Ties That Bind (7 page)

“Jesus, what’s the matter with her?” Reese asked. “She’s slow and breathing hard.”

“This is so not her.”

They said the same thing after the two hundred yard dash and the five hundred meter relay. Sofie performed terribly. It was so unlike the star athlete she’d always been.

“Damn it…she’s pale and exhausted, and obviously isn’t sleeping. Something’s going on.” Reese stared out the field, then pointed off to the side. “Kate, look.”

Sofie jogged over to the sidelines, opposite of where they sat.

If parents could paint of picture of the worst candidate to court their daughter, the guy Sofie ran to was it. He was too old for her. He wore a leather coat, even though the weather didn’t call for it. And he was smoking a cigarette. Kate bet they’d find tattoos and piercings if they were up close.

“Oh, my God,” she said when the guy leaned down and gave Sofie a very adult kiss.

“Great.” Reese yanked off his hat and threw it on the ground. “Another thing to deal with. Damn it, is nothing going to go right with this kid again?”

Kate didn’t respond to that query. She was feeling even more like a terrible mother. Though Reese had often seen her at her worst, this was taking the cake.

o0o

WHEN SOFIE BOUNDED downstairs after getting cleaned up, Reese groaned, then rose from where he sat on the couch in the common room of the Connor Prep dorm. Kate had gone to use the ladies’ room, thank God. He crossed directly to his daughter.

Kissing her on the forehead, he made sure his tone was soft and coaxing. “This isn’t going to happen, honey.”

She pointed her chin in a gesture very much like her mother affected when she was feeling contrary. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve never seen you dressed in all black like this when I came to visit before.” He swiped at the inky lipstick on her mouth. “Or wearing this crap.”

“I…it’s a new style.”

“Adopted just for your mom, I’d guess.”

Her eyes—his color—flamed. “What do you care, after how she hurt you?”

“The divorce was mutual.”

“My ass.”

“Sofie…”

A mutinous teenage glare.

“I mean it, Sof. Go change into something normal.”

She stomped away. He watched her go, remembering when she was little and they’d dressed her in pink dresses and lacy bonnets. Her dark curls had peeked out from under the brim.

In a few minutes, Kate returned. “Isn’t she back yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“What were you thinking about? You had an odd expression on your face.”

“When she was little.”

A smile. “She was so beautiful.”

“I know. I thought—”

“Okay, I’m here.” Reese turned to find Sofie dressed in jeans and a Calvin Klein T-shirt under a baggy blazer. “I’m hungry,” she said, her tone surly.

“Me, too.” Kate leaned over and slid an arm around Sofie’s shoulders.

Their daughter stiffened and drew away. Kate’s face fell, and once again Reese felt compelled to comfort Kate as he had earlier. This time, though, he refrained.

After a stilted meal of hamburgers and French fries and cokes, Reese broached the subject of Anna Bingham. “Sofie, we need to talk to you.”

For a minute, the little girl of his heart returned. Her face suffused with such naked vulnerability, he reached for her hand. “It’s not that bad, honey.”

“You’re not sick, Daddy?” Her gaze swung to Kate. “Mama?” Yes, there was the real Sofie.

“No, honey, we’re not sick.” From the other side, Kate briefly squeezed her shoulder. “But we have a professional problem that you need to know about.”

“You don’t work together anymore.”

“No, it’s from when we did.”

Reese told her about the case.

“That sucks,” she said after he finished. “And it’s stupid. You wouldn’t cheat on your wife.”

How to answer this? Though he was innocent on this charge, he had been unfaithful.

Kate stepped in. “Your dad did not sleep with Anna Bingham. Her accusations are a lie. This has hit the papers, honey, so we didn’t want you to hear about it from anybody else. Or wait till you came home next weekend for your birthday.”

“Are your jobs gonna be all right?”

They’d always tried to be honest with her. “We’re worried about the damage to our reputations. What could happen with our careers.”

She looked at her father. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“Us, too. We don’t want you to worry about it. We just thought you should know.”

“Okay.”

His daughter turned to Kate. The hopeful look on Kate’s face practically broke his heart. But Sofie didn’t seem affected. Instead, she went on the offensive. “So, you gonna use this against him?”

