"He will," she assured him. Then Cessily gestured toward the door. "Luke?"
I went that way first, allowing her to grab all of her things. All I carried was my own coffee cup, refusing to do anything to remove Cessily's power in front of those two. As soon as we left the room, a young lady jumped up from her desk and escorted us back to the main lobby. From there, we knew the way back to the car.
Neither of us said a word until we were once again headed down the road. Only then did Cess look over and ask, "What were you thinking, almost telling them you're in a polyamorous relationship?"
"What?" I asked.
"When you were tearing Meredith's head off," she said, turning back to the road. "You were about to say that you were with Violet because of something."
"Because I'm in love with her," I said. "Because she's strong and powerful, a good role model for my daughter. That's it, Cess. I'm not with her because I get to mess around. I'm with her because I can't imagine my life without her in it anymore. Trust me, I tried. When I saw her and Ash together, I thought they were a couple. Well, a normal one. I tried to end things, and I failed at it."
"She's dangerous, Luke," Cess warned.
I just nodded. "I know. I really do know that. I also know that she's a viper, but I'm still not scared. I've been stuck in the same rut long enough to know that when something this good comes along, you take the risk. She - and those men - might break me into a million pieces, but sometimes the journey means more than the ending." I looked out the window and smiled. "I learned that when Faith was born. As much trouble as I've had with Meredith, I wouldn't change a thing, because I really do love my daughter. I feel the same way about Violet. I'm getting there with Ash, and I have a feeling Cy isn't far behind."
"It's not going to be easy," she warned me.
"Never wanted easy. I want real, and this sure feels like it."
Chapter Fourteen
Ihad a little talk with Faith while Luke was in mediation. It wasn't a session. This was just a friendly discussion between two people who lived in the same house, but I did have an agenda. I wanted to prepare her for people at school knowing about the tapes, and brace her for the things that might be said about them.
Faith wasn't quite as innocent as she seemed, though. She knew about sex. She'd heard kids talk about fucking and blow jobs. She had the basic idea, but she was right at that cusp between knowing and truly understanding. The girl knew how babies were made - her mom had inadvertently made sure of it. But in the process of complaining about Luke, Meredith had also given Faith some screwed-up ideas about relationships.
Her parents had never been married. They'd broken up before she'd even been born, but single moms were pretty normal in her world. Devoted dads, however, were a lot less common. From the sounds of it, most of her friends had fathers who laid down the law and mothers who tried to make up for it. The other kids in her class were already worried about boyfriends and romance, but Faith? She was still stuck worrying about friends. Boys were on her radar, but only barely.
We finished when Luke got home, because she wanted to know everything about the mediation session with her mom. Aware I'd get a full report from someone, I took the chance to get out and clear my head. The cabins were our next project, and the last time I'd been down there, they'd been pretty miserable to walk inside. The least I could do was open a few windows and air them out. The weather was supposed to be "nice" for a few more weeks.
Granted, in Texas at this time of year, that meant hot and dry. It wasn't a bad walk down the hill to the student area, and took no more than a few minutes to get there. I stepped into the first cabin on this side, and decided this had been a good call. An inch of dust lay on top of everything. The beds had been stripped; the mattresses were covered, but would need to be replaced. The furniture still seemed to be ok, but the air was thick and stagnant.
Each cabin was basically one room, but set up in a studio-type layout. There was an alcove on either side of the door with a bed tucked into each one. Two kids per cabin. Most of the space was set up as a living area. There was a couch, a table, and two matched desks. Like the mattresses, the couch had been covered, and when I peeked under one, I thought we might be able to save it. We'd probably need to hire a company to come clean all the furniture, but that would be cheaper than replacing it and hauling off the old stuff.
I'd just made it to the third cabin when a whistle pierced the air. My lips curled into a smile as I recognized the sound. Turning back, I saw Darnell heading down the hill, just a bit too far to yell at. I lifted a hand to let him know I saw him, then headed in to open the windows. When I was done and back outside, Darnell was almost to me.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Hiding out here from something?"
"Just opening up the cabins to let them breathe a bit before we get stuck inside them," I promised.
Darnell headed for the next in the row and dropped his rump on the porch. "So," he said, tipping his head to make it clear I was expected to join him. "Saw you and that cowboy out riding yesterday. That monster horse works for you."
With a chuckle, I sat beside him and then leaned back. "Yep. We had a pretty good talk."
"You two back together?" he asked.
All I could do was sigh. "No. Yes?"
"As if that clears shit up." Darnell turned, scooting back so he could use the wall as a backrest. "Cy, what the fuck are you doing, man? I know you, brother. This? You're all over the fucking place, and doing it quietly doesn't mean you're not spinning around in circles in your head."
"Yeah," I agreed, turning to match him.
The little alcove for the door meant we were both in the shade, which helped with the heat. The position also made me a little nostalgic. We'd spent many days just like this, wasting away the hours talking about shit and figuring things out. Darnell had listened to me back then too.
"I forgave him, you know," I finally said.
"Kinda figured that out when I saw you two behind the barn. There's some serious chemistry there." He thrust out his lower lip and nodded. "But now you gotta be good? What's that doing to you?"
"They're talking to me, so I get it," I promised. "I'm ok."
