Brand New Sky

by Heidi Hutchinson

  “You have plot-face.”

  “That's not a thing.”

  “It's totally a thing.”

  She smiled, despite herself.

  “Don't leave me, dummy,” he said softly.

  Her eyes drifted to his reflection in the mirror.

  “I'll never stop chasing you, Ryan. I'm not the kind of guy to just walk away and let you be. I'm too selfish and I know you're better off with me.”

  “What if you're better off without me?”

  “I'm not.”

  She stared at him, unsure how to respond. It wasn't as simple as he wanted to make it. Because he didn't know.

  The doorbell rang and she realized she'd run out of time.

  “Let me get it,” Sway said as she rushed downstairs and slid to a stop at the front door. She knew he wanted to get it because he thought it was going to be a reporter. Or one of her lunatic relatives.

  But she knew who it was.

  She stood very still, her eyes taking in every detail, trying to store it for later. It didn't matter that he'd left. It didn't matter that he didn't want her. He was still her dad and there was something incredibly powerful about that fact.

  Caleb Zacherson was tall, with blond hair (like her), brown eyes (like her), wide mouth (like her). She looked nothing like her mom's side of the family. It was probably the reason he stuck around for so long, truth be told. If she would have looked anything like them, he would have left sooner.

  “So, you are here,” he said as his opening line. “I was hoping it was just a matter of mistaken identity.”

  “Sorry,” she said, completely sincere.

  He took a breath and raised his eyebrows. “Can I come in?”

  Ryan jerked out of her stupor and nodded, holding the door open. Caleb stopped when he saw Sway standing behind her.

  “Mister Zacherson,” Sway greeted formally, sticking his hand out.

  Caleb took it after a second, holding eye contact, something undeclared happening behind his dark eyes. He let go and led the small group into the main living room. He clasped his hands behind his back and turned in a small circle.

  “I see you kept the wicker.”

  Ryan couldn't respond. Her mouth was dry with worry. She'd wanted to have this handled sooner. But there really hadn't been time. He must've been notified right away and came straight over.

  “Please sit down, Ryan,” he said sternly.

  She sat. Sway stood behind her. This was not fun. Not fun at all.

  “Can you tell me what's happening here?” Caleb asked, indicating Sway and Ryan.

  “I was just here to pay for some of Amanda's things and then I was planning on leaving. We had no intention of causing trouble. Brenda and Vic came over and she was drunk...” Ryan wasn't sure how much he wanted to know.

  Caleb's eyes narrowed. “What's wrong with Amanda?”

  “Liver, I think,” Ryan said softly, replaying the past few days in her head. Maybe it was grandstanding to have gone to the hospital. She could have paid the bills as an anonymous donor and they never would've known she was in town.

  “That makes sense,” Caleb said, sitting down himself. “Why are you paying for it? Did you force her to drink Milwaukee or something?”

  Ryan's lips pulled up on the side slightly. “They're suing me. I was just trying to take care of it.”

  Silence entered the room. Loud in all of its disappointment. She was forever tainted by their blood. It was always going to be in her veins and it was always going to affect the people around her.

  “I'm sorry,” she said, staring at his shiny shoes. He was so put together. His suit, his hair, his manners. So handsome and confident. No wonder her mom had never said a bad word about him.

  Sway's hand on her knee startled her, but she was too numb to jump. He'd come around the couch to sit beside her.

  “Babe,” he whispered in her ear. She went to look at him and noticed that the room was blurry, so was his face. She blinked and cleared it, but left the wetness on her cheeks.

  “Oh no,” she said, “I didn't mean to cry.”

  Sway rubbed her back and kissed her temple. “We've had a busy morning,” he said to her dad.

  Caleb cleared his throat and Ryan tried to regain her composure. Emotion made him uncomfortable. This was so embarrassing.

  “I can imagine.”

  The silence returned, broken only by her sniffles and Sway reaching to the end table to hand her tissues.

