“The same thing you did.”
She releases a labored sigh.“I don’t want to talk about it,” she says firmly.I catch the subtle warning in her voice.
I’m not going to push, but I need her to know that I’m here for her.“I just want you to know that whatever this is … I’m on your side.”
“I appreciate that.”She searches my face, but she doesn’t move closer, or reach for me.When the silence falls between us again, I know it’s time to leave.
That evening my father wants me to stand in for him.He’s supposed to attend a meeting in Boston, but tells me that he’s too tired to go away for a few days.He asks if I can go instead.
I don’t hesitate.If he’s not well, and he’s finally admitting to it, of course I’ll help wherever I can.
So I leave for Boston the next morning.
Chapter 35
MAYA
Seeing Paul Knight has been a huge shock to my system.
Fleur is worried about me.Katherine still sends me emails, even though I’m off sick from work.
I’m not physically sick, just mentally drained.I’ve been in a state of inertia.So much so that by the middle of the week, I still can’t face the thought of returning to work.
This isn’t like me.I love what I do, and it’s been easier since I started working on Zach’s mini-project … and yet, I can’t face him.Seeing him will bring up all the emotions I don’t want to face.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my mom and I feel bad that I haven’t gone to see her.I used to call her regularly, but ever since Zach and I got together, that has slipped.But now, ever since the night of the party, I’ve been calling her every day because I’ve needed to hear her voice.It grounds me.Talking to my mom makes me know that she’s okay, despite what she went through at the hands of that man.
If she’s okay, I will be, too.
I decide to give myself one more day at home, and tomorrow, I’ll go into work.I spend the morning flicking through magazines, reading, and watching TV.
It’s midday, and I’ve just had lunch, and am ready to get back to my psychological thriller when Zach sends me a text.
Zach: I’m in Boston, would you believe.
Boston?I wonder what he’s doing there.He’s been checking in on me daily, and throughout the day.I don’t always reply.Lately, I’ve started to have doubts about us.It would hurt him to know that.So I haven’t always replied to him, even if I always read his messages.Maybe him seeing that I’ve read them gives him some sort of reassurance that I’m okay.
I decide to reply.
Maya: What are you doing in Boston?
Zach: My dad sent me here on business
That sounds vague, but I’m not particularly interested in the details.He’s obviously doing whatever his father asks.I wonder if Paul Knight ever asks anything of the other sons, or if he just asks Zach each time?Watching the dynamics on the night of the party, I noticed the distance between him and his other sons.They barely spoke to him.
My mom and I are so close, that I can’t relate to the dysfunctional family Zach comes from.But then I wonder, is it so odd, given what I know about the man?If anything surely Zach’s behavior is even odder?
While he doesn’t know about what happened with my mom, he knows his father cheated on his mother, and had a secret family in another country, on another continent.Wouldn’t that make him think that his father was deceptive?As well as being a liar and a cheat?
What kind of son would look up to a man like that?
Zach’s relationship with his father, as messy and as complicated as it is, is the only thread he’s still holding onto.He wants to believe in a man who isn’t worthy of that faith.And I need to let him.
I’m about to curl up on the sofa with a good book when I hear a knock on the door.Zach?Hope flares inside me.Maybe Boston was a ruse.He’s not there, he’s here, at my door, surprising me.
I rush to the door, pausing for a few seconds to still the giddying butterflies in my stomach.Being apart has given me time to think, and I’m excited to see him again.I open the door, reining in the smile on my lips when—it’s not Zach I see.
It’s his father.
