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“Hey,” I say when I find her and lean my shoulder against the doorframe.
Turning around with a clothes hanger in her hands, she says, “Well, look what the cat dragged in. How are you, sugar?”
“I’ve been better.”
She lays aside the hanger to give me a hug, and I nearly break down.
When she lets me go, she says, “You’ve certainly looked better. What’s the matter?”
“I’m… Everything is so messed up, and Dad is being…Dad. I just wanted to let you know that I’m leaving.”
“You’re leaving?”
“I applied for a job several weeks ago and got an interview but didn’t go because of the craziness here. Turns out they’re still looking for an assistant to the financial director, so…”
“So you may have a job?”
“Maybe.”
“Well, that’s wonderful, Lyla!”
“I’ll be an assistant to the head honcho of an animal rescue…in Atlanta.”
“Atlanta?” she exclaims in surprise. “You’re moving?”
“If I get the job, then yes, I’m moving. I probably won’t know for a while, but the interview is the day after tomorrow. I just wanted to come and say goodbye, and I wanted to ask if you know who this man is. Or was.” I pull the folded-up piece of paper with his mug shot and inmate information out of my purse to show her.
Grandma takes the page from me and examines it silently for several long moments.
“No, I don’t know him. Am I supposed to?”
My shoulders slump in disappointment because I know she’s being completely honest. She would never lie to me, unlike my father and Barrett.
“I was hoping you would recognize him or know what connectionhe has to dad. He was the man who was after me. I don’t know why.”
“I’m sorry, sugar. I wish I could help you. Want me to try and pry it out of my son?”
Smiling at her, I say, “You can try, but it probably won’t work.”
“I’ll try my best,” she promises. “You be careful on the road. Are you taking Holly with you?”
“I can’t ask her to miss work, but there’s someone who might be willing to come with me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Barrett
“What are you doing in here drinking alone in the afternoon?” Greer asks when he slides a beer in front of me.
“I fucked up with Lyla.”
“Can you unfuck it?”
“I don’t know. It’s complicated. She’s upset because I kept something from her, but if I tell her the truth, it’ll destroy her.”
“So you’re keeping a secret from her for her own good?”
“Exactly. But she doesn’t believe that.”
