“We’re heading to the beach for a stroll, then serving cocktails before dinner. Would you like to join us?”
“I’ll join you for drinks but pass on the beach.” He looked at his feet, fond memories of the shore battling the uncertainty of balancing in the sand on a stilt.
CHAPTER 49
ANOTHER WAY TO DIE
Orchid
“Not going well, huh?” Caleb asked Orchid, dropping next to the spot where she moped on the living room sofa. Her side of the cushion bounced up as if he’d sat on the opposite side of a seesaw.
Her voice quavered. “He doesn’t want to listen. I can’t even get three sentences out. I haven’t been able to apologize for what I said at the hospital, and I feel terrible about that. How could I keep making him mad?”
“It’s a tough situation.”
“He looks so good. He’s doing well, right?”
“Tough to say. He doesn’t really talk about it. But I don’t blame him for that. I’ve been there with him through all this, and I still don’t know how I’d react if it were me.”
“Me either. But I do know I’d want him with me every second I was in the hospital. I couldn’t imagine pushing him away. I’d be the most selfish person.”
“Maybe. But you know he’s strong. He probably thought it’d be too much for you.”
“Did you see how he looked at us when he arrived?”
“Like I’d tattooed him in his sleep?”
“More like he’d seen a ghost.”
“Embodied in you,” he said, chuckling darkly.
“I’m so tired,” she said, leaning against him and closing her eyes. “Probably from the bike ride, the sun . . . ”
“The guy who hates you,” Caleb said, adding to her list.
Orchid must’ve drifted off to sleep. The hubbub of people returning from the beach woke her. She picked up her head from Caleb’s chest and opened her eyes to look into . . . Phoenix’s glare as he stood facing the two of them.
“How cozy,” he said, hand balling into a fist.
She jumped up to her feet to follow him as he headed towards the stairs. “Phoenix, can we talk? Please?”
She was so close behind him when he whirled that she stepped back in surprise. His eyes burned her with disdain.
“How. Dare. You?” he asked. “How dare you show your face here, with my family? Do you feel no shame? I thought you were lots of things. You fooled me into thinking you were kind and innocent. But now, the way you’re flaunting yourself, I don’t even recognize you.”
Shame flamed her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to talk with you. To tell you I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. In the hospital, I wasn’t thinking—”
Holding the railing to traverse the steps, he moved more quickly than she’d expect. He was already halfway down the stairs. “That homeless guy at least had the decency to leave me alone.”
His accusation, flung at her up the reverberating stairwell, took a moment to sink in, then snatched her breath.I’m worse than the guy who took his limbs. I should have just left him alone.She looked down at the empty landing.
He was gone.
She turned, almost falling into the solid mass of Caleb behind her. Betsy stood between her boys, mouth agape.
The front door flew open. A gentleman’s booming voice filled the room. “Hell of a flight delay. But now I’ve brought the lovely Veronica, and it’s cocktail hour!”
He stopped, looking around at the frozen faces.