  “Is there something we can do for you?” Sway finally asked, an edge in his tone.

  “Of course,” Caleb said as if remembering himself. He frowned and looked away from Ryan. “I was contacted by the press this morning wanting a statement about my—uh, daughter's...” he motioned to Sway “friend being in a brawl with my ex-inlaws.”

  “You shouldn't need to say anything. It doesn't concern you.”

  Caleb pursed his lips, his eyes flicking to Ryan and then back again. “My name had been brought into it. So it obviously concerns me.” His tone was unmistakable, it brooked no argument.

  Sway didn't care. “No, it doesn't. Ryan stopped being a concern of yours a long time ago. Obviously.”

  Ryan swallowed hard. Her stomach wobbled and she pressed her thumb and forefinger together.

  Caleb's already hard mouth lifted on one end in a sneer. “Your opinion on my past is colored by the perception of a child who had no concept of what was happening.”

  Sway's entire body tensed beside her, coiling for an attack. It became very clear to her that he would do absolutely anything to protect her. Even something foolish. It also became clear that she was just sitting there. A witness to her life instead of a participant. That's not who she was. She's never been just that.

  “Stop.” Ryan's quiet demand seemed to confuse both men as it took them a second to realize it was her. She took a deep breath, and shook her head, clearing out the rest of the useless garbage clogging her thoughts. “Why are you here, dad? Because if it's just to rub my nose in my bad choices again, you can forget it. I'm fully capable of handling my life.”

  Caleb rolled his eyes. “Right.”

  Ryan stood up. “Please leave now.”

  Caleb didn't move. He just sat there, watching her, measuring her. Judging her.

  But Ryan was done. She was done being pushed around by the people who really didn't give a shit who she was or what she did with her life if it didn't benefit them.

  “I see that stubborn Spore blood is strong.”

  Ryan put a hand on Sway's shoulder to stop him. The fact that he stopped in his upward movement was, again, another example of how completely he trusted her to handle things.

  “Yeah” Ryan said, nodding her head. “Maybe I did get that from them. Or maybe I got it from you. Maybe I'm just a great big smorgasbord of all the awful traits of all the people whose blood I share. Maybe I suck as a human being. I mean, you've all taken every opportunity available to you to let me know just how amazing you think I am, so why would I ever think anything else?”

  Caleb's mouth twitched. “You get the sarcasm from me.”

  Ryan's head jerked. “What?” She didn't give him a chance to explain his comment. She blinked once, and shook her head again. “My point is that you don't have a reason to be here. You left years ago. You no longer get to have an opinion on how I live my life. Now, please leave, so I can deal with my new-found wonderful, much sought after, Page 6 fame that has been thrust upon me by the very blood that sent you running with your tail tucked between your legs when I was child.”

  Caleb lifted his chin, took a breath, then stood. He took a step towards the entry and turned around. “You don't know what was happening back then—”

  “No,” Ryan said, agreeing with him. “I don't. What I do know is that when mom could have said horrible things about you, she didn't. I know that I have brothers and sisters I've never met. I know that when I was watching my mom die, you were nowhere to be found. And I know what a good man is... You're no
t.”

  Caleb's eyes flashed and his jaw ticked, but he didn't respond. A minute later, he was gone.

  Ryan stood there, staring at the place he had been, waiting for the floor to cave in. But it didn't. The world didn't end. Her life wasn't over. And she felt...

  Sway folded Ryan into his arms, surrounding her with his smell and his warmth.

  “What the hell just happened?” she asked into his chest.

  “Well, from what I could tell,” Sway began. “He took one look at his gorgeous daughter and his whole life changed.” He let that sit for a second. “Wait. Maybe that was me.”

  She snorted into his shirt, and he rubbed her back.

  “I'm so proud of you,” Sway said and Ryan let that settle deep in her soul.

  “That's what that is,” she said softly.

  “What?”

  “How I feel... proud. But not in an ugly way.”

