Lights Out (31 page)

Joe needed to talk to someone. He had just left his attorney. He headed to Reye’s, hoping she’d be there. It was after lunch, two hours before school was out, so she would be free of children. He pulled up to her center, and her truck was parked outside. He walked over to the front door and knocked.

“Hey,” she said, opening the door a few minutes later.

“Hey,” he replied, stepping in. “Got a moment?”

“Always for you,” she said.

“I just came back from the attorney’s office,” he said.

“Oh,” she replied, her face turning serious. “Have a seat,” she said, moving to the couch. He followed, sitting down beside her. “So what did he say?”

“Nothing. I don’t have anything to worry about. The court views my sister’s abandonment of Shane as a break in the mother-child relationship, which would overrule any tendency they might have had to rule in the mother’s favor.

“Under these circumstances, the court typically decides custody based on what it finds is in the best interest of the child. And since Shane is with me, making good grades, happy, involved in outside activities, it would be highly unlikely that they’d give custody to her.”

“That’s a load off,” Reye said.

“Yes, it is, but he also strongly suggested that I consider allowing Meghan to visit Shane—supervised, of course. It was his experience from numerous years at this, blah, blah, blah…that children seldom get beyond the loss of a parent, and if I could, I should try to help repair their relationship, or at least not impede it. I should give her some time to prove herself either way.”

“Have you talked to Shane?”

“No.”

“Are you going to?”

“At some point, yes,” he replied.

“Give it some time,” Reye said, reaching for his hand, holding on to it tightly.

* * *

First week of May

Piper sat in her office waiting for her dad to show up. They were going to talk though the preliminary plans for adding some additional shops. She didn’t have much else to do. Might as well put her time into creating something. If it couldn’t be a family, maybe her business could be her empire, her new family. It was an inadequate substitution, in her humble opinion. It sure wouldn’t feel like Joe did, with his body next to hers. Couldn’t call her Renee in that way of his or listen to her as she rambled on in her usual way. Couldn’t make her laugh, or tease her, but she couldn’t have everything.

Where was Joe, anyway? It had been almost a month now. He hadn’t called—not once—to check in with her. She was having an angry moment again. He’d just disappeared. Hadn’t called to see how she was after the girls had gone. Hadn’t they been friends? Guess not. She apparently had just been only Renee, the woman he’d wanted from the start.

She’d called quite a bit at first. He hadn’t answered, the coward. She’d gotten herself under control and stopped. Okay, she called one other time, to talk; her emotions had taken control of her body. She hadn’t been able to keep herself from dialing the number. He was busy at work. His voiced rushed. He’d found a sitter for Shane, school was almost out, so Shane would be heading back to Reye’s. He said he hadn’t called her, hadn’t wanted to bother her now that the girls were gone.

That was so nice of him. Guess he’d decided to move on. All signs pointed that way, however abrupt his decision had been. She should move on, too.

* * *

Joe had left Shane with a sitter for the evening and was now in his car driving toward Meghan and her husband’s home. He had called earlier in the week and agreed to have dinner with them tonight. Although he hadn’t dreaded this meeting, he hadn’t looked forward to it, either. He didn’t want to go alone. Piper would go with you. Where had that thought come from? Who was he kidding? He’d thought of her often and he’d missed her plenty. Piper lived in his brain, swam around in his waking thoughts, simmered just under his skin while her counterpart, Renee, hounded his dreams.

Meghan and Shane were all he could take in emotionally. He wanted to resolve it alone, as he’d always done things, but this evening he found himself turning around and driving back to her shop, taking a chance that she’d be there. He parked and walked in.

“Is Piper here?” he asked.

“Nope. Not today,” an employee—one of her usual clueless student workers—said.

“Thanks,” he said. He turned around and walked back to his car, and then found himself heading toward her home, not willing to relinquish the idea of asking her to come with him. He parked in front of her home and walked to the front door and knocked, while checking his watch. He was met with silence. No barking of dogs. They were gone and so were the girls, he remembered. He’d been so wrapped up in himself, he’d forgotten.

“Hey,” he said, when she opened the door. Surprise registered on her face first, quickly followed by hurt. She didn’t say anything.

“I’m heading over to see my sister—my first time—and to meet her husband,” he said. Then he stopped and looked around, clearly uncomfortable. “To…talk about Shane,” he said, his eyes dead on hers now. “Would you come with me? I’m in need of a friend. I know it’s short notice.” It looked like it was killing him to ask her.

“I’ll come. Just give me a second,” she said, walking up the stairs. He stepped inside the door, closing it behind him, looking around at her home. He smiled. Music was playing. Piper and her music, another constant.

It took her less than ten minutes and they were on their way.

“Thanks,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” she said, but didn’t say much else.

“How have you been?” he asked.

“Fine.”

“How are your sisters?”

“Fine.”

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugged her shoulders and continued to stare out the window. “How’s Shane?” she asked.

“Good. He’s been to your dad’s apartment. He and Taylor are truly inseparable.”

“So I’ve heard,” she said. Her smile was weak, and she was back to looking out the window. “Does your sister live far from here?”

“No, we’re almost there.”

