Together With You

by Victoria Bylin

  Ryan saw a chance to be an ordinary dad, took out his wallet, and gave each boy spending money.

  Nathan’s face lit up. “Thanks, Dr. Tremaine!”

  “Yeah, Dad,” Eric added. “Thanks.”

  While the boys shopped, Ryan wandered to the other side of the store. On his own, he bought each boy a T-shirt, one for himself, and a glass paperweight with an ocean scene for his desk. He didn’t know if the day had been a success or not, but “Thanks, Dad” had a nice ring to it.

  9

  You can’t have it,” Eric shouted at Penny. “It’s mine.”

  Carly raced from the laundry room to the kitchen, where she’d left Eric and Penny at the table just long enough to switch a load of whites from the washer to the dryer. Eric was making a diorama of the ocean in a cardboard box he’d spray painted blue and silver. Since the trip to the Science Center, he’d been obsessed with sharks. He still oozed resentment and barely spoke to anyone—especially not to Ryan—but yesterday he had ventured out of his room and asked for a ride to a hobby store for paint, glue, and glitter. With Ryan’s permission, Carly obliged, and Eric had been occupied for several hours with his modeling project.

  With his shout in her ears, Carly strode into the kitchen just as Penny reached the foot of the stairs with a plastic shark clutched in her hand. Carly intended to make her return it to Eric, but Eric reached her first. “That’s mine!”

  “I want it!”

  Penny was no match for Eric, who jerked the toy out of her hands. “You brat! I hate you—”

  “I hate you, too,” Penny yelled back.

  Carly winced at Eric’s rage but chose not to address it in the heat of battle. As soon as she finished with Penny, she’d talk to him about the difference between hating a person and hating what they did. But first she needed to control Penny. “We’re going to the quiet room.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” She walked Penny past the kitchen to the maid’s quarters, now the nanny room, added on to the side of the house. Carly used it as an office and a personal retreat, as well as a place for Penny to calm herself. With its plain walls, white furniture, and sky blue drapes and bedding, the room suited her purposes to a tee.

  Gripping Penny’s hand, Carly led her to an overstuffed chair wedged in the corner. She sat on the ottoman, turned Penny to face her, and kept eye contact. “The shark belongs to Eric.”

  “But I want it.”

  “It belongs to Eric,” Carly repeated.

  “But—”

  “It belongs to Eric.” She spoke the same words in the same cadence with the hope they’d penetrate Penny’s brain the way a carpenter deepened a cut with precise strokes of a saw. “It. Belongs. To. Eric.”

  Penny huffed, a sign she understood.

  “You have to say you’re sorry.”

  “I’m sorry,” Penny said, though Carly suspected she didn’t comprehend the real meaning.

  “Let’s go say it to Eric.”

  She led Penny back to the kitchen, but Eric was gone. Assuming he was in his room, Carly took Penny upstairs where, for once, Eric’s door was open. She peeked inside, didn’t see him but spotted a computer tablet glowing face up on his rumpled sheets. She glanced at the screen, saw foul words on his Facebook page, along with a picture of Penny at her worst and the caption My Sister, The Monster.

  Carly inhaled sharply. At the same instant, Eric came into the room with a charger he’d probably borrowed from Kyle or Ryan, because his own room was such a mess he couldn’t possibly find a thing. When he saw Carly, his eyes dipped to the tablet, and his cheeks flamed red.

  She took the embarrassment as a good sign and confronted him with more calm than she felt. “I saw the picture on your Facebook. After Penny says what we came to say, I’d like to talk to you about it.”

  “It’s just a picture,” he mumbled.

  “A hurtful one.” Carly indicated that Penny should face Eric. “Do you remember what to say?”

  Penny hid her face against Carly’s leg in an attempt to avoid everything—the confusion in her mind and the messy room. Carly gently turned her around, then prompted her with a squeeze of her hand. “You’re sorry you took the shark.”

  Eric glared at her. “I don’t care what she says.”

  “I do,” Carly replied. “And I care about you, too. So let’s do this. Penny, tell Eric you’re sorry.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, maybe understanding but probably not.

