Harkham's Choice (Harkham's Series Book 2) (21 page)

Adam was so proud of how steady his dad was being. His influence was calming. It was good to know an authority figure would take charge and keep things moving in a positive direction.

“Thank you, Dad,” Adam said, smiling at him. “I like having you here with us. Doctors are organized, but you’re better than that. You’re our happy coach, cheering us on and even helping out. That’s great to see.”

His father’s eyes lit up, and he broke out in a proud grin. “You’re very welcome.” His eyes moved between Adam and Mari. “Both of you. I always want to be involved and help anytime you need it.”

Adam released a breath, and Mari held hers.

“I mean it, young lady. Don’t you ever think I don’t care about you and what you’re going through. You share your troubles with me, and I’ll try to be there for you. Provide guidance if you need it, but mostly support and encouragement. You’ve had a rough life, but that doesn’t mean you’re not bright and full of potential. Adam sees all of that—and so do I.”

“Fucking A,” Zach said.

They all burst out laughing.

“Okay, not quite how I would put it, Son,” his dad said. “Watch the language, huh?”

“Hell, yeah, I can do that,” Zach teased.

Adam picked up a sock, balled it up and tossed it at Zach’s head.

Zach got hit in the ear and cackled as he threw it back.

“See? We can have fun as a family as we work together. It’s all good.” His dad smiled at them.

Adam noticed that Mari finally started breathing normally again and her back loosened up.

“Definitely!” Adam wandered deeper into the room. “We’ve got this.”

“I hope so,” Mari told them. She paused, running her hand across the top of a box that clearly had gotten wet at some point because it was all puckered up on the right side. “Actually, why don’t you guys go check in at the hotel? I can stay here and deal with Vic. You can change into clothes you’re okay to get filthy in, rest for an hour, and then come back. He’s going to be upset with me about cremating my dad. This will give him some time to vent and settle down.” She looked ready to fall over with fatigue.

“I’m not leaving you alone with him. He’s not going to say mean things to you, either. I’ll stay with you,” Adam said, moving to her side, afraid they might try to get him to leave with them.

“Okay,” his dad said, looking at Mari with a worried glance. He gave them both a hug, then he and Zach left.

She took a few hesitant steps toward Adam. “You know, it’s funny . . . For so many years now I was dying to clean out this house from top to bottom. And now when I’m faced with it, the idea of this task is . . .” She clenched her jaw and screamed through her teeth while her fists pounded into her thighs. “Why? Why did he care about all this”—she pointed around the room at random items—“more than me? Why was this shit his world and I was nothing to him? Why did he spend money on junk and call it treasure? Why wasn’t I what he cherished most?”

“He was sick. It’s a disease he couldn’t control. And he disliked himself. People that don’t like themselves can’t like anyone else. It’s like a poison that spreads through them. It’s not your fault, Mari. You’re very easy to love. He was broken, and this was his medicine.” He shoved a box away from his foot filled with yarn that looked like it had all been sun-bleached over a long period of time. He stepped closer to her.

“I know he was ill, but he didn’t even want to get better. Wasn’t I worth it for him to seek help?” She kicked a box on the opposite side of her, and walnuts, paper-clips and a shiny silver nut cracker in the shape of a squirrel came tumbling out as the box split on contact. “Now we’ve gotta deal with this—his solution to burying his problems and self-medicating. Clearly—his form of dealing with his problems was a great solution.” She snorted.

“He was a good man. When I talked to him, I could tell he was just really a mountain of sadness and regret. Older people sometimes like to reminisce. It makes them feel better. Maybe this was like living in the past for him. Maybe each of these objects had some tie to your mom and you when you were little—when you were all together.” He tipped his chin up. “I know if it was me, if I lost you—I’d constantly want to surround myself with anything at all that reminded me of you and how at one point I had it so good.”

“I don’t know.” Her shoulders bounced for a second.

“You don’t have to know. It’s not important.” He took two giant steps, careful not to trip on the nuts, and wrapped her up in a hug. When she sagged into him, he took her hand dangling at her side and kissed the back of it.

“What if before we start cleaning here, we go visit the cremation garden where his ashes are?” He kissed her forehead and pushed her hair back over her shoulders on both sides. “It might help if we remember this is all being done for someone you love, and not because we have to and it’s a chore. But for love. That’s why we’re here.”

“Yeah—love,” she said, devoid of emotion.

“Yep. Lots of gooey love, overflowing so much it’s falling out of boxes.” His voice was light and kind of fluffy.

“I can’t really do that right now.” She sniffed and glued her cheek to his chest as he continued to hold her. “I’d rather go later. Maybe after dinner. I’ll need a break from this place by then, and visiting him at that point will help me remember why I’m doing this instead of walking away. That’s when I’ll need it most. It’ll help me retain my sanity.”

“Hey. That’s my job.”

She chuckled. That was a nice sound.

“You don’t have a job. You’re just amazing—that’s all.” She sniffed again.

“I’m only amazing because I’m with you, sweetheart. And that’s the truth.” Another kiss of his landed on her head.

She took a deep, shaky breath and went a little more lax, then pushed away. “Okay—I can do this. I can . . . You’re here with me. My dad’s not going to be here, bursting into tears looking at me like I’m the devil here to take his soul.”

“Nope. He won’t. I’m the only devil here.” His hands slipped down and he squeezed her ass cheeks.

“Angel, you mean.”

“Not with the things I want to do—no. Not a single angelic thought going through my head right now.”

She chuckled. “If it didn’t smell like horse piss in here, then I’d be all over this idea of stripping down and exploring those thoughts of yours.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Ewww!”

“Exactly.” She chuckled for a second, then wandered toward the kitchen.

He followed, and eventually they wound up ambling around the place, taking in all the spaces, or lack thereof.

