Page 99 of True Honey
“He likes you,” she said quietly.
“Hetoleratesme." I glance at her again, taking in how nervous she looks, "for you.”
“Same thing with Auggie,” she let a quiet laugh go. “Thank you for trying though. I see you trying and it’s been awhile since anyone did that for him other than me.”
“I think that’s true for both of you,” I said. Drew didn’t respond, whether or not she believed me wasn’t for me to question. She was quiet the rest of the drive and I didn’t push for conversation. If she wanted to talk to me she would. I could tell she was still mulling over what I said, tangled with her own insecurities. It was going to take a lot more than just words.
I led her to the top floor of the hotel, shamelessly I had upgraded my room to impress her once I knew she’d be joining me. I scanned the card and let her into the massive space. There was a king size bed centered on the west wall and a nice couch, and sitting area to our right as well as a huge, pristine spa-like en-suite that was the size of my entire apartment at the Nest.
“This is…” Drew inhaled slowly, her eyes taking in everything as I set down our bags. She wandered through, pulling back the curtains on the room to expose the expensive view of New York city. I listened as her breath caught and she crossed her arms over her chest nervously.
“Just a room,” I finished her sentence, coming up behind her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her back against my chest, burying my nose in her hair. “I have meetings tomorrow,” I whispered, “but I booked you a day at the spa downstairs.”
“Silas you didn’t.” She tried to spin in my arms, trying to argue face to face but I held her tightly, not letting her turn even an inch.
“I did, and you can have whatever you want. All day. We’re switching places, you’re going to do something selfish and I’m going to do something brave,” I said to her.
“What’s brave about you going to meetings?” I could hear the pout in her voice.
“The meetings are with the prosecution, the lawyers working to keep my father in jail. We’re going over my testimony and the defense's possible questions for the trial,” I said to her and felt her body tense. I wasn’t scared of it, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Okay,” she conceded like I knew she would. Her conscience not allowing her to let me do something scary or selfish on my own.
“That’s my girl,” I whispered in her ear and placed a kiss on her neck, digging my fingers into her skin. I would show her one day at a time that she deserved the world, even if it meant fighting against her intrusive thoughts every step of the way.
Drew was worth it.
SHORE
“Mr. Shore, I need you to focus.” Eileen, tall, blonde and bossy, stared at me from across the room, tapping the manila folder on her knees. She was more than impatient with me. “If there’s even a crack in your statement they will find a way to free your father with it.”
“I don’t know anything about his time with Deedee Logan,” I reminded her, trying to control my frustration. Tobais stood in the doorway of the massive glass conference room on the thirty-third floor staring at me like I was causing problems on purpose.
“This question isn’t about her, it’s about your half brother.”
“Brother,” I cut her off and sighed, “justbrother. I didn’t know about his trips to Lorette, it's a void zone in his history that wasn’t written down or recorded. There are no pictures, no memories, there’s only one paper trail that connects my father to Deedee and it’s the money.”
“There has to be something you remember, Mr. Shore, I need you to connect some dots.” She pushed harder, throwing the folder on the table between us.
“Did he ever bring Josh to the games you attended? Did he ever bring you to Lorette when he visited Deedee?” Tobias interrupted.
“No.” I said quickly but a heat spread across my chest.
“Stay in the car, Silas.” Dad looked at me in the backseat and I thought nothing of it as he parked the car in front of the shabby apartments. It wasn’t like him to bring me to this side of town and we were supposed to be going to the movies. The new Hulk movie was out today.
I waited until he was walking into the door to follow him. There were so many stairs in this building, I’d never seen that many in my life. When I got to the topDad was talking to a lady and I pushed myself against the wall out of his sight. Part of me knowing that it was better to stay hidden. I knew the tone of his voice, he was upset about something. Sometimes he talked to mom like that and it always made me angry in a way I couldn’t understand.
“Dee I warned you I didn’t want to see him today,” Dad said.
“Are you ashamed of him?” She hissed, she was pretty but not pretty like Mom. She was pretty in a sad sort of way.
“Yes.” He barked, “I came to see you and if you don’t—”
“No no!” She cried out quickly, cutting off whatever he was going to say to her. “He’ll be okay out here for a few minutes…” she sounded funny like her tongue was too big for her mouth and after a couple moments she returned to the door.
I pressed tightly to the corner as my father turned around to look at the stairwell and counted my breathing to keep quiet as the door clicked shut. When I peaked around the corner again my dad was gone, and so was the sad lady but in the hallway, sitting on the floor with a few toys was a baby.
I stared at him for a second, confused by his head of dark hair and sad brown eyes. I didn’t know much about babies but even I knew that you weren’t supposed to leave them alone. One time I got yelled at for taking Arlo into the backyard without telling Mom and she got so mad at me for going alone. And Arlo was bigger than the baby in front of me smashing his hand into the rubber duck.
