Page 6 of The Lovely and the Lost
“Howdareyou come here, unannounced and asking for favors?” Cady’s voice cut through the silence, rising in volume and pitch. Her tone was sharp enough to draw blood, but beneath the anger, I could hear something dark and cavernous. She wasn’t just furious. Inside,shewas bleeding. “I came to you,” Cady said roughly. “Do you remember that? Do you remember me begging you to help us find Ash? I would have done anything to get him back, and you wouldn’t even pick up a phone.”
“I loved that boy, same as you did, Cadence, but there are some doors better left closed.”
What doors?I thought.What boy?
For once, Jude didn’t immediately pipe up to put some ridiculously positive spin on the situation. Cady had told us very little about Jude’s father, other than the fact that she’d loved him. Jude had come up with a thousand theories about his “mysterious sire,” each more elaborate than the last, but we’d never heard so much as a name.
I loved that boy, same as you did.
Without meaning to, I leaned my body into Jude’s. He rested his forehead against mine.
“That wasn’t your decision to make,” Cady said down below, and somehow, even though her voice had gotten quiet again, I could hear every word. “It was my life, and my choice, and Ash was worth it to me.”
Another silence stretched out between father and daughter. My body tensed, the way Saskia’s had when I’d given her the command to stay. I knew, logically, that I couldn’t physically protect Cady from an emotional onslaught, but there were some parts of my brain where logic meant nothing.
Cady wasmine. Jude wasmine. I’d tear this man apart before I let him hurt them.
The touch of something cold and wet on the back of my elbow was the only warning I got before Silver wedged herself between Jude and me. Her ears flicked forward, on high alert.
“Now, ladies,” Jude said, casting a stern glance at both the German shepherd and me. “Physically attacking our mother’s father would be a grandchildly and grandpuppy no-no.”
Jude had gone from shell-shocked to convinced that a group hug was inevitable in under ten seconds. Sometimes, I questioned how hard he had to work to have that much hope—no matter how effortless he made it seem, no matter how calming just being near him was.
Jude chose that moment to press the tip of his index finger lightly to the end of my nose. “Boop.”
Down below, the front door slammed open, then shut. “Marco!”
Cady never locked the house, and Free never knocked. Jude and I met eyes and then scrambled down the stairs in an effort to reach Free before she stumbled into World War III.
“Polo!” Jude yelled. “Polo! Polo! Po—”
We made it to the landing just in time to see Free’s blond ponytail disappearing into the kitchen. Silver surged ahead to follow, and I took that as a sign that Jude and I should as well.
“Polo,” Jude finished weakly as we skidded into the kitchen. I grabbed Silver’s collar, but in reality, she was holding me back as much as the reverse.
Free looked at Cady, looked at the old man, looked at Jude, and looked at me.
Then she sauntered over to the stove and snagged a piece of bacon out of the skillet. “Can we agree,” she said, taking a bite, “that my C average isn’t looking likethatbig a deal in the grand scheme of things?”
Free might not have known what she’d just stumbled into, but she was as good at sniffing out people’s hot buttons as she was at taking tests. She didn’t need to know the particulars of a situation to know that therewasa situation.
And she wasn’t above defusing the tensionandmaking a point.
“We can agree that you”—Cady narrowed her eyes at Free, then shifted the glare to Jude and me—“all of you, can take a lap around the perimeter and then try your hand at giving the bloodhounds a bath.”
Free took another bite of bacon. I studied the interloper. Jude offered him a loopy smile.
“Now,”Cady snapped.
Her father chuckled. “You reap what you sow, Cady-girl, and this lot looks like they’re about as good at following directions as you were.”
Free tossed a glance at Jude and me. “I’ll take old guys with boundary issues for two thousand, Alex,” she said.
“Long-lost grandfather,” Jude informed her, “no longer estranged and come to bring adventure into our otherwise ordinary lives!”
Cady kneaded her temple. Clearly, the situation had spiraled out of her control. Free was enjoying this a little too much. Jude wasn’t leaving until he got an introduction, and I wasn’t capable of turning my back on the same threat twice. After a long moment, Cady gave in to the inevitable.
“This is Jude,” she told her father, her voice tight and controlled. “You’ve already met Kira. And the miscreant stealing my bacon is our neighbor Free. They were just on their way out.”