“You’re misremembering, peanut. I’m not the one who broke things off.”
“Oh my God, no one has called me peanut in years. I’m not a little kid anymore.” Michelle rolled her eyes. “And yeah, she dumped you, but you went to prison.”
“Not on purpose. I got out as soon as I could.”
“Yeah, well, she hated having to break it off with you anyway. It really hurt her that you weren’t what she thought you were.”
“I understand that.” William repositioned his legs and fetched a red crayon that Evie was reaching for. “I’ve been understanding that for three years. Not a lot else to do in a prison cell. Read, when they let you. Push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups. Stew in your own bad decisions.”
Michelle went quiet and, for a while, they just watched Evie adding layer after layer to the “picture” she was drawing.
“She has amazing artistic sense,” William said.
“Don’t be a jerk,” Michelle laughed.
“I’m not. Much. I’ve moved a lot of art in my time. Some of it doesn’t look as good as this. Some of it looked quite so literally like trash that it’s gotten tossed in the bin by the cleaning crew at the museum.”
“Yeah, I feel that. We have to take a lot of art history and contemporary art classes just to do graphic design, and not all of it is worth the paper or whatever it’s made from.” Michelle shrugged. “Okay, are you sticking around? It’s my turn to make dinner, so…”
“I’ll stay so you can do that. I’ve committed this much time.” William brushed his fingers against Evie’s hair. “Peanut? Is her…” He tilted his head to Evie. “Is he around?”
Michelle sucked in her cheeks. “I mean, I guess you could say he’s around. There’s no ring on Anne’s finger though.”
William didn’t have to look for a tell to know that Michelle was hiding something. Michelle didn’t have tells; she didn’t have any compulsion about lying her face off. At any given moment, she could be hedging her words, telling you the cold hard facts, or boldfaced lying. He didn’t envy the person who fell in love with Michelle. Things were complicated enough with Anne and her strict code of ethics.
“That must be difficult, without a fellow around to help out,” William said.
Michelle shrugged. “Mom managed.”
Then she disappeared into the kitchen without further comment. William thought, though, that the memories of Anne’s absent father probably made it harder regarding Evie’s father not being in their lives. He doubted Anne was looking for a substitute like William, unfortunately.
***
Anne entered the house to the sounds of pounding steps and delighted screams. She shut the door just as Evie came squealing past, and then, her heart jumped into her throat when William came up behind Evie, swept her into his arms, and blew a raspberry on her cheek.
Anne would have sooner expected to see proof of alien life than William running around in his undershirt and wrinkled trousers, hugging a wriggly toddler and making rude noises against her cheek. The sight made it hard for Anne to breathe. As odd as it was, Evie fit perfectly in William’s arms, and Anne had never seen him smile so widely. Never.
“Mommy!” Evie yelled.
“Hullo, mummy,” William said. He shifted Evie, so she rested on his hip.
“Hello,” Anne said stiffly. “Where’s Michelle? Why are you here?”
“Michelle’s in her room studying,” William answered. “Everyone’s had dinner. Laundry is done. Michelle’s doing, not mine, and this one is, I hope, getting worn down a bit before you have to put her to bed. I wasn’t sure what your schedule was.”
Anne set her bag down, the strange feeling in her chest seeming to expand. Her hands and feet were beginning to tingle. He was inside her house, playing with her daughter, and it was fine. Evie looked happy.
“Look, Anne,” William said quietly. “I came by to drop off your dress and maybe talk. This sort of happened, and I thought I’d stick around until you got home, just in case anyone needed anything. It’s always easier to have another set of hands around, yeah? She’s fine.”
Anne didn’t know what to say. She was grateful, of course. She’d gotten Kristie’s texts after getting out of a meeting with all of the detectives discussing their case and how they were to proceed, but she had assumed from the last text, “it’s covered,” that Michelle had made it home. Not that Kristie had left Evie with a stranger.
William might be Evie’s father, but he was also a stranger, to both Kristie and to Evie.