Page 38 of Collin: Episodes 1-3
The doors slid open. Mr. Reevesworth was waiting in the hall outside The Residency. He said nothing but extended a hand.
“I’m so, so sorry, sir.”
Mr. Reevesworth shook his head, lips twitching. “Don’t be. However, I may have to amend the contract.”
“Sir?”
Mr. Reevesworth opened the front door and ushered Collin inside. “I’m afraid that I do not want your mother following my business by following you.”
“You’re not… going to retract your offer?”
“Hardly.” Mr. Reevesworth locked the door and removed his shoes. He pointed to a stool and drew out a damp cloth that smelled like soap. “Sit. Your feet need to be clean before you walk on the carpet. And no, I am not withdrawing my offer. You handled that well, including asking for confirmation that the officers were verified.”
Damian ambled into the room. “That was a new one for me.”
Collin chuckled and rubbed his feet with the cloth. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“Oh no, believe me”—Damian’s eyes glittered, and his teeth flashed—“I’ve never had a reason to turn tables like that.”
“My mother can be highly protective.”
“Because of your father.” Mr. Reevesworth tilted his head to the side, watching Collin’s face.
“There’s the story you probably found, sir, and there’s the story that I know. And then there’s probably the truth.” Collin stood up, cloth in his hand. “Where should I put this?”
Mr. Reevesworth held out his hand. “I’ll take it. You should lay back down.”
Once back in his bedroom, there was no space in his body for the weird, wide alertness and calm that had filled him the moment he’d seen the police officers. He went to the window and pulled back the curtains to look out. The glass went to the floor and filled the entire exterior wall, reinforced with crossing steel beams creating nine panels of unequal sized glass, a large square panel taking up the center while the other eight framed the center in four squares and four long rectangles.
His palms itched. He rubbed them absently. There was a buzzing from his shoulders and down his arms. He dug the ball of his foot into the shag carpet and gripped the fibers with his toes.
In his pocket, his phone buzzed. “Mom.”
“Collin. Are they gone?”
“Yes, Mom, they’re gone. You know I’m not Dad, right. I’m fine.”
“The signs were all there.”
“I know. I should have told you. But I…I just didn’t want you to worry. There wasn’t anything you could do.”
“I could have been there for you. Taken care of you. All you have are…strangers.”
Collin held the phone against his ear and stared out the window. Reflections of clouds drifted across the glass of a nearby skyscraper. “Not strangers, Mom. They’re good people. Mr. Reevesworth came to hear my defense summer before this last one, for that paper I wrote. I’m working for his sister’s firm doing market research on neighborhoods. It’s perfect. I dropped the hotel job. This pays better.”
“Bosses don’t typically take care of injured employees. How did you even get hurt?”
“I slipped in the break room at the office. Just one of those stupid accidents. Workers comp is taking care of everything. The company has insurance.”
“I’m not talking about the money, Collin!” Sandra drew in a deep breath. “I’m talking about you. How are you feeling? That must have been scary.”
Collin pressed the side of his hand into his eyes. “Honestly, Mom, I’m a college student. This is like the perfect vacation. I’ve been napping every day. I haven’t been this caught up on sleep since I started college. I mean, you teach; how many of your students have a guilt-free reason to lay around all day and rest?” He laughed.
“But staying with strangers?”
“Mom, they’re good people. And I’m probably going to be working here at some point when I’m finished working for Ms. Linda. Mr. Reevesworth and I get on really well. I might transfer to be his assistant, in which case, I’ll be living here anyway.”
“That seems…intimate, Collin. Are you sure there’s no ulterior motives?”