  Sway hugged her tighter. “Don't you dare leave me,” he repeated what he'd told her earlier.

  “Not a chance. I'm not him, and I'm not them. I'm just me. And that'll have to be good enough.”

  “It's so much more than you realize,” Sway declared adamantly. “You are the most amazing woman I have ever met.”

  “The next part won't be easy,” she reminded needlessly.

  “No,” he agreed. “But after that, I really think you can do anything.”

  “I guess we're about to find out.”

  Chapter 34

  Hurricane

  If Sway were being honest—which he usually was, especially in regards to Ryan—he'd go ahead and rage out loud about how much he hated Ryan's dad.

  What. A. Dick.

  Her life, that she had built, was obviously being forced to change. And he was so concerned with how it would look for him. To have soil on his perfectly manicured hands.

  But vocalizing his frustrations would only add to her stress level. Right now she seemed completely focused. Zen even. As if that final confrontation with her father had put to rest her last indecision on the matter.

  If only dealing with his own father was so cut and dry. Sway envied her a little. That she saw things so clearly and knew the right course of action that would take her to where she wanted to be. His attempts at carving out his own life seemed more clumsy to him. But more fun, too.

  He wondered how his own dad would have responded to such a confrontation. Probably with polite disappointment. Maybe a slight eye roll and clucking of his tongue.

  Though to be fair, Sway had nothing to really confront him about. At the most he could ask his father why he didn't like him so much. But that was basically it. The Schaeffers and the Channings had never asked Sway for anything except to cut his hair and not impregnate anyone. One out of two wasn't too bad.

  But there was something else wrong. Something undefinable that Sway could sense like a rip current, trying to pull him into a blackness that was void of hope.

  His parents didn't dance.

  Ethan Schaeffer didn't get excited about anything. He didn't get mad, he didn't laugh, he didn't celebrate. He was so... bland.

  Which wasn't a big enough word to describe what a painful life that was to witness. Especially for Sway, who was currently watching the most beautiful girl in the world shop for things she didn't need in a store she had never been in. She kept holding up jeans and telling him the price and then she'd laugh maniacally before putting them down. And she looked ridiculous. He was so used to her being free and wild, her hair untethered and her clothes mismatched.

  He'd be lying if he said she wasn't adorable.

  She was conducting an experiment, to see if they were being followed by paparazzi yet. She said she wanted to get the feel of being watched and to see what kinds of things they deemed “news worthy.” Since she was viewing this as some sort of study in human behavior, she wasn't as worried about being the center of attention.

  So, she'd put on some super tight jeans (that he was very much enjoying seeing her in), and a blue tank top. She'd managed to mash all of her glorious blonde hair underneath this huge red and white trucker hat that had a black faded number five on it, and big black sunglasses that covered most of her face.

  But that smile.

  It was like a beacon, shining at him every time she even glanced in his direction.

  She was a total goof while in “disguise.” He could tell she was having fun with this and he was thankful. She could have chosen to go further into hiding.

  She must truly feel safe with him.

  As far as paparazzi...? Lindy had sent a photographer they had worked with in the past to follow them around and take stealthy creeper shots just to cover their bases. Sway spotted him across the street a few minutes ago. Maybe it was cheating, but in the entertainment industry it really felt like there weren't any rules. No clear cut ones anyway.

  He was a little uneasy how this would affect Miles. Hopefully not at all. Alexa would let him know right away if things got sketch.

  Ryan's cell phone chirped and she took it out, replied, and slid it back in her pocket.

  “Well that seems fairly straight forward,” she said, pulling his attention back inside.

  “What's that?” he asked.

  “Kelly says he can print the forms for me and I can sign them here and mail them, or take them home and mail them there.”

  “Forms for what?” he asked.

