
She didn’t want me to pretend.
“Never mind,” I chuckled. “She just answered that question for me.”
“Margot it is,” Lennox smiled.
We drove for nearly an hour before we reached Annapolis and it was a while longer before we came to the bookstore we were meeting Monica at. When we got out, Lennox laced his fingers between mine and looked me in the eye.
“You ready for this, Margot?”
“I’m so fucking ready,” I said, giving his big hand a squeeze. Together, we walked into that bookstore and I knew things would forever be changed by the time we walked out.
Lennox pulled out his phone and began texting Monica. His phone buzzed immediately and he looked around, scanning the area. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t nervous as hell. I knew how upset Sutton was when none of the other meetings with parents went the way she’d hoped.
I didn’t know what I’d do if that happened this time.
“She’s over here sitting down,” Lennox told me.
We weaved through huge bookshelves filled to the brim until we came to an opening in the back of the store with comfy chairs and couches.
“Lennox and Sutton? I’m Monica Burton. This is my daughter, Cordelia.” Lennox shook Monica’s hand first and then shook Cordelia’s hand. The little girl couldn’t have been more than seven. She smiled politely but it never reached her eyes then she hid behind her mother.
Something about her cautious hazel eyes tugged at me and made it hard for me to speak. They were so sad. “You must be Sutton,” Monica shook my hand and I pulled my focus away from her daughter.
“Um…yes and no. We’ll get into that in a minute.” We all sat down and I pulled in a deep breath. I would need every ounce of sanity to tackle this shit. When I looked at Cordelia, I noticed she leaned to the left when she sat. She refused to sit fully on her behind.
“Thank you so much for meeting with us, Monica and Cordelia. I know our messages were vague so it means a lot that you’d still offer to show up,” Lennox turned on the charm because that’s who he was. He was warm and inviting and everyone loved him.
How could they not?
“Well, I felt the need to come meet you guys because something has been off with Cori for the past week.” Monica’s eyes dropped down to her hands and her sweet little girl tossed her arms around her neck and hugged her. My heart nearly popped.
“Hey, Cordelia can you do me a big favor?” I asked sliding to the edge of my chair. I pulled out my wallet and handed her a twenty-dollar bill. Her hazel eyes grew wide but there was still no smile. “Can you buy yourself a slice of cake from the café right there?” It was within all of our sights. She had three pair of eyes on her. Monica nodded her head when the little girl looked at her for permission.
Once she was out of earshot, I looked at Monica and let my shoulders drop a bit.
“This isn’t easy, Monica but I only know how to be frank,” I began. “Sutton asked you to come here to talk about the reprehensible things that DuBois did to us as a child.”
Monica’s eyes flitted between Lennox and me. I could see the confusion on her face.
