Page 83 of The Coworker
At that moment, Shane comes into the kitchen with his empty glass of water. He starts to fill it up, but when he notices I’m on the phone and catches the expression on my face, he raises an eyebrow at me. He mouths the words,Who is it?
“Please talk to Tim,” Mrs. Reese whimpers. “If you talk to him and you still believe that he did those horrible things—”
“I’m not going to visit Tim in jail.” That is absolutely out of the question. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Reese.”
Shane’s other eyebrow shoots up at the name Mrs. Reese. He stands there, clutching his water glass in one hand, listening to my end of the conversation.
“You have to, Brooke!” Mrs. Reese cries. “This is all happening because of you—don’t you understand? Give Tim a chance to explain. You have to—”
Before Mrs. Reese can complete her sentence, Shane snatches the phone right out of my hand. He presses it to his ear, listens for a second, then clears his throat loudly.
“Mrs. Reese,” he says in a firm voice. “This is Shane Nelson. You need to leave Brooke alone. Don’t call this number ever again.”
With those words, Shane jabs at the red button on the phone, then tosses it on the kitchen counter. “Some nerve of her,” he mutters.
“To be fair…” I look up at him. “Your mother called me when you were on trial and said almost the exact same things.”
“Right, but I was innocent.”
“I’m sure Tim’s mother thinks he’s innocent.”
“Oh, please.” Now that I’m off the phone, he fills up his water glass, right to the brim. “She knows the truth. How could shenotknow? She raised him, after all.” He takes a drink from his water glass. “Don’t you think if Josh were a killer, you would know it?”
It’s funny because when I believed Josh’s father was a murderer, I was always watching my son for sociopathic tendencies. If he had shown any at all, I would’ve jumped all over it—but Josh was a good boy. Still, kids change after they grow up. Will I know him when he’s thirty as well as I know him at age ten?
“I don’t know,” I finally say.
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t be naïve, Brooke. Tim’s mother isn’t looking for the truth. She’s just looking to get her son off the hook. You can’t let that happen.”
He’s right, of course. Mrs. Reese will do whatever it takes to get her son acquitted. But it’s going to take a lot more than convincing me.
Chapter 47
After the stressful day I have had, I can’t even contemplate cooking dinner. Instead, we order a pizza. There’s a cute moment when Shane and Josh discover they both love pepperoni on a pizza, and I swear, Shane looks like he’s going to tear up.
The conversation at dinner flows easily. I had forgotten how naturally charismatic Shane could be, and even though he’s trying a bit too hard, Josh doesn’t seem to notice. Josh has been a bit down ever since Tim was arrested, and this is one of the nicest dinners we’ve had since that night.
After Josh goes upstairs to finish his homework, Shane remains at the kitchen table, smiling to himself.
“What?” I say.
“He’s a nice kid,” he says.
“Yes. He is.”
“He seems smart too.” He cocks his head. “Good at sports?”
“Reallygood. You should see him hit a baseball.”
His eyes widen. “Could I?”
“Well, not now. But when the weather gets better. And Little League starts up in the spring. You can go to his games—I’m sure he’d love that.”
I’ve never seen anyone’s entire face light up at the prospect of attending a kids’ softball game, which are admittedly pretty boring. “Thank you, Brooke,” he says.
“For what?”
“For doing such a good job raising our son.”