  “Changing my name.” She folded the shirt she had been looking at and faced Sway, noticing his bewildered expression and she shrugged. “I had sent Kelly a text earlier asking how I could go about doing it. I'm actually surprised I didn't think of it before.” She stopped and rethought it, picking up another shirt and holding it up to sightlessly examine. “No, I did think it, a long time ago. I just never thought it was something I should do, I guess.” Her eyes finally left shirt and connected with his. She gave him a small smile. “You still gonna love me if my name is Ryan Summers?”

  That made so much sense that Sway grinned. “I love it. I love you. I love the whole thing.”

  She blinked and her eyes drifted to the side. “I'm weirdly proud of Sullivan Summers. I made her. She's the me I want to be. But, at the same time, I'm feeling pretty good about Ryan, too.” She pierced him with a look. “Does that make me crazy?”

  “No,” he said without hesitation. “You made yourself. Why not name yourself?”

  “I think I kept his last name for so long out of respect for my mom and some weird hope that one day I'd make him proud. That I'd be worthy of it... or whatever. But I don't care anymore if I make him proud. I want to make myself proud. And I think I can only do that on my own. With my own name. ”

  Sway wished he had that much clarity in his decisions. He did, but not in a way he could really express out loud like she did. “You're my favorite person,” he said, clearly catching her off guard because she snorted.

  “Well, I have to turn the paperwork in back home. So, as soon as I hear back from Kelly, we can get out of here. And, a few days after that, I will no longer be Ryan Zacherson. And my dad can lick my butt.”

  “Just like that?”

  “I hope so,” she sighed. “Though I still don't know what to do about the rest of the crazies.”

  “Maybe nothing,” he suggested.

  “Maybe,” she said, but her face said different. “I wish I could just write them a check and have that be that. But they'll just want another one later. And as soon as they figure out I'm a writer, I'm sure they'll try to sue me for that, too.”

  “Maybe you can kill them off in your next novel.”

  Her eyebrows went up and her lips pursed as she thought it over. Her cell phone rang before she could reply.

  “Hello?... Really?” Her eyes flicked over to Sway. “Yeah, I should be able to be there in about thirty minutes... Okay, see you there.”

  She hung up and started walking to the door. “Kelly says that Amanda called and wants to discuss terms, sooner rather than later. I guess her liver took
a turn this morning.”

  “Whoa,” Sway said, following her outside.

  “This might be some kind of ploy to get me in the hospital and cry attempted murder, so who knows.”

  “But Kelly's meeting us there?” Sway asked, not liking the lead feeling in his stomach. He didn't trust Amanda one bit. And he trusted Vic less.

  They were almost to the car when Sway's phone rang. He unlocked the doors and put his phone to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Sway baby?”

  The lead in Sway's stomach turned to ice at the sound of Gran's voice. His heart started to beat unbelievably hard. “What is it Gran?” Ryan's head jerked up at the sound of his voice.

  “There's been an accident. Your mom and dad are...” She took a shaky breath. “You need to come home, honey.”

  “Are they...?” He couldn't finish the sentence.

  “No... But you're going to want to hurry.”

  “Okay. Love you, Gran.”

  “Love you, baby,” she said, her voice wavering.

  Disconnect.

  Sway looked across the roof of the car. “I have to go home.”

  Ryan nodded. “Let's go. Do you want me to drive?”

  “No,” Sway said, shaking his head. “You're almost finished here. You should stay and join me when you can.”

  Ryan stared at him silently. He couldn't tell what her expression meant, he was trying to figure out how to get a cab to take him to the airport. Pulling up the information on his phone, he didn't notice that Ryan came around to the other side. She closed her hand over his phone and his eyes went to hers.

  “Take the car. I'll take a cab.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “No,” she said, her eyes round with worry. “But you have to get home. And I'll be right behind you.”

  The sudden realization that he had to leave without her hit him. He wanted to change his mind and ask her to come with, but his first instinct had been right. She was almost done. She was so close to being able to finish this. Besides, what would a couple hours' difference really make?

  ***

  The last text Ryan received from Sway was right when he boarded the plane. It had started raining shortly after that. What was that expression? When it rains...?