Page 28 of Never After Us
Everything that’s been happening since I arrived into Seattle.Why did I come back?
“It’s probably the boxes,” I say before I can stop myself.“They look ...old.And important.And what if she never leaves because she can’t get through all of them?I tried to pay her to leave?—”
“You did what?”
“I tried to pay her to leave,” I repeat.
“The woman lost her aunt and you ...”Eddie groans on the other side.“I swear they don’t pay me enough for this.”
“We haven’t paid you in years, babe,” Barret, one of his partners, says on the other side.“Is Alec okay?”
“I’m trying to figure this out,” he says.
“I’m still here,” I remind him.
Eddie exhales softly.“Of course, and let me say that I’m sorry for your loss, man.”
“What loss?”I snap too fast because, fuck, what part of ‘I need a background check and maybe to borrow your island’ doesn’t he understand?
He’s quiet for a beat.“You cared about Mrs.Lafferty.Even when you pretended you didn’t.”
“That’s beside the point.”
“Alec,” he says in that voice—calm, warm, annoyingly perceptive—“please tell me you’re not in denial.”
“I am not—” I hear myself raising my voice and immediately lower it.People start looking when six-foot-two guys bark into phones on sidewalks.“I am not in denial.I’m on my way to therapy.That’s practically the opposite of denial.Plus, I don’t need a babysitter.I need a background check.”
“Good,” Eddie says, and I hate how relieved he sounds.“You know I’m not babysitting you.I’m just checking in.”
“Sure, you say you’re not babysitting, but I hear the tone.”
“I’m looking after my family,” he says simply.“Sue me.”
I sigh.Loudly.“Edgar, I’m in a good place.”
“You’re spiraling about a woman’s last name and a child that might be Satan’s spawn carrying a pink umbrella.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Her last name doesn’t match Lina’s!”
“So what?”he asks.
“And she might have two last names.”
“Alec ...tons of people have two last names,” he reminds me.“Barret, Cleo, and I are about to be part of that trend.It’s perfectly normal.”
“There’s something fishy,” I insist.“Something is just not feeling right.”
“That is not—” Eddie stops, regrouping.“Okay.Why exactly do you want me to run a background check on your neighbor?”
“Because what if she’s not who she says she is?What if she’s not actually Lina’s niece and she’s just some ...some impostor?”
Eddie laughs.Laughs.And it’s irritating enough that my phone nearly ends up in Lake Washington.
“Alec Dominique Horvath, I swear to God.What do you think she’s after?Your vinyl collection?”
