“In mediation. The woman who divorced me isn’t the woman I married, Devyn. I don’t want to say the money changed her because it’s not true—she wasn’t like that. She enjoyed the parties and the clothes. She liked redecorating the penthouse every year. She liked the lifestyle, but I think if my company hadn’t taken off, if I would have just stayed a run-of-the-mill businessman, she would have been happy too. She’s not a bad person.”
“No, she only left a man who loved her high and dry. Do you still?”
“Do I still what?” I lose the question in the anger flashing in her eyes. Devyn fights for what she believes in, will stand by the people who mean something to her. That’s integrity, that’s honor. That’s why she’s a good reporter. That’s why she’s a good sister. When she marries, it will be for life.
No matter what.
“Love her.”
“I wouldn’t be with you if I did.” I pause, let my fingers skim along her arm. “I lied, you know.”
She leans into me. “About what?”
“It wasn’t just anybody. I know in the end it’s not going to work out, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish it would. It would have been nice to have more time, that’s all. Come here.”
She snuggles between my legs and rests her head on my chest. I wrap my arms around her. Tomorrow, she’ll be free to go. I’ll have to watch her drive away knowing she won’t come back.
She’ll have good intentions, promise to visit when a free moment pops up, or when she and Talia are on their way out of town, but she wouldn’t let me support them while she looked for something different and she’s too driven not to want to work.
“I spoke to Newsom this morning,” I say, brushing my knuckles back and forth along her spine.
“What for? Did you tell him I was bothering you?”
“Not exactly. I asked him about Stevie and Sweet, and he told me how that played out. He said he tried to keep you on, if that means anything.”
“About as much as Walt saying he’s trying. It all comes down to fear and money, but then, I can’t blame them. Why make an enemy if you don’t have to? If I never see Stevie again it will be too soon. I just want to forget she breathes the same air I do and get on with my life. She’s taken so much from my family, all for money, for power. Talia will always have that noose around her neck, and we’ve lost our mother.” Her hair tickles my chest as she speaks, and the top of her head grazes my jaw when she looks up at me. “Don’t waste your life hiding here, Rick. You can do more than this.”
“I don’t want anything more than what I have.”
“Why? Don’t you want to know what caused the accident?”
“I know what caused the accident. The crane sat on shaky ground. It had rained the day before, and the earth shifted. The crane toppled over. I should have postponed the lift, waited for the ground to dry out. I’d been in a hurry because we were behind, and good men lost their lives that day. OSHA investigated, and they cleared me. I couldn’t have known the earth was going to move, literally, under my feet. Haven’t you watched the footage?”
Devyn sits up. “They filmed it?”
“Sure. A big lift like that, it was a major piece of the building. That night, we had plans to go out and celebrate. The crew was looking forward to throwing back a few beers. It was a big deal, and the OSHA rep recorded it on his phone. After the accident, more clips popped up online—pedestrians who stopped to watch but started filming after they realized something bad was going down. It’s all over social media, just Google it.”
“Have you watched it?” she asks, rolling off the bed.
“I don’t want to watch it. I lived it. Where are you going?”
“I have to go to the bathroom, and I need coffee. Why?” She gives me an impish smile as she tugs on her pajamas. She knows I want to spend the afternoon in bed.
“I’m not done with you yet.”
“I’ll come back. I promise.”
She dashes from the room, and I miss her already.
Fuck. After she leaves, I’m going to have to do something or missing her will eat me alive.
Reluctantly, I yank on my own clothes and follow.
In the kitchen, I trap her in my arms and breathe her in, memorizing this moment, her hands under my t-shirt, her lips roaming along my neck. I sear these precious seconds into my brain. Winter has just begun, and they’ll be the only things that will keep me warm.