Page 25 of One Cry Too Loud
“I-I’m sorry,” Charlie said.
“You should be,” I answered.
“What if this was about someone dying of cancer, Jack?” Charlie asked me with tears in his eyes. “What if someone you thought you knew, what if someone you loved as dearly as you love your wife, told you they had cancer and they’d had it for years? What if it was Kat?”
I shuddered. “What are you talking about?”
“Fourteen years ago, a man took advantage of my sister. He convinced her that he loved her, and all the while, he was married to someone else. He had an entire family,” Charlie said. “Because of their relationship, she ended up pregnant.” He looked down. “It didn’t-it didn’t end up as happy as it did for Holly. There was no saving my sister. It was-it was awful.”
“What happ-”
“It was awful,” he said, cutting me off in a way that let me know that he wasn’t up for answering any more questions. “She was my sister, and since-since everything that happened, the closest thing I’ve had to a sister has been-”
“Holly,” I said.
“We’re not family,” he said again, though this time, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “It just brought everything back up. I couldn’t deal with it, not right then. It’s not about Holly, not really. Still-”
“It is,” I said, nodding and finally understanding why he was acting the way he was. “I won’t say anything to Holly about this. Like you said, no one should know everything about you unless you want them to.” I walked closer. “But maybe you should tell her, and not just because it would make her feel better. I think it would make you feel better too.”
“I doubt that,” he said, looking away from me.
“I don’t,” I said. “You know, just because we’re not family doesn’t mean we can’t act like family every once in a while.” A knock came from outside. “That’ll be for me. It’s time to get this show on the road.” I turned around, but looked back at the man. “You’re not alone, Charlie. Not by a longshot. You’ve saved my life more times than I can count. That’s what you do, though, isn’t it? You save people.” I shrugged. “Maybe it’s time you let somebody save you.”
“Yeah,” he muttered, going back to the couch and his task at hand. “Maybe.”
CHAPTER 17
“This wasn’t a good idea,” I told Kat. We sat in the car, looking at Holly through the rearview mirror. We were a mile away from Alice Masters’s house; the woman who adopted and raised Cindy Masters, Holly’s biological daughter. For the third time in the forty mile drive, we had to pull over because Holly felt like she couldn’t breath. I watched as she braced herself against the car, closing her eyes as tears streamed down her face. “She shouldn’t have come.”
“She begged me, Jackson,” Kat said, looking at the woman through the rearview mirror as well. “She said she felt like she had to.”
“And look at her now,” I said, sighing. “She’s a mess, Kat. She can’t handle this, and not only because of the personal aspect of it.”
“I know,” Kat said tersely.
“She’s not a field agent. This isn’t her area of expertise,” I said. “When I first arrived, when we went to that beach party thing and took out the Cuckoo, she practically shook all over.”
“This is a dangerous job, Jackson. Not everyone has the constitution for it,” Kat replied.
“I’m not blaming her, Kat,” I said. “I’m agreeing with you. She’s the best in the world at what she does. There is no one better, but that doesn’t mean she can do this. That doesn’t mean she can be physically out in the fray of it.”
“But she is,” Kat said, deflating with the words. “We’re not even here yet, and she’s already coming apart at the seams.” She shook her head. “I’ve talked to her twice already. It doesn’t seem to do any good.”
“Let me give it a try then,” I said, pulling at the door handle. “Maybe I’ll have better luck.”
I stepped out of the car and onto the side of the road. It was a busy day, with cars speeding by one after the other. It struck me as odd, that there could be a woman standing out here-very obviously in distress, and not one person would stop for her. That seemed to be the world these days, though.
“I’m sorry,” she said through gasps of breath as she saw me walking toward her. “I’m so sorry.”
“There’s no need for that. I didn’t come out here for you to apologize. I came to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine,” she said, her eyes still closed, tears still staining her cheeks.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, sweetheart, but you don’t really look fine,” I said.
“I didn’t even think about how I must look,” she said, placing a second hand against the car for further support. “I must be a terrible fright.”
I smiled a little despite myself. “You look fine. You look nice actually. That’s not what I meant.”
