Page 67 of Love Always

By the time he’s tucked into bed and we’ve read his favorite book, Ben’s Trumpet, I’m exhausted. I close his door after flipping on the night light and step back into the living area. It’s nearly eight o’clock and I have at least an hour more of homework to do.

“Devon’s going to be here in about half an hour when she gets off her shift.”

“Does she work every shift?”

“They’re shorthanded. They used to be a volunteer department. Then the counties got together and decided to fund it. Now they’ve pulled in a paid squad so it looks like a lot of people, but they cover a lot of land.”

Mateus hands me a glass of wine and I’m grateful for the attention.

I take a sip and a comfortable burn coats my throat.

“You need to tell me about Kevin Barr and Cory. You’re positive he’s not his father?”

I don’t know how Mateus does it, but the question bears no judgment and no assumptions. He makes it sound like a simple question.

But the answer is simple too: “No. He’s not.”

Mateus pauses as if he’s expecting me to say more, then shakes his head.

“So, it was lunch then. Not a quick little meeting.”

“Apparently the people at the school are idiots. Vicki Kram is the only person who protected him. That principal is—”

But the next question stops me.

“Why is Kevin pretending to be his father?”

The truth is, I don’t know. I slept with Kevin once when I was sixteen, two years before Cory was born. I explain all this to Mateus. “I can’t figure it out, it’s like he’s just trying to torture me. He doesn’t want a child and he certainly doesn’t want Cory. He’s just trying to make my life miserable and I don’t know why.”

Mateus’s voice is quiet and low and we’re sitting side by side on the sofa. He’s got one arm around me and his other hand rubs my forearm. “Has he ever stalked you?”

“Me? No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a trained security person like you are. I don’t think he’s been following me around.”

“Well, admit you don’t have a good antenna for this sort of thing.”

I look at him.

“Cruz.”

He has a point.

“It sounds like he’s obsessed with you and he can’t have you, so the only way to get attention from you is to act out. He wants you thinking about him all the time, to wake up thinking about him and go to bed thinking about him. That’s his goal.”

I keep shaking my head. “I can’t believe he’s that weird.”

“I can. Think. There is some reason he’s started tormenting you now.”

“Well. Two things. He’s started handyman work for a rich couple here in town, and was in my summer Geography class and then weaseled into my English class.”

“Is that why you were crying on the pier last summer? Because of Kevin?”

I nod. “Maybe that triggered him. He always tries to sit next to me or workshop papers with me. I finally told Professor Cruz I knew Kevin and didn’t want to work with him for personal reasons.”

Mateus stops me for a moment. “Did Cruz ask you to deliver that box after you told him about Kevin?”