Kate jolted back from the emotional slap.

Reese said, “Sofie…”

“No, I’ll answer. I wouldn’t use anything against your father, Sofie.”

“Oh, come on. You took him to the cleaners in the divorce.”

Kate sent Reese an accusatory look. “Did you tell her that?”

His hand hit the table, making the dishes dance. “Of course not.”

Sofie rolled her eyes and gave that infuriating teenage cluck of her mouth.

Reese said, “Let’s not go over all this again. We’ve been through it so many times. Can’t we get past the blame?”

“Sure, fine.” Sofie glared at him now. Then her face brightened. “Oh, look, there’s Jax.”

“You invited him to join us?” Kate asked tightly.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”

Reese stared at the boy as he approached them. He had a tattoo on his forehead, and several earrings in his ears. When his jacket pulled away, a studded dog collar became apparent.

Just what they needed. The ending to a perfect visit.

o0o

KATE STRODE AHEAD of Reese to car. She couldn’t deal with the fact that her own child hated her. And right now she was very afraid that she was going to turn to her ex-husband for comfort, which would be a total disaster.

When she reached his Mustang, Reese came up behind her. It was dark out now, but the parking lot was illuminated by lamps. Kate shivered into the cold April evening, despite the wool blazer she’d donned. He didn’t touch her, thank God, but tried to soothe her with words. “Sofie’ll come around.”

Kate felt tears moisten her eyes. She fought them back with the verve of an emotional gladiator.

“It’s a phase,” he continued. “She’s mad at us, she’ll get over it.”

His words calmed her. Finally Kate gained some control, turned and looked up into his sympathetic face. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m so emotional about this. I thought I was dealing with it better.”

“Things have been tough lately, with this Bingham accusation. Sofie’s behavior just makes everything worse.” He moved closer. She would have stepped back but the car was behind her. Slowly, he raised his hand and brushed a thumb under her eye. “Didn’t sleep much last night, either, did you?”

Her breath caught at his touch—so slight, but the very first one since the divorce. She had to clear her throat before she could answer. “N-no.”

“Me, either.” He was staring down at her.

She stared back at him. Suddenly, a different kind of tension rose between them.

He focused on her lips.

She licked them.

He froze.

So did she. You don’t want to do this, she told herself.

His face darkened and he moved forward a millimeter. Still he said nothing. She watched him for a minute, forcing herself to remember those last few years were horrible. The final one hauntingly grim. She couldn’t bring that darkness back to their lives. She couldn’t risk hurting her daughter even more by acting foolishly. She was needy, but she would not seek solace in Reese. Who knew where that would lead?

So she straightened her shoulders and sidled around him, circling the hood of the Mustang to get to the passenger door. Reese stayed where he was for a moment, then slapped his hand on the hood, making her jump. She didn’t look at him as he fished out his keys and popped the locks. Kate slid inside the car, wordlessly, as he did. And when he started the engine, his scent surrounded her. She forced herself remember that scent, during one of the blackest, bleakest moment of their lives together…

“I have to tell you something,” she’d said that night she’d confessed all, erroneously thinking he would forgive her. She should have known, because things had been so bad, baring her soul was the wrong thing to do.

“Let me guess. “ They were in their bedroom, in the farmhouse she’d loved, and he yanked off his tie mercilessly. “The judgeship came through.” The infamous judgeship that had proved to be the last wedge between them.

“No, it’s too soon for that.”

His eyes narrowed. “Something with Sofie?” She’d been almost ten at the time.

“No, Reese, it’s about us.”

He’d cocked his head. He’d looked haggard already. Just wait.

“I did something today.” She’d started to cry then. Tears she’d suppressed all afternoon coursed down her cheeks.

She watched him try to resist. Finally, he crossed to her and took her in his arms. He felt so safe, so secure. The smell of his woodsy aftershave calmed her. “It can’t be that bad.”

“It is.”

She felt him stiffen. Then he asked wrenchingly, “You didn’t go to another man, did you?” They hadn’t been getting along for months.

She shook her head. It was beginning to pound with migraine force.

