Page 57 of Bad Blood
“If you need an icebreaker,” Sloane told me, pitching her voice in a whisper, “you should tell him that eighty percent of Americans believe that a weevil is similar to a weasel, when in reality, it’s a type of insect.”
“Thanks, Sloane.” I squeezed Dean’s hand once, then stood, crossing the room until Kane Darby and I were standing face to face.
“You look like your mother.” Kane’s voice was muted, like he thought I was a dream and if he spoke too loudly, he might wake up.
I shook my head. “She was beautiful, and I’m…” I searched for the right words. “I can fade into the background. She never learned how.”
I realized, as I said those words, that there was a part of me that had always believed that if my mother and I were more alike, if she’d been less of a performer, if she hadn’t been the center of attention just walking through a room, she might still be here.
“Women shouldn’t have to fade into the background to be safe.” Kane’s response told me that he could read me, nearly as well as I could read him.
“You heard what happened to my mom?” I asked, my voice hoarse.
“It’s a small town.”
I assessed him for a moment, then went straight for the jugular. “Why did my mother leave you? We were happy here.Shewas happy. And then we left, with no warning, in the middle of the night.” Until I’d said the words, I hadn’t realized that I had any memory of leaving Gaither, other than dancing with my mother on the side of the road.
Kane looked at me, really looked atmethis time, instead of just seeing my mom in my features. “Lorelai had every right to leave, Cassie, and every right to take you with her.”
“What happened?” I repeated the question, hoping for an answer.
“This town wasn’t a good place for your mom, or for you. I kept things from her. I thought I could shield her from what it meant to be with me, here.”
“Your father isn’t well-liked in Gaither.” I spoke out loud, instead of profiling him in my head. “You broke away from him, but you stayed local.” I thought back to the memory of Kane sweeping me into his arms after a nightmare. “When my mom and I left, you didn’t follow.”
Did you resent her for leaving? Did you keep track of her? Did you find a way, years later, to make her yours?
I couldn’t ask a single one of those questions out loud. So instead, I asked him about Lia.
Kane glanced around the diner. “Can we take a walk?”
In other words, he didn’t want an audience for what he was about to say. Knowing I would catch hell for it, I followed him out the door.
“My father prizes certain things.” Kane waited until we were a block away from the diner before he began speaking. “Loyalty. Honesty. Obedience. He won’t hurt your friend. Not physically. He’ll just slowly become more and more important to her, until she’s not sure what she’d be without him, until she’ll do anything he asks. And any time she doubts herself or doubts him, there’ll be someone there to whisper in her ear about how lucky she is, how special.”
“Were you lucky?” I asked Kane. “Special?”
“I was the golden son.” His voice was so even, so controlled, that I couldn’t hear even a tinge of bitterness underneath.
“You left,” I commented. When that didn’t engender a response, I pressed on. “What happens if Lia wants to leave?”
“He won’t stop her,” Kane said. “Not at first.”
Those three words sent a chill down my spine.Not at first.
“I wish I could do something, Cassie. I wish that I’d had any right to keep your mother here, or to go after her once she was gone. But I am my father’s son. I made my choices long ago, and I accept what those choices have cost me.”
I’d wondered why Kane Darby had stayed in Gaither.What if staying isn’t an act of loyalty? What if it’s penance?My mind traveled back to Mason Kyle, Kane Darby’s childhood friend.
What choices did you make? What exactly are you repenting?
“I never stopped thinking about you.” Kane stopped walking. “I know I wasn’t your father. I know that, to you, I’m probably just some guy who briefly dated your mom. But, Cassie? You were never just some kid to me.”
My chest tightened.
“So, please, listen to me when I say that you need to leave Gaither. It isn’t safe for you to be here. It isn’t safe for you to be asking questions. Your friend will be okay at Serenity, but you wouldn’t be. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“You’re telling me that your father is a dangerous man.” I paused. “And that my mother left this town for a reason.”
