Page 35 of Somebody's Watching Me
“The vomiting has aggravated Selah’s throat, and he’s coughing horribly.” She shut the bathroom door behind them and started the shower. “Guess what will make it worse. Cigarette smoke.”
“Damn it.” He swiped off his shirt and dropped his pants, smirking when she turned away as his underwear hit the floor. “Find me something to wear.”
The shower took less than two minutes, and when he got out, a set of sweats and a T-shirt were waiting for him on the counter. He recognized the clothes immediately as belonging to his brother.
Returning to the bedroom, he found mother and son in the same position as before.
SiSi didn’t look up from her book. “Did you have fun?”
“Hell no.” Ben joined them on the bed, smoothing a hand over Selah’s head. “How is he?”
“We just have to keep him comfortable during his coughing fits, but at least the vomiting stopped.”
Selah let out a little moan, and Ben’s heart stumbled. He should have been here.
“Why didn’t you call?”
Simone closed her book and repositioned Selah so she could lie on her side. “Why would I call?”
“I want to be able to help.”
“You flew in this morning for a meeting with Hal Burbank and then took off to go to your lame bachelor party.” Selah’s moans turned into babbling, and she smiled. “Then I’m sure there was the regular James and Helen crap to deal with, so I just assumed you were busy.”
“Add Charlie bullshit to that list,” he whispered. “Have you told her about Viv?”
“Not yet, but I will.”
The cartoon on the TV continued to play, the colors flashing across the walls. “How was your meeting with Hal?” she asked. “Did you get what you wanted?”
“He won’t give up the shoreline on the bay. It’s not a major deal, but I don’t like being told no, and if we don’t get the land, it holds up a condo project waiting in the wings.”
Simone might not want to admit she needed help, but knowing someone else was here to carry the burden of parenting had her eyes drifting closed. “Hal has a son named Milton,” she said with a yawn. “He’s studying theology to become a pastor.”
That was common knowledge. Father and son were known to quote scripture during business meetings and walked around with giant crucifixes hanging around their necks as if vampires might attack at any minute.
“Yeah, I know.”
SiSi cradled her hands under her cheek, and two slits of brown stared shrewdly at him. “Did you also know that his son’s favorite color is cocaine white?”
If it were anyone else, he wouldn’t believe it. “Go on.”
“Ty found himself in the bed of Margie O’Connell’s daughter last month.”
“Okay?”
“Margie works for the Burbanks, and they don’t bother to hide their true colors in front of the staff. That is one nasty family.”
“They’re friends of my parents, so I don’t know why you’re surprised,” he replied. “Got anything else?”
“The wife has a gambling problem. A big one.”
Rolling to his back, Ben watched the flashes of the cartoon dance on the white ceiling. “That’s good.”
“No, it’s bad.” SiSi rested a hand on Selah’s back. “But if it’s what we need to keep pushing forward, use it.”
The bribes, the threats, the women, the lives lost in the fight to prove his worth to his father. All of it covered his hands in Fairweather filth, but it never bothered SiSi. The woman next to him never wavered in their plans. She understood with crystal clarity that a win for him was a win for her and Selah.
“One day this will be over.” He shifted to his side, placing his hand on top of hers. Selah smiled in his sleep as if he understood that the two people who loved him most were there. “One day, we’ll know peace.”
