Page 63 of The Wives of Hawthorne Lane
Audrey’s own breath is caught in her throat as she waits for him to do whatever he’s going to do next.
“But I’ll tell you this,” Colin says, glowering at Audrey, his wordslike cut glass, “if you threaten me again, it will be the last thing you ever do.”
He turns away then, and Audrey feels like she can finally exhale. She watches him walk away from her, those long confident strides, but when he reaches the door, he stops, turns to her once more.
“And, Audrey? You really should be more careful about remembering to lock your doors.Anyonecould have just walked right in.”
37
Georgina
Hawthorne Lane
“There you are,” Georgina exclaims with a breathy sigh of relief. Rarely is she ever happy to see her husband darkening their doorway, but today she needs his help.
“And hello to you too, my darling wife.” He glares at her, eyes narrowed. She’s already made a misstep and she can’t afford many, not if she’s going to get him on her side about Sebastian. Colin has always had blinders on when it comes to his golden son’s shortcomings, but surely his willful ignorance can’t extend to physical violence.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “Of course. Hello, Colin.” She goes to him and rises on her toes to kiss his cheek, the way he likes to be greeted.
He takes off his suit jacket, tossing it over the banister. It will remain there until Georgina picks it up and brings it to be dry-cleaned for him. She knows this without his having to tell her. He drops his briefcase and takes off his shoes. They too will remain where he’s dropped them until Georgina tidies them away.
“It’s been a long day,” he says, “and now I have to come home to you nagging me the moment I walk through the door?” He scowls at her.
“You’re right,” she concedes. “That was thoughtless of me.”
“You have no idea what it’s like. The kind of pressure I’m under at work.” Colin rubs his temples.
Georgina knows how the evening is supposed to go: She’s expected to serve her husband a quiet dinner, being careful not todisturb him, and he’ll follow that with a nightcap and perhaps a sleeping pill that will allow him to drift off to a blissful, dreamless sleep while she lies awake fretting about their son. But she can’t let that happen, not tonight.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks.
“Withyou?” Condescension pours out between his words. “You wouldn’t understand the first thing about it.”
“Sorry,” Georgina says again. She reminds herself that she needs Colin’s help with Sebastian, so she can’t let herself be baited into the argument he’s clearly spoiling for. “I only wanted to help.”
“Well, you can help by cleaning this stuff up.” He gestures to his belongings that he’s strewn about the open foyer. “You know I hate to come home to a mess.”
“Yes, sure.” Georgina picks up Colin’s shoes, folds his jacket neatly over her arm. She thinks she catches a faint whiff of a woman’s perfume but she ignores it.
Colin turns and starts up the stairs.
Georgina follows a few steps behind him, cautiously, tentatively. Something has Colin in a particularly bad mood tonight. Normally she leaves him be when he’s like this and waits until the tides shift, until the right moment presents itself for her to ask something of him. But tonight, it simply can’t wait.
She thinks again of Sebastian, of the scene Christina described. How he’d hit Lucas, leaving his face a bloody mess. Of how, when she’d confronted their callous, remorseless son, he’d shoved his own mother without an ounce of shame or hesitation. She and Colin have let Sebastian become this thing, this monster, and now she owes it to him to set things right, to do better for him. She can’t let it go on a moment longer. No matter what it might cost her.
“Colin?” Georgina steps into the bedroom to find him unbuttoning his dress shirt, his belt already unbuckled. Seeing him this way unleashes visions of the other night as if they’d been pushing on a barricade in her mind and just broke through: Georgina bent over the bed, Colin taking her from behind, her tears soaking into the mattress. She can’t—won’t—go through that again. In this moment Georgina feels as if she’d rather die than let him degrade her in thatway ever again. Perhaps she should give him a few minutes, wait for him to come downstairs, maybe have a drink ready for him. That should help take the edge off the difficult conversation they’re about to have.
But it’s too late. She’s already spoken, and Colin is watching her expectantly, a look of mild annoyance on his face.
“What? What do you want?”
“I…uh…”
“Come on, Georgina. Out with it already. As I said, it’s been a long day and I’m not in the mood for your dramatics tonight.”
Georgina swallows hard. Colin isn’t going to like this, but it’s now or never. She reminds herself that she’s doing this for her son. “There was an incident with Sebastian today.”
“What kind of incident?” Colin’s voice is a cocktail of irritation and impatience.
