page53 (1/2)
“You never apologized,” she said tightly
“You seem to wait for people to disappoint you, Parker,” he continued, ignoring her couess what? They will People make mistakes We’re not perfect You want to knohy I like James? Because he likes me, Parker Not many people do, in case you haven’t noticed It was nice to be with so behind e and wait”
“You paid him well”
“Well, I haven’t paid him since May—”
“But he said—”
“—and yet he’s the only one who co today, which I gather is for you to vent your spleen and tell me what a shitty father I’ve been”
“Do you have any idea how much I missed you, Dad?”
The question shocked the
“When I was a kid,” she went on, slowly, as the thoughts seemed to form only as she spoke, “you made me feel like the most important person in the world I worshipped you, Harry Everything I did, I did to impress you But after that day, you could hardly look at me It was like you hated me”
“I didn’t hate you,” he said “I never hated you” His gaze dropped to the table
Parker looked at her father, the once-powerful legend of Wall Street For years, it see, the only change the silvering of his hair But in prison, the years had caught up He’d , and the skin under his eyes was puffy His hair was longer, and a lock stood up in the back, same way Nicky’s did Maybe her son’s cowlick wasn’t courtesy of Ethan’s gene pool Maybe her son looked a little bit like his grandfather
“I never hated you, either, Dad,” she said gently “I moved into Grayhurst because it here my happiest times were Except for that one day”
He looked up, and his eyes et “I’m sorry about your trust fund,” he said “I hope to et out”
“Don’t bother,” Parker answered “Losing it was the best thing that ever happened to us”
There was another long silence “I’m sorry about the babysitter,” he said, so quietly she almost didn’t hear
She reached over and covered his hand with hers “Thank you”
“No touching,” said the guard Parker squeezed her father’s hand, then obeyed
SO THAT WAS SOMETHING, she thought as she drove home Obviously, you didn’t repair a relationship that had been neglected for a quarter century in one conversation But they’d said more across that little metal table than they’d said in years Decades It was a start
Her father’s words echoed in her head You wait for people to disappoint you
No one had ever called Harry Welles dumb
Beauty greeted her at the door, wagging vigorously, sniffing her shoes to see where she’d been Parker bent to pet the dog’s soft head “Hoas your day? Tellwagged some more, her eyes filled with love
Funny, how Parker really hadn’t been looking for a dog and now couldn’t iine life without her little pal
“Co upstairs
Nick had left his drawing pad on her bed; they’d been coloring last night She h he hadn’t been gone for even twenty-four hours Flipping through his pad, she saw the chronicle of their recent life—a girl with curly hair and blue eyes who could only be Colette, Nicky’s love A brown-and-white dog “It’s you,” she said, holding out the pad for Beauty to see Lots of pictures of swords and uishable by the red-and-black coloring A school bus with s faces in the eet
The next one gave her pause Two sle for a roof The sun and a square The taller figure had curly brown hair
Jaun
Hepad was the one she’d bought him for school
So he’d been thinking about Jaures were holding hands
She put the pad down and, on impulse, went to her closet for the box of stuff she’d taken from the house in Maine So The plastic tomato with the top hat and eyelashes The red notebook of her wretched story ideas The ine A piece of driftwood Beauty had brought her Two pieces of blue sea glass
She wasn’t sure what she’d been looking for Sighing, she opened the notebook There were the pulverized chip eaten by his ot Nice Quite a theels That one was really scraping the barrel
She turned back to Mickey, the story Nicky loved Now that was the book that should’vefire truck buer, shinier truck Only Firefighter Bill had kept the faith in Mickey, and on that frigid winter night when the apartine couldn’t start, Bill asked Mickey to coh just one more time
Wonderful the useful, co up when you were needed the iveness
James had said he loved Mickey
Beauty rested her muzzle on Parker’s shin “Really? You think so?” Parker asked, rubbing the dog’s velvety snout The dog blinked “Okay You’re the boss”
She brought the manuscript downstairs, rustled around in her desk and pulled out a le search of the address James F X Cahill, c/o Goldman Sachs, 200 West Street, New York, NY
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“I’M NOT GOING in there You’re crazy You’re trying to kill me”
“I’ve hardly killed anyone this year,” James said “Come on I feel like an idiot as it is”
“’Cuz you are an idiot, man Go yourself Leave me out of this, skinny”
Ja the Sisters, he’d envisioned taking so out for ice creae, for exaht In this scenario, he’d pick up the kid in a poor but respectable neighborhood where the parent(s) would be delighted to see him
Instead, he’d been greeted by the dead-eyed stare of an enoras