Page 83 of Takedown

“Tara, it’s fine. Just having a chat with my brother,” he says. There’s a hint of a smile on his face and I wrap my hand around his jaw to shut him up. Tara pulls on my arm, and I let out a humorless laugh. I don’t think she weighs much more than one hundred pounds, but I drop my arm. She steps between us and puts a hand to my chest, as if she’s strong enough to push me away.

“Listen to me.” She points an index finger in my face. “First, we have a child in this house, and we don’t do this kind of thing around him. Second, if anyone is going to rearrange my fiancé’s face, it’s going to be me, not you or anybody else. No one lays a hand on him other than me. Got it? So, back all the way off before I rearrangeyourface. Believe me, I’d love nothing more just for the hell you’ve put Ethan and Elizabeth through for almost a year.” At the mention of a child, I take several steps back. My breathing comes out in short pants, and I lay both hands on my thighs to try and calm down. “By the way, that face that you want to rearrange looks just like yours. Deal with it. You have siblings and they want a relationship with you. There are worse things in life so grow the hell up,” she adds. She crosses her arms and stands next to Ethan, almost as if she’s daring me to talk back.

“I’m only here to tell him to his face to leave me alone.” I turn back to Ethan. “I’m serious. Whatever it is you’re after, I’m not interested. You’re causing problems in my marriage.”

Tara arches her eyebrows, and she looks at Ethan for confirmation. All he does is shrug.

“Right. The blue balls,” Ethan says with a playful grin. Of all the things I imagined on the drive over here, playfulness wasn’t one of them.

“The what?” Tara asks.

“I don’t know how I could have done that, but it was obvious yesterday that you never told her about us. If that’s the case, that’s on you, not me,” he says.

“I didn’t tell her about you because you don’t matter to me.”

“Hey, don’t say something you’ll regret. You’re here, so why don’t we sit down and talk?” Tara suddenly smiles at me, throwing me off kilter by her sudden bout of friendliness. “I can get us some drinks.”

“I’ve said all I’m going to say.” I’m talking to her, but my eyes are locked on him, willing him to get my meaning. But I’m met with a smug look that suggests he’s not ready to hear me yet. “I’m not going to say it again. Stop with the phone calls and the surprise visits.”

“You almost break my door, push me against the wall, and threaten to rearrange my face. I’m sure you have plenty more to say, so sit down and say it.”

I look around the room now, unwilling to look in anyone’s face, but I can feel the woman’s eyes boring into me. I turn my back to them and reach for the door, but just as I put my hand on the doorknob, I hear footsteps. More than one set. It sounds like several sets of little feet are running on the hardwood floors.

“Can we go now?” a little voice says. There’s a loud bark that follows his question. For some reason, I can’t just walk away. I turn around to find a little boy in wire rimmed glasses and a three-legged dog. The dog walks to me, sniffs my hand, and licks it. I can’t help myself and rub behind the ears of the chocolate lab.

“That’s Ralph,” the little boy says. I’ve seen pictures of him. Vincent Bradford. My six year old nephew, I guess.

“Hey there, Ralph.” I drop to my knees, and Ralph licks my face.

“I’m Vincent.” He approaches and looks at me tentatively. He looks at his dad, who nods at him, and he walks closer.

“Hi, Vincent. I’m Adam.” I offer him my hand. He takes it and gives me a firm handshake.

“I know. You’re my uncle, and my dad and Aunt Liz have been calling you, but you never answer.” Unsure of how to respond, I look at Ethan and narrow my eyes at him. “Are you coming with us to the aquarium? I want to see the snakes. Tara’s scared of them. We had animals at my last birthday party, and when the guy brought out the snakes, she screamed and ran out of the room. She wouldn’t come back out until Dad told her they were gone.”

Tara makes a face and moves closer to Ethan. He puts an arm around her and kisses her temple.

“If only I had a snake in my office that day you barged in,” Ethan whispers.

That gets a laugh out of Tara.

“I had a pet snake when I was a little bit older than you.” I don’t know what possesses me to keep talking. I should be walking out of this house and away from these people.

Vincent widens his eyes and smiles. That’s when I notice his two front teeth are missing. I can’t help myself. I put my hand on his head and make a mess of his dirty blonde hair. He must look more like his mother than his father, but his eyes are just like his. And like mine.

“Your mom let you have one?”

“No, she didn’t. But my Uncle Finn did. He’s the best. He acts like a big kid, which is great when you’re little.”

“Is he my uncle too? Maybe he’ll get me one.”

“He’d better not,” Tara says.

“No, he’s not your uncle, but I bet he’d get you one anyway.”

“Not going to happen,” Ethan says.

The kid grabs my hand, and I wrap mine around his.

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