Page 97 of Tear Me Apart

“Does Kat go with you?”

“Oh yes. She’s a fan of the park near my house. There’s a copse of woods on the far end, and she’s allowed off the leash there. She tears around like a torpedo, chasing everything that moves.”

“I’d like to see her run.”

“We can arrange that. She’s just a streak of black and tan when she gets going.”

A small silence. He is trying not to stare, but Mindy is so beautiful. Under the paleness and black circles and bald head, he can see vestiges of the girl she was.Please, he prays to an invisible god.Please let me have more time with her.

He clears his throat. “You like dogs. What else do you like?”

“Skiing. Obviously. Snow makes me happy. Does it snow where you live?”

“Nashville? Not very much, though every once in a while, we get walloped. They close school if there’s even a hint of snow in the forecast. Our buses just aren’t equipped.”

“That’s ridiculous. You teach English, my dad said. Sorry, that was weird. I mean, I know you’re my real dad. But it’s going to take some adjusting to figure all this out, you know? And I’m... I’m sorry about Vivian. My mother.”

He swallows hard, takes her hand.

“I don’t want you to waste any energy worrying about this, Mindy. You have a battle ahead, and I want you to focus on that. We can sort out who I am to you after you kick the cancer’s ass, okay?”

She smiles wider this time. “Oh, thank God. Mom and Dad, sorry, and even Juliet, they can’t bring themselves to talk about it. Like uttering the words will make something happen. Yes, it’s going to be a nasty few days, but you’re here now, and it’s all going to be okay. I can feel it. I’m intuitive that way.”

“I like your attitude. Yes, I teach English. I like to help young men and women find their voices. I’ve had a couple of students go on to become novelists. It’s very gratifying.”

“Do you like to read? ’Cause that’s the other thing I love.”

“I do. I saw your bookshelves. You have good taste.”

The smile is so genuine, so open, that he can’t help himself. “Can I hug you?” he blurts.

She thinks about it for a second, her gnomish forehead wrinkling. “Yes. I think that would be appropriate, considering you’ve been looking for me for almost eighteen years. Just watch the IV, it gets in the way. Mom’s always yanking the tubing out of the machine by accident.”

He carefully sits on the edge of the bed, reaches over Kat, and gathers Mindy in his arms. Despite her height, she is so tiny, and smells like the hospital, and medicine, and oddly enough, the flowery scent he often catches in the woods behind his house. The feelings he has are utterly confusing, strong and intense. He wants to cry and shout for joy at the same time. Her arms slip around his neck, thin but strong, and he closes his eyes and finally, finally, begins to weep.

She holds him, patting him on the back and whispering, not at all put out by the large grown man weeping into her shoulder. He finally calms himself, and pulls back, wiping his eyes. Kat is nestled between them, and Mindy’s eyes are shining, too.

“I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through all of this,” she says. “It must be incredibly difficult to find me after all these years and to have lost your wife, too. I really am sorry. I would have liked to meet her.”

He watches her for a moment, those eyes of his looking back, the feminine face, the chin so like Vivian’s. “You’re amazing, do you know that?”

The grin turns wicked. “You should see me ski.”

55

Lauren stares at the small biscuit on her plate as if all the answers will come from breaking the piece of soft bread wide open. Next to her, Jasper fiddles with a straw, folding it around his finger then unrolling it, over and over. Juliet babbles, as she usually does, talking about the police investigation to come, and how she likes the detectives from Nashville, and what steps they should take next. Jasper nods and answers a few times, but Lauren doesn’t hear, not really. She is consumed with thoughts of her daughter, her Mindy, upstairs, alone with the man who helped create her.

And...her daughter’s innocent question that feels less and less innocent as the minutes tick by.

V.

Shit.

Mindy knows. She found the letters, and she knows.

This is all going south, she can feel it. Everything is wrong. She should be happy there is a chance for a match, a chance to save her daughter, but instead, she feels exposed. Like every bad decision she’s made in her life is about to be revealed.

“Lauren, have you heard a word I said?”