Their final stop was to sit at the dinner table that was oddly still cleared. It looked like her dad hadn’t touched it since she’d cleaned it off.

Adam knew it all along. This place was this way because in her father’s head, he was preserving the memories in his mind and trying to recreate them somehow. If he didn’t love his daughter, why leave the table clear where they’d shared a meal together? Why not treat it like a place to spread his junk over?

He was about to say as much, but she grunted, propped her elbows up and rested her forehead in her hands.

“This is gonna take a lot of w—” She stopped, and her head pricked up.

Rap, rap, rap, rap . . .

“Oh, Gaaaawd—
so
not in the mood to deal with Vic right now,” she said, slumping lower in her seat.

“Open the door, girl,” Vic hollered. “I’ve got what you need.”

“What the fuck did he say?” Adam sat up straighter, his legs swiveling in the chair as if he was ready to charge the door and the idiot behind it.

“He doesn’t mean it.” She reached over and patted Adam’s hand.

“Then he shouldn’t say it.”

“I agree.”

“C’mon, girlie! Let me know you’re naked so I can come inside already,” Vic said even louder than his original greeting.

“He’s making me want to do really illegal, vicious things,” Adam told her between his teeth.

“The feeling’s mutual. He does that to me frequently.” She sighed. “He’s fine, though. He’s only teasing. Think of him as a ruder version of Zach.”

Adam shook his head. “That would mean I actually have to care about this guy.”

She sat up in her seat. “Well, he’s a temporary pain in the ass, then. Can you think of him that way?”

“How about I don’t think of him at all? That would suit me best.” His heart thudded so hard, it was almost shaking his belly. The back of his neck felt like it was burning up.

“Ignore him. It’s what I do half the time.”

“I’m about to piss on your front door,” Vic told her, laughing.

“It’s all gonna be fine,” she said, sounding like his father and giving Adam a similar parental look.

“Not for him it won’t, if he keeps acting like this,” he told himself as she got up to answer the door.

Chapter 12

Mari heard a dog yip, and she almost tripped on the way to answer the door.

Adam made a groaning sound behind her from the kitchen. Vic truly was upsetting to Adam.

She hated that it bothered him, but they needed his help. The more hands they had to remove all this junk, the better off they’d be, since they were already going to be pressed for time. It was going to be interesting trying to keep these two guys from being at each other’s throats.

She looked at Adam over her shoulder, and he appeared so miserable she decided Vic wasn’t worth it.

Besides, Vic didn’t deserve her going out of her way to be kind and accommodating. He’d already yelled at her on the phone more than once over her choice to cremate her father.

She went back to Adam’s side and leaned into him, drifting her fingers through his hair.

“Come on in,” she hollered loud enough that Vic should be able to hear her.

“Mari, hey,” Vic said, letting himself in the front door. “You here? Naked yet?”

“Hardly. And I’m in the kitchen,” she said, keeping her voice even.

“Oh God, no. Please don’t tell me you’ve cooked me another healthy meal? Once was enough. I barely made it out alive last time. My stomach hated me the entire next day. Just please—no salad.” Vic laughed. “Even if you are tossing it together in the buff.”

“I’m not naked,” she said with a groan at the end.

He stepped into the tiny space through the pathways between the piles, grinning at her. A Jack Russell Terrier was pulling at a red leash in his hands.

Mari’s eyes landed on the dog. “Is he here to ferret out rodents that might be hidden in all this junk?”

“No, this is what your dad left for you. What I was talking about on the phone,” Vic said sheepishly. His shoulders were up around his ears, probably protecting himself in case she was ready to slap his head off.

“You said he g-gave it to you after I left,” she stammered. “And he didn’t have a dog when I was here at my last visit.”

“Well, technically that’s all true. He bought the dog a few months before you came out here. He wanted to use it as a hunting dog—you know, to help your dad have a reason to get out and exercise. But the dog was getting into his stuff and had a lot of energy. He officially gave it to us after you left because he was having trouble taking care of her. He also didn’t think you’d approve of him having it, so right before you arrived for your last visit, I came and got her, took her home and then picked you up at the airport.”

She wrinkled her nose.

“What? You mean you didn’t notice the wet dog smell that night?” Vic chuckled like the thought of that particular memory was hilarious.

“No. I was too angry to breathe any air you were using.” She stared at the dog. This was unbelievable. None of it was processing in her head.

Adam crouched down and called the dog over.

Vic let go of the leash, and Adam had that dog scooped up in his arms. He was cradling it like a baby, cooing and giggling as the dog licked his chin. Her heart fluttered as she watched him. God, he was adorable, and seeing him happy like that was exactly what she needed in that moment.

“What’s his name?” Adam asked, keeping his eyes entirely on the dog.

“
Her
name’s Choppy. Will said she moved all choppy like a robot when he first saw her. I think she was a little skittish—he got her at a rescue shelter,” Vic said, smiling.

“You were going to keep her for a few years and then see if I wanted her? This is crazy!” She threw her arms up and the dog startled. “Sorry,” she murmured to Choppy.

“Way to be a good pet owner,” Vic teased.

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes.

“Can we keep her?” Adam asked.

“We don’t have a choice. This isn’t Vic’s responsibility.” She reached over and patted the cute dog’s head. How could she resist this creature? She had big chocolate eyes with patches of tan around them, extending out to the ears. The tail had some tan in it too, but the rest of her body was white.

“Everyone’s pretty much annoyed with you. All your dad’s old cop buddies. Everyone at the ski lodge. My family, friends, and even the hobos on the street. But even if you’re a dumbass, we would’ve taken care of Choppy if you didn’t want her,” Vic said. “It wouldn’t put anybody out, you know that. Not even a dog with slobber issues.”