  Carly tipped up Penny’s face with a finger on her chin. “Now go to your room.”

  Her bottom lip trembled. “I don’t like it in there.”

  Neither did Carly. With its frilly curtains, bright colors, and gingerbread shelves, the room was a little-girl paradise, unless the little girl had a disorder that made smells, noise, clutter, and bright lights painful to her. Tonight she’d talk to Ryan about the room as well as the shark incident.

  Carly gripped Penny’s hand and led her out the door. “You can play with Miss Rabbit now.”

  Consoled, Penny walked with Carly to her room. Carly set her up with Miss Rabbit and Lance, then returned to speak to Eric. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with the tablet in hand, his mouth tight and his eyes burning with anger. As Carly leaned against the doorjamb, he tossed the device on the bed so she could see his Facebook. The ugly picture was gone.

  “Did you delete it?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s good, but I’m going to be very direct with you, Eric. You’re old enough to understand what happened to your sister.”

  “Half sister.”

  “That’s right.” Carly shifted her weight, slouching a little to keep the mood casual. “You know the facts, and you’re smart. I bet you get good grades.”

  “Not as good as Kyle.”

  Sibling rivalry. Carly hid a wince. As the youngest in her own family, she had competed with her sister and brother in everything and lost every time, until she discovered a knack for working with kids.

  “You’re not Kyle,” she said to Eric. “You have your own talents. It takes time to figure out what they are, but I’ve noticed a few things about you.”

  His head jerked up. “Like what?”

  “You’re quiet, but you watch people. You notice things, like Kyle forgetting to take out the trash.”

  Eric almost smiled. “He does that a lot.”

  “You notice things about your dad, too. I bet you can tell me what color tie he wore to work today.”

  “It was blue.”

  The color of his eyes. Carly had noticed, too. Her mind wandered to this morning and how they had chatted over coffee before Ryan left for the office. He was almost late for work, and she worried until he texted that he arrived in time, a friendly gesture that made her feel important to him, which was silly.

  Annoyed at herself, she focused back on Eric. “I’ve noticed other things about you. For instance, you’re good at jigsaw puzzles. That one in the family room—” She’d found the sea-life puzzle in the closet and put it out just to see what would happen. “You finished it in what? Three hours?”

  He shrugged, but his shoulders seemed a little broader. “I was bored. There was nothing else to do.”

  “Sure there was.” Carly crossed her arms. “You could have picked a fight with Penny, caused trouble for me, or run off without telling us where you were. But you didn’t do any of those things, even if you wanted to. That tells me you have a lot of self-control.” It also meant he tamped down his anger. “Penny doesn’t have that ability. It’s my job to teach her as much as she can learn. And that’s the problem—her mind doesn’t work like yours or mine. Learning is hard for her.”

  “That’s what my dad says.”

  “It’s true.” She had his attention, so she slipped down to the floor and sat with one knee raised. “I don’t think you hate your sister. I think you hate some of the things she does, like when she took the shark and messed up the diorama.”

  “Yeah!” he s
aid, facing Carly fully. “Or when she has a meltdown in front of my friends.”

  “Or kicks the table.”

  “She drives me crazy! Why does she have to be here anyway?”

  The question was as multifaceted as a human life. Why was Penny born in the first place? Why had Ryan broken his wedding vows? Why was she suddenly a forever-piece of Eric’s life, sharing his father and living under the same roof? Until Penny’s arrival, he’d been the baby of the family. Now he was caught in the middle. As Ryan had said back at the Animal Factory, the situation was complicated.

  “I can’t tell you why Penny’s here on earth,” Carly said to him. “But I know God loves her.”

  “My mom talks like that.”

  “Your mom’s a smart lady.” Carly hadn’t communicated with Heather personally, but she saw her heart in her boys, and Ryan spoke well of her. “Here’s the deal, Eric. I can tell your dad about the picture or you can. I don’t keep secrets, because most of the time they hurt people.”

  Eric kicked at some dirty socks on the floor. “I don’t like talking to him.”