She nodded and looked out the window again. He was quiet the remainder of the trip. Ten minutes later Joe parked alongside the curb before a small, neat home. They were in one of the older neighborhoods located east of town, where homes were made from wood and sat on pier and beam, not concrete foundations like the newer models. It was painted white, trimmed in a pretty forest green. There were flowers around the front porch, which had been painted a light grey.

Piper got out and met Joe as he walked around the front of the car. They both made their way to the front door. Joe knocked. He was tense. Piper could tell from the stiffness of his posture.

The door opened. It was answered by a tall, on-the-skinny-side black guy. She was surprised. Her eyes darted to Joe. He was just as surprised as she was.

“You must be Joe,” he said, sticking out his hand. “I’m Aaron. Married to your sister. She’s in the shower. Spent too much time in the kitchen making sure dinner was just the way she wanted. I’ve learned to get out of her way,” he said, smiling and stepping back to allow them entry.

“This is Piper,” Joe said.

“Nice to meet you, Piper,” Aaron said, extending his hand to hers.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she said.

“You two have a seat and I’ll go let Meghan know you’re here,” he said, pointing toward what must be the living room while he walked away.

They both sat on the couch, looking around. It was nice and clean in here, not fancy—chair, sofa, rug on the floor. Several portraits hung on the wall.

“Your sister’s married?” she asked, turning to look at Joe, whose mind was a million miles away. She reached for his hand and squeezed it, not knowing if that would help. He squeezed back.

A few minutes later, Aaron and Meghan entered.

“I’m so glad Joe brought you with him,” she said, reaching for Piper’s hands.

“Me too,” Piper replied.

“Are you two ready for dinner?” she asked.

“Yes,” Joe and Piper answered in unison.

* * *

Dinner had been uneventful. Aaron, Piper, and Meghan had done most of the talking with the occasional input from Joe, who had chosen to play the closed-off role. They returned to the living room again after dinner for coffee. Piper had inhaled her slice of cake—lemon and light—one of her favorites.

“So, I’ve met with my attorney,” Joe said, cutting into the chit-chat, getting to the reason for their dinner. He was about as subtle as a bull in a china closet, and all idle talk ceased.

“Okay,” Meghan said, startled and wary. Her husband looked at Piper and gave her a reassuring smile.

“What is it that you want, Meghan?” he asked.

“As I explained to you at your home, I would like to get to visit and get to know my son,” she said, working to get her anxiety under control.

“For…” Joe asked, not nice anymore. Not that he’d been nice to begin with, but he’d been somewhat cordial. Now he was the police interrogating a suspect.

“There is no reason to be hostile,” Aaron said, more calm than Piper would have been under the circumstances.

“I’m not hostile. I want you to know that I will protect Shane from ever getting hurt or abandoned again.”

Meghan put her hand on her husband’s shoulder, a calming gesture. “I understand, Joe. I haven’t spoken to a lawyer yet. I wanted to see if we couldn’t come up with a resolution before we went to court. I don’t have a lot of money to fight you, Joe, and I don’t want to fight, anyway. I would like to meet Shane. We could start out slow and get to know each other. Hopefully over time I would prove to you and him that I am stable. Could we try that, Joe?” she asked.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, his face hard. “I agreed to meet with you today so that you would understand that I intend to protect Shane at all costs.”

“I know that, Joe, more than anyone else. I know what you’ve done for Shane, what you will continue to do for him. I’m thankful for that protective streak. I know what you did for me as a child, the stepping in when our parents were too drunk to see straight. I know, Joe. I was there, too.”

“I never said you weren’t.”

“Yes, but you’re angry at me still. Angry at whoever. You’ve always been angry. You’ve got to let that go,” she said.

“I’m not angry. Just looking out for Shane’s best interests,” he said.

“Our mother is still living, did you know that? Did you know that she is sober, has been for the last four years? She said she’d tried to call you, that you don’t answer her calls or her letters. Is that true?” Meghan asked.

“This isn’t about me or our mother, and I’m not the one who drank,” he said, his anger showing now.

He and Meghan were alone in the room as far as Piper and Aaron were concerned.

“I dealt with our lives the best way I could, Joe. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve learned from them, learned to forgive those who weren’t at strong as I was. Can you say that? You can’t even forgive your own mother. You have to let go of that anger, Joe, before you can move on. You didn’t drink, but you closed yourself off, except for Shane. Who else have you loved besides Amy, who had too many holes for you to plug?”

Who the hell is Amy? Piper wondered.

Joe looked away. “I didn’t come here for this.”

“Why did you come?” Meghan asked.

“To see what you wanted from Shane, to determine if you were going to fight for custody. To see if you were different, so that I could prepare if necessary,” he said, looking at his sister, his eyes hard.

“I’m sorry, Joe, for hurting you, for hurting Shane, for hurting myself. I am living better, one day at a time,” she said, looking away, getting herself under control, and then turning back to face him.

“I am asking to see my son. I’m asking for a chance to get to know him again, to prove that I deserve to be in his life. I’ve had my problems, but I have changed. I would like a chance to love him again,” she said. “But I’m not going to fight you on this, Joe. I’m not. It’s up to you. I will not drag Shane through that. Not for me. But if you could look at the possibility of allowing me back into his life, I’d appreciate it.”