He’d gone through everything. Offering to pay for rehab, getting him a job, leaving pamphlets on Narcotics Anonymous wherever Ryder was staying, yelling, cajoling, begging. Nothing worked.
“He’s got to want to change, and until then, he’s going to keep wanting to be destructive.” What Ryder didn’t seem to grasp was that he wasn’t just destroying his life, he was hurting Lucah and Tate as well. And when he hurt Lucah, he hurt me. The ripples of his behavior hit more people than he could understand. Just like those people who stole the money from Clarke Enterprises.
I leaned on Lucah and he put his arms around me.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do.” I wished I could do something. Being helpless had to be the worst feeling in the universe.
“I will.” He held me for a while and we just sat in silence. I glanced down at the clock on the entertainment center. Shit.
“We’re going to be late for my parents’,” I said, but didn’t move. Lucah did, patting my knee to spur me into action.
“We can’t be late, Rory.” He made me get up while he rushed to get dressed in one of his suits since he’d just been wearing a tank and jeans. I slowly went to join him in the frenzy to get ready. My hair was all messed up from the massage, but I didn’t really care. I just pulled it back in a bun and called it good.
I also decided to wear my new shoes, and matched the rest of my outfit with them, going with a black dress and some pearls. Mom loved pearls, because they were so classic. They always made me think of her, and Audrey Hepburn. Lucah was frantic, trying to get his tie done.
“Why didn’t I realize how late it was?” I motioned for him to stop moving so my steadier hands could fix his tie as he zipped his fly, and I tried fixing his hair.
“What did you do all day?” The apartment was definitely cleaner when I’d come back.
“Cleaned, laundry, changed the sheets, dishes, uh, I went out and got some groceries and I went for a run.” He made me feel completely inadequate, and lucky to have him in my life. If he was trying to make up for something, or butter me up before telling me he did something stupid, that was definitely the way to do it right.
“What did you do? Because obviously if you did all those things, it means you screwed up and are trying to soften the blow,” I said as I straightened his tie and made sure everything else was in place.
I looked up at him and waited.
“We don’t have time for this.”
“Then tell me what it is.” I crossed my arms and tapped my foot.
He shook his head, because he knew there was no way I was going to let it go.
“I may or may not have been cleaning and trying to get your shoes in order and I may have dropped one and then tripped on it, and broke the heel off.” He winced as if he was waiting for me to smack him.
“Where is it?” Looking like a dog that had peed on the carpet, he went and got the shoe and brought it to me. Honestly, I’d done much worse damage after a night of drunken dancing at the bar. All it would take was a little glue.
“You know I can glue this back on, right?”
“Wait, you can? I didn’t know you could do that.” He took the shoe from me and examined it. “Will it stay? What if you’re walking and it gives out? You could break your ankle.” His concern was both adorable, and making us late, so I hurried us out of the door and into a cab to take us to the garage to get his car (which was barely a ten minute walk), explaining that I had broken more than one heel in my time and that I’d never had a repaired one give out on me yet.
He started going on about seeing a cobbler and I asked him if those still existed and he said he’d seen one somewhere in Boston and then we got talking about all the things that had gone out of style. Like video stores and boom boxes.
We did end up being late, but it didn’t really matter. It was just family dinner. Lucah was still stressing out about impressing my parents. I just smoothed his hair and told him to relax, but it didn’t do much good until the door opened and he morphed into his charming self, like Clark Kent into Superman. No phone booth required.
“We thought you’d gotten lost,” Mom joked as she took Lucah’s coat. He whispered something I couldn’t hear and she laughed again as we walked into the dining room. I’d have to ask him about that later.
“So, Rory, how is work?” Mom always asked me that, even though she probably heard enough about Clarke Enterprises from Dad.
“It’s going well. Lilia is working out.” I knew what she was going to bring up.
“Walter said they hired a new girl about your age. So you’re not alone anymore. That must be nice.” I didn’t point out that Violet and I were both women, because she was my mother and I would always be her little girl. I glanced at Lucah, but his charm suit was still in place and wasn’t budging.
“Yeah, it is nice. We had lunch together the other day and I really think we have a lot in common.” With that comment, Lucah choked on a piece of scalloped potato and I banged him on the back as he gulped down some water.
“My goodness, are you all right?” Mom said. He held his hand up and gasped, trying to get his breath back. I knew exactly why he’d choked. I didn’t mean it to come out that way, but it was kind of funny. In a twisted sort of way.
“Fine, Mrs. Clarke. I’m fine.” He squeezed my hand under the table and I wasn’t sure what that was about. Lucah’s choking fit did accomplish one thing, and changed the subject. Dad had been silent about Violet, which I found odd, until I realized that Mrs. Andrews must have told him something. Great. I officially had no secrets.
We finished dinner and had dessert and coffee and then Dad asked Lucah if he could show him something in the study. Mom nabbed my arm and said she needed my opinion on drapes, or some such bullshit. Smooth. Very smooth, parents. But I went along with it. Lucah would tell me about it later, of course.
Mom showed me the drapes and then got down to business.
“So, you and Lucah seem like you’re really moving forward.” Jesus, I knew just where this was going. God, I hoped Dad wasn’t doing the same thing to Lucah. I wished I could send him a text to make sure, but Mom would know something was up.
“Yeah, Mom, we are. Seeing as how we live together and have done so for a little while.” She gave me a look.
“Watch your tone, Rory.” My parents never seemed to appreciate my sarcasm in times like this. “I am simply pointing out that you have been living together and that usually precedes marriage and babies and so forth. I’m just wondering if you had any news on that. At all?” It was like she’d overheard our conversation yesterday. Did she and Dad bug my apartment? I almost wouldn’t put it past them.