  No surprise there. Carly thought for a moment. “Let’s do it this way. I’ll tell him the whole story, including how mad you were at Penny for swiping the shark. I’m sure he’ll want to talk to you, but this will give you time to think about what to say. By the way, does he have the password to your Facebook?”

  “Yeah.” He rolled his eyes the way only a thirteen-year-old could. “My mom has it, too.”

  “We both know you can change it, even set up a ghost account.” Like Allison did. Her accounts were all under AlleyCat117. “If I were you, I’d give your dad the password again, tell him you were mad at Penny and you’re sorry. I think he’ll understand.”

  When Eric stayed quiet, Carly pushed to her feet and left. He had some thinking to do, and Carly needed to text Ryan to make sure he’d be home on time. She sent the message and was in Penny’s room when her phone rang and she saw his office caller ID. Wanting privacy, she slipped into Ryan’s bedroom and closed the door. “That was fast.”

  “Carly, it’s Fran.”

  “Oh!” She hadn’t spoken to Fran since they arranged the interview, but they’d hit it off. “What’s up?”

  “Ryan got your text. Dr. Shaya called in with a migraine, so he’s been covering her emergencies. He’s slammed today.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “There’s another problem. Dr. Shaya was supposed to meet tonight with a new doctor they’re considering for the practice. The woman’s from out of town, and someone has to take her to dinner. The other two partners bowed out, so it’s Ryan or no one. Can you stay late tonight? If you can’t, I’ll babysit.”

  Carly hated getting home after dark, but the conversation about Eric couldn’t wait. “I’ll do it. What time do you think he’ll be home?”

  “Not too late. Maybe ten?”

  “That’s fine.”

  “Wait. Hold on.”

  She heard muffled sounds, then Ryan’s deep voice. “Carly?”

  A little charge rippled down her spine. “Hi.”

  “Thanks for staying. What happened with Eric?”

  “It’s a long story.” One she didn’t want to tell over the phone when he needed to return to his patients. “Everything’s fine, but you’ll want to have a sit-down with him.”

  “A sit-down?”

  “That’s my dad’s expression for a talking-to.” Kentucky leaked into her voice. In a year or so she’d be home for good. Homesickness washed through her, and her chest tightened, but it tightened even more when Ryan’s deep voice echoed in her ear.

  “A sit-down, it is,” he said, sounding tender. “Thanks, Carly. I’m glad you’re there.”

  “I’m just doing my job.”

  “And doing it better than anyone.” He paused, maybe to let the compliment soak in. When he spoke again, his voice came out lower, more personal. “I’ll get home as soon as I can.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  They said good-bye at the same time, awkwardly but with a lingering warmth that made her soft inside. Unnerved, she sat on the foot of his bed and tried not to think about Ryan having dinner with a colleague. A female colleague. Unwanted pictures flashed through her mind: a cozy table for two, candlelight, Ryan gazing into the eyes of a willowy redhead who shared his view of the world.

  Jealousy snaked through her, which was ridiculous. Ryan was her boss, and they were friends. She should be hoping he had a good time at dinner, not reacting as if she had a crush on him. That was just plain silly.

  She pushed off the bed and headed for the door, but before opening it, she turned. With its modern furniture and silver and black bedding, Ryan’s bedroom reflected the hard edges of his personality. His cell-phone charger sat on the nightstand, plugged in and ready to go. An adventure novel lay face up with a bookmark tucked between the pages. There wasn’t an item out of place, except for a bureau drawer left slightly ajar. As perfect as Ryan tried to be, he was still human.

  So was Carly.

  Determined to hold back her silly feelings, she blinked away the picture of silver and black and went to take care of Penny.

  10

  Shortly after ten o’clock, Ryan walked into the house with his black blazer slung over his shoulder. The silence reminded him of those nights before Penny came to live with him, when he dated frequently and did as he pleased. On a night like this, he might have poured himself a drink and indulged in a cigarette. He certainly wouldn’t have rushed through dinner with Dr. Evelyn Donnelly, but that’s what he’d done in his hurry to get home to Carly.

