Whatever diatribe the woman had been about to aim at Lillian fizzled and died as her attention redirected sharply to Cal.
“A park ranger?” she said. “What’s a park ranger doing here? And what do you have to do with the fact that my daughter didn’t come home last night?”
Lillian had been right. She was speaking as though “her daughter” was fifteen, not in her mid-thirties.
“I called you and let you know, Mom, remember?” Lillian intervened. “There’s been a problem and I’m going to be away for a couple of days. How about we go inside and we can talk about it.”
Mrs. Lowell’s eyes narrowed, but she allowed it. Cal noted that Lillian hadn’t actually promised to explain anything, only to talk about it—which was likely unavoidable anyway.
He had a feeling she was very, very used to playing these kinds of verbal games with her mother.
Inside, Lillian’s father was nowhere in sight. Mrs. Lowell turned on them immediately. “Now. Tell me what’s going on.”
“There’s been a problem with Lew, Mom,” Lillian said. “He needs some help. I have to leave for a couple of days while it gets sorted out.”
She kept moving as she spoke, heading for the stairs. Mrs. Lowell hurried up after her, with Cal following behind, again impressed at how Lillian, without ever lying, managed to sound like she was explaining the situation without giving up any real information.
“A problem with Lew?” Mrs. Lowell pressed. “What sort of problem? Why does he see the need to intrude on your life after two years? How many more problems can he even have to cause? And why on earth do you have to leave to take care of it?”
“It’ll just be easier, Mother,” Lillian said in a calm, patient tone. She’d opened a door into a simply-furnished room, unearthed an overnight bag from a closet, and begun to pack it. Cal politely turned his back; he doubted any woman wanted a man she’d just met watching her take out her underthings and personal items.
“Easier?” Mrs. Lowell repeated. “To deal with this problem without your family alongside you? Nonsense. Tell me what happened, and we’ll address it together.”
“I don’t want to get you involved, Mom.” Cal could see out of the corner of his eye that Lillian was packing with quick, efficient movements.
“I’m already involved, I’m your mother,” said Mrs. Lowell. Then she frowned suddenly, and her attention transferred from Lillian to Cal. “And who is this? Why does a park ranger ha
ve to be involved? Has Lew somehow caused some problems out in the wilderness?”
“He’s just helping me out, Mom,” Lillian said.
She was obviously so very, very practiced at this. Her voice was pleasant but bland. Her expression, when Cal had been looking at it, had been absolutely composed. She moved purposefully but without too much haste, so it was clear she was occupied but not that she was determined to get in and out of this house as quickly as she possibly could.
It was a masterful performance. And it made Cal’s chest ache. To have to keep up a face like this in your own home...to know that if you showed weakness, it would be pounced on, and if you put up a boundary, it would be trampled over. To maintain a constant performance just to be able to go about your life, and knowing that you would be imposed upon no matter what...
“I thought you were going to stop using that face cream,” Mrs. Lowell interrupted the argument abruptly. She snatched it out of Lillian’s hand. “That’s the kind I read the article about. It’s supposed to be bad for your skin, remember? You never remember the things I tell you, I keep saying you should see the doctor about your memory.”
Lillian said, “I’m sorry, Mom, I forgot. I’ll buy a different brand next time.”
It was funny. On the outside, that was the sentence of someone who was cowed, who obeyed her mother in all things. But Cal knew, because he was here at all, that Lillian didn’t. She was prioritizing. The face cream didn’t matter when put next to the larger matter at hand.
But it still meant that she was smiling and apologizing while her mother grabbed her things and accused her of being mentally deficient.
It took a strength Cal could barely envision. At least when you were overseas, you got to acknowledge to everyone else that it was awful. Here, Lillian had to smile and pretend that everything was just fine, even though she was deep in enemy territory, that much was clear. Undercover in her own life.
Help her, his leopard growled.
He would. Somehow, he was going to solve this problem in a way that freed Lillian from this—this repression of herself.
“So why are you here?” Mrs. Lowell looked at Cal with a clear-eyed hostility that said she didn’t appreciate this threat to her absolute control of her daughter.
“Just helping out, ma’am,” he said blandly.
As much as he would’ve liked to give her a piece of his mind, it seemed best to follow Lillian’s lead for the moment: politely vague and unhelpful. After all, they did have a bigger problem at hand.
But Cal had marked her: her days as a petty dictator were numbered.
“Lillian,” Mrs. Lowell said in a steely tone, without taking her eyes off of Cal, “That monster who kidnapped Teri is a park ranger, isn’t he?”