Page 46 of Forever Dark
“You could have fooled me.”
“I’m an FBI agent.It takes a lot to scare me.”
That earned a sideways look.“Then maybe you’re not scared.Maybe you just don’t like losing.”
Selena let out a short breath through her nose.“I just don’t want the old arguments.”
“Well.”He fitted the pipe back between his teeth, then took it out again before lighting it.“Can’t avoid it all forever.Maybe just take it on the chin.Then the two of you can have a chat and bury the hatchet.”
“You make it sound simple.”
“Most things are simpler than the people involved.”
Selena couldn’t help but think of her own words back in Washington.Things were sometimes simpler than they appeared.
The match flared in his hand.He lit the pipe, drew in, then exhaled slowly.Dusk had deepened while they talked.A porch light came on in a neighboring yard.Somewhere down the road, a screen door banged shut.
Robert turned to look at her properly.
“You back because Diane told you I took a turn?”
Selena frowned.She didn’t like the sound of that.“She never told me.What happened?”
His gaze slipped away at once.“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“I’m well on the mend.I got pneumonia.But now I’m back on my porch, have been for a couple of weeks.Getting stronger every day.”
That was a lie, or close enough to one.The tiredness in his eyes gave him away.So did the way one foot tapped a little when he sat too still, as if some part of his body couldn’t settle.Selena had seen enough hospital rooms to know the look of someone pretending improvement for the sake of the people around them.
“Why the hell didn’t Diane call me?!”Selena felt her nerves on edge, not for the first time today.
He waved her down and patted her knee.“My girl, don’t be so hard on your sister.You’ve got your life, and I know we fought about it before, but I didn’t want to be a burden like last time.We dealt with it here.And it’s all good.”
The sight of him like this hurt more than she had prepared for.In childhood memory, he had always been broad and tireless, full of dry humor and slow patience, a man who could mend a fence all morning and still come in at lunch with enough energy left to play hide and seek with his daughters.
Now the bones in his wrists showed.It reminded her too much of when he’d had cancer.The guilt of staying away pushed through her mind like volcanic flow.But she had to push it away; push it away or the pain would tear her apart.
“If you’re not here for me,” he said, not accusing, only asking, “whyareyou here, Lena?”
“A case.”
“Oh.”His voice changed only a little, but she heard it.
“It is good to see you, Dad,” Selena said quickly.
Robert nodded once.“You too, Lena.”
“I would have called to let you know I was coming, but this case all happened too quickly.”A lie.But one she was telling as much to herself as to him.The case had come quickly, but there was always time to call.
Robert didn’t ask for details.Didn’t ask what kind of case, whether it was dangerous, whether Connor was involved, whether the county was giving her trouble already.He just accepted the answer and let it sit between them.
That made it harder.
Crickets started up in the grass.Headlights moved past at the far end of the street, throwing brief white bars across the overgrown swing.Neither of them spoke for a while.The porch boards clicked faintly as the night air cooled them.
Finally, Selena said, “It’s getting dark.”