  The house was dark except for the stove light in the kitchen and the golden glow of a single lamp in the family room. Approaching quietly, he spotted her curled on the couch and sound asleep, her arm around a white bed pillow. He needed to wake her, but the simple beauty of a woman sleeping struck him as something to be enjoyed, even revered. An ocean breeze filtered through the open window and lifted a wisp of her hair. When it brushed her cheek, she wrinkled her nose, moistened her lips, and settled back into her dreams.

  “Carly?” He raised his hand to shake her awake but stopped. If he touched her in such a personal way, he’d remember and want to do it again. When she didn’t respond, he lifted a throw blanket off the recliner. They could talk in the morning.

  As he unfolded the fleece blanket, her eyelids fluttered open, and she rolled to her side. When she saw him, she bolted upright. “Oh dear! I fell sound asleep.”

  “You must have needed it,” he said. “Sorry to keep you so late.”

  She shook her head as if to jar loose the cobwebs, then she patted the couch next to her. “Sit. I have to tell you what happened with Eric.”

  “I’ve been wondering.”

  She pointed to a cardboard box under the flat-screen TV. It resembled a fish tank, which in a way it was. Blue and silver spray paint sparkled on the inside, plastic plants stuck up from the sand-covered bottom, and the fish from the museum dangled from the top, including a snarling great white shark.

  Carly stifled a yawn. “Eric made that today.”

  Ryan was impressed, both that Eric had ventured out of his room and his attention to detail. Maybe the museum trip was more successful than he realized. “He did a great job.”

  “Penny thought so, too. She wanted the shark, so she took it.”

  As Carly described the quarrel, Ryan wondered if his kids would ever get along, let alone love one another. When she told him about the picture on Facebook, he let out a chest-deep groan. “That’s awful. It’s bullying. It’s just—”

  “It’s wrong.” She laid her hand on his forearm. “Eric knows it and he’s sorry. He already took the picture down.”

  “Good.” The warmth of her hand soaked through his shirt sleeve to his skin, filling him with a volatile brew of hope for himself, the longing to be understood, and the certainty that Carly was the answer to bringing his family together. She had an almost mystical gift when it
came to understanding his kids. And him.

  “I gave him a choice,” Carly said. “I told him he could tell you, or I would. ” She paused, maybe to soften her words. “Right now, he’s struggling to understand the changes in his life, and he’s thirteen to boot.”

  Ryan grimaced. “It’s a rough age.”

  “It was for me, too,” she admitted. “But it’s also an amazing age, because we learn so much. Eric’s expecting you to talk to him about the picture incident. The good news is that I believe he’s truly sorry. He was angry and reacted. The bad news is that he’s angry about so many things.”

  Ryan glanced at the shark staring at him with its lifeless eyes. “I’ll talk to him tonight. I don’t think Denise would ever check Eric’s Facebook, but it’s the kind of thing that would have her calling attorneys.”

  “That reminds me.” Carly winced a bit. “She called your cell phone around seven.”

  “I saw it.”

  “When you didn’t call back, she called the house and I picked up. We talked a long time about Penny, but I could tell she wanted to hear even more.”

  “She can’t get enough.” Ryan appreciated Denise’s dedication, but he felt like a bug under a microscope.

  “I think she’s lonely.”

  So did Ryan. “Thanks for talking to her.”

  “It was nice for me, too. The more I know about Penny, the better. Denise has her baby book. Did you know that?”

  A baby book, the thing Heather kept for each of the boys, though Kyle’s was more complete. The books were full of first smiles, first words, first teeth, and dozens of moments Ryan didn’t recall, though Heather had included him as much as she could.

  “I didn’t know that,” he said to Carly.

  “Someday Penny will treasure it. From what Denise told me, it’s all she has left of her mother. Jenna took a lot of pictures, but they were on her phone, and that was destroyed in the accident. There wasn’t much in the apartment, just a few framed photographs of the two of them. Denise has those, too.”

  “Maybe I should ask her for one. Penny rarely mentions her mother. It worries me.”