Page 76 of Crocodile Tears
“Yeah, no problem,” I agreed, grateful she was giving me something to do other than sit and stew.
She gave me one last hug. “I’m proud of you, honey. You were an amazing director, and I know that you will be just as amazing at whatever you do next.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I leaned into her hug.
I wandered down the hill, wondering what I would do next. Maybe I’d move to a city for a while. Maybe I’d try to get a job at a big NGO. We had family connections at a few different places. Maybe I could reach out to a few of Mom’s old contacts at Singapore Zoo. The thought gave me a little flicker of excitement, a feeling that had been muted in me for weeks but now was revived at the thought of a new challenge.
Mom knew me too well. It was time for something else.
I wandered through the prep kitchens toward Mom’s office, and fortunately Aya wasn’t there to ward me away from her inventory systems. But the radio was still on, playing an old Lucky Role song, and my heart twinged at the sound of Deacon’s voice. I’d never told him how many times I’d listened and relistened to the entirety of his music catalogue. I’d fallen in love with the man behind every song and had wished like a heartsick teenager that one day he’d fall in love with me. But every girl in the entire world daydreamed about the angsty rock star falling for her. I’d gotten to have it for a split second, and it had all fallenapart. If only they knew what loving someone like him came with, maybe they wouldn’t want it so much.
“An oldie but a goodie,” the radio announcer said. “This comes after Deacon Harrow’s shock announcement that he is taking a step back from acting.” I froze, turning to the radio. “What do you think he’ll get up to next, Paula?”
“Hopefully more music,” a feminine voice replied. “Or maybe he wants to get behind the camera and do some directing. Who knows?”
I stared at the radio as the next song played, wishing it would suddenly give me more answers. He had officially announced he was taking a step back from acting?I can’t believe he really did it.I hoped that meant he’d make more music. He was probably off in a studio somewhere right now recording new songs.
I sighed, the tension in my chest easing a little. I was glad he’d taken that step for himself. Just because he had great success at something that wasn’t his passion, didn’t mean he had to keep pursuing it. I hoped he was proud of himself, too, for moving back to the music. That had been his first love.
I jogged up the steps to Mom’s office, feeling the bittersweetness of it all lingering in the air. I mindlessly opened the door and practically fell forward at what I saw. There, sat in Mom’s desk chair, was Deacon motherfucking Harrow.
He leaned back in the chair and smirked at me, smug at my surprise. “Hello, Rogue.”
Chapter Forty
Deacon
I kept my hands tightly clasped beneath the desk to stop them from shaking. It took everything within me not to get up and go to her.
“Deacon,” she said breathlessly. “Wh-what are you doing here?”
Winning you back, I wanted desperately to say, but I knew she would just launch into all the reasons she couldn’t be with me again. It was time I gave her a choice. A real one.
“I had some paperwork for you to sign.” I pushed a stack of papers across the table.
“And you came all the way out here to have me sign it?”
I shrugged. “I was flying up to Boston.” Ittechnicallywasn’t a lie. “Figured I’d make a detour.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped in clear disappointment. “Right,” she said, wandering over and sitting across from me. “You’re dissolving the trust.”
“I am.” I balled my fists tighter. “I’m transferring the funds to other organizations. More established ones and a new one.”
Her brows furrowed. “A new one?”
“That is the other reason I came in person,” I said, nodding to the sheets of paper in front of her. The moment she read it, Dove let out a half gasp, half sob. I watched as her eyes scanned over and over the title of the document: The Simon Lachlan Conservation Fund.
“What is this?” she asked, eyes welling with tears.
“What it always should have been. Your dad worked so hard to protect wildlife. It should be in his name. The fund will be operated in conjunction with Prickle Island Zoo.” Dove wiped tears from her eyes. “It means you can still start that breeding program. It means you can fund a bunch of other breeding programs at other organizations too. It means the zoo will be protected for years to come.”
It means you can do your dream job without it being attached to me.
She wiped her sleeve under her eyes. “Thank you.”
“It’s what I should’ve done from the beginning,” I admitted. “I should’ve never made it about me. I surrounded myself with people who only wanted me to cover my own ass, who didn’t care if I was ever a good person, not like the way you made me a good person. And your father was a good person too,” I said, voice growing thick. “I wanted your family to have this.”
“It means a lot.” Her bottom lip trembled as she nodded.