“Then it’ll be okay. I know things between us have been bad. I’ve been thinking we should get that counseling you suggested. I was being pigheaded about it.”

“If you still want to, after I tell you.”

His hand had caressed her hair like she was some rare and precious artifact. “I will.”

Pulling back she faced him squarely. She remembered now how his sage-colored eyes were soft and loving. How his mouth gave her an encouraging smile. He wore his hair shorter then, but it complemented his exquisite, angular face.

She said starkly, “I had an abortion today.”

It took him a minute. His brow furrowed and his chin angled. With a lawyer’s calm, he whispered, “You were pregnant?”

She nodded.

His hands gripped her shoulders. “You didn’t tell me.”

“After I found out, I tried to talk to you. On several occasions. We just started yelling at each other, and I couldn’t bring this up then.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true.”

“Even if it is, you went ahead and killed my baby?”

“I—” She started weeping then. “I was so angry at you for pushing me. For saying those awful things.”

“I was pushing you to have another child with me. All the while you were pregnant.”

She just stared at him. And she’d known, in that instant, things would never be the same again.

“How far along were you?” he asked.

“Just a few weeks.”

“I can’t believe you’re capable of doing something like this.”

What could she say? A good lawyer went on the defensive. But when you’d already tried and convicted yourself, it was hard to feign innocence. “I was confused. Hurt. But I knew as soon as I did it that it was a mistake not to have talked to you first, worked it out with you before I…”

He’d gripped her hard enough so that he’d left bruises; she discovered them the next day. “This was not a mistake. This was a crime.”

“I know it hurts. Please, give me a chance to make it up to you. Maybe…”

“You can’t make up for this. You committed a heinous act that you can never make up for.”

“No, Reese, no. It didn’t seem like that at the time. You yourself have argued that. Have fought for women to have the right to choose.”

“That’s not the same thing. You knew how I felt about this issue for us.”

“Reese, please…”

He stepped back then, shrugging her off like a leper. “I will never, ever, forgive you for this.” He’d turned then, and walked out. He’d stayed away for three days. It had been the beginning of the end….

TYLER SIPPED HIS coffee as he stared out the window of his clapboard house and watched the wind whip around his small backyard, making the newly budded leaves tremble. In downstate New York, April could be mild or brutal, depending on her whim, and this Sunday morning, she’d chosen not to be kind.

Just like Kaitlyn. Damn her. She knew he wanted to see her, knew he wanted a call or, better yet, for her to spend the night with him when she returned from seeing her daughter. But she’d done neither. He guessed she went home and crashed. He hoped nothing of significance had happened between her and Bishop. That was something he feared every single time she and her ex had cause to be together.

“You’re pathetic, Sloan,” he told himself. Why didn’t he just ditch this relationship? He could find a dozen women who would treat him better.

Hell. Dropping down into a chair at the butcher-block table by the window, he picked up today’s Herald. He was drinking his coffee when he turned to the local section and sputtered the brew all over the paper. He had to wipe off the article to read it. There were headlines: BISHOP AND RENADO HAVE NO COMMENT. Beneath that banner were head shots of Kaitlyn and Reese, retrieved, most likely, from the paper’s files on newsworthy people in Westwood. Then there was text, which didn’t say anything new, just that the New Jersey police were investigating the incident and neither Reese nor Kaitlyn would talk to reporters.

But it was another picture of them that grated on Tyler’s already raw nerves. Apparently taken when they were still together: They were dancing; he could identify Westwood’s Civic Center in the background. Bishop wore a tux and looked young. Kaitlyn sported a form-fitting black beaded dress that made Tyler’s mouth water. The two of them were staring at each other like they were alone, in love, and couldn’t care less about what was going on around them.

Fuck!!!! He wasn’t going to do this! To get her out of his head, he picked up the phone. After three rings, a sultry, cultured voice answered, “Hello, darling.”

“Hi, Mom. Caller ID?”

“For my only son, of course. How are you, Tyler?”

He thought about lying. But he never could dissemble with this woman, not when he hid frogs in his pocket, when he skipped school in junior high or even when she asked, while he was in high school, if he was sexually active. “I am not good, Mom.”