After I Fall (18 page)

“Hmmm?” he hummed against my neck. His other hand moved down to get a better grip.

“Eric, stop.”

His hands immediately froze. He let out a pent up breath as he rested his forehead against my shoulder. He stayed like that for a moment. I didn’t mind. He was catching his breath. I was too.

When he moved again, he rolled away from me.

“I’m sorry, Em. I didn’t mean to push. I kind of lost my head.”

“It’s okay. It’s my fault. Totally my fault,” I admitted. “I started it and I got carried away. But we should slow down.”

“Right.”

“You’re okay with that?”

He looked confused. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

I shrugged.

He took my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. “Look, EmLynn, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you. I do not want to mess this up.”

For just a moment his words reverberated in my head. They made me want to do something childish…like jump on the bed and squeal in delight. At the very least, I suddenly wanted to do a happy dance.

I could do those things later. Like the moment he walked out the door.

I bit my lip, gathering my thoughts. I remained still, trying to be mellow, not wanting to ruin the moment.

“You love me?” I quietly repeated. I’d known for days, probably weeks that I was falling for him. I’d never been in love before. Wasn’t even sure what it felt like to be in love. Until lately. What I felt for Eric, that had to be it.

“Yeah, I do.” He shook his head. “I’ve never said that to anyone before.”

I smiled. “Because you haven’t dated much?’

“No. I mean, I’ve never said it to
anyone
before.” He leaned back as if he had to contemplate what he’d just said.

“Well, I love you too.”

I couldn’t see his face but I could hear the smile in his voice. “And that’s the first time anyone has ever said that to me.”

I stopped myself from making him clarify. I got what he was saying. It made me sad. His parents had never said it? Sad. Definitely sad.

“Say it again?”

I laughed at his hopeful, slightly pleading tone. “I love you, Eric Daniels.”

“I really like the sound of that.”

Two days later I was beckoned into Phillip’s study.

“Have a seat,” Mom said as she motioned to the sofa in Phillip’s office.

I didn’t like the serious looks on their faces. I shook my head. “I’m fine standing. What’s going on?” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the arm of the sofa.

Phillip cleared his throat and hung his head.

“Phillip just got a call from Jim,” Mom started.

“And?” I pressed. I couldn’t imagine what a phone call from Phillip’s head of security could possibly have to do with me. “Was there a break in at Calhoun Enterprises?”

“No,” Phillip answered. “The call pertained to the break in at the Deverouxs.”

“Now I’m really confused,” I admitted. “What does that have to do with me? And why do you look so serious?”

Mom and Phillip shared a glance. “There’s no easy way to say this,” Mom started as she redirected her gaze to me. “So I’m just going to
say
it. The police found evidence that strongly suggested that Eric was at the Deverouxs residence the night of the robbery.”

I let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. “What? I don’t think so. Jace and Eric do not get along. There’s no way that Eric would’ve been at Jace’s house that night or any other night. Jace was terrible to Eric…” I faded off. I shook my head. “No.”

“EmLynn,” Mom said as she took a step toward me. “I’m sorry. Jim just informed us that Eric was taken in for questioning.”

“That’s ridiculous!” I tried to take a step away from her but I bumped into the arm of the sofa.

“Actually, it’s not,” Phillip said quietly. “Jim’s sources told him that Eric’s country club ID was found on the Devereux property. From there, they went to the Zierden’s and searched the truck he drives.” I shook my head frantically but Phillip continued on. “They found Janette’s jewelry stuffed behind the seat.”

“That’s ridiculous. I don’t believe you.” I directed the words at my mother, though it was Phillip that had spoken them. “You’ve never liked Eric. Now you want me to believe he’s a thief.”

“This has nothing to do with my feelings one way or another,” Mom said. “Everything that Phillip told you is true.”

“I’m going to call Eric,” I said as I turned to leave the room. “I don’t care what Jim had to say, or what the police found. They’re wrong. He would never steal from anyone.”

“How well do you know him?” Mom asked.

“Well enough,” I argued as I reached the door. “Wait, when did all of this supposedly happen?”

“Last night,” Phillip said. “It’s possible that he’s out on bail. If the Zierdens were willing to do that for him.”

Out on bail? The conversation had started out crazy and had slid into flat out ridiculous. Because really? The thought of Eric being involved in any of this was
beyond
ridiculous. There was no way that this could be true.

I tried to ignore the niggling little voice in my mind that kept telling me that there was no way Mom or Phillip would lie about it. They would never take that chance because it would be too easy for me to prove them wrong.

“It has to be a misunderstanding,” I said. I realized that the words were more for my benefit than theirs.

“I hope so,” Phillip said. “I can make a few more phone calls. See what else I can come up with.”

I nodded. “Please. While you do that, I’m going to call Eric.”

I’d left my cell phone on my nightstand. I turned, ready to retrieve it.

“EmLynn,” Mom said. “I think it would be wise of you to stay away from that boy for a while.”

“Of course you would say that.”

I left quickly, before she had a chance to forbid me from seeing him. If she did that, I’d still find a way. But I didn’t want it to come to that. I hurried to the pool house. I wasn’t surprised that there were no messages from Eric. I also wasn’t surprised that when I called him, he didn’t answer.

I grabbed my car keys and hurried out of the house. I needed to see him. I knew I needed to go now, before Mom had time to think about stopping me.

*   *   *

“EmLynn, hi,” Lisa said as she pulled the front door open.

I tried to ignore the fact that she didn’t look particularly happy to see me.

“I hope it’s okay that I’m just stopping by. I’ve tried calling Eric but he’s not answering his phone,” I explained.

She glanced over her shoulder and hesitated, as if debating whether or not to let me in. She turned back to face me and pulled the door open a little wider. “Come in. You probably won’t be able to stay very long but Eric will probably be happy to know that you’re here.”

I followed her into the kitchen.

“Is he home?”

“He is. He’s in my office meeting with his caseworker right now. We have just a little bit of time before his lawyer is scheduled to arrive.”

She continued walking to the sliding glass door that led onto the deck. She pulled it open and I followed her outside. We both took a seat at the outdoor table.

“Is it true?”

“What part of it?” she asked as she shook her head. “I guess that depends on what you’re asking.”

“He was the one who broke into the Deverouxs? He was arrested?”

She let out a sigh. “Word does travel quickly, doesn’t it? Yes, he was arrested but as far as whether or not he actually did it, that’s still in question. The evidence paints a pretty damning picture, excuse my language,” she said wryly. “But Eric swears he didn’t do it. He swears that after he got back from spending time with you that night, he went to his room and stayed there.”

“Do you believe him?” I wanted to believe him but I also wanted to know all of the facts.

She didn’t say anything for a few moments. “I want to,” she finally said. “I would like to be able to say that I knew for sure he hadn’t left the house. But considering that I know that he is capable of leaving without either Tim or I hearing him…”

“That only happened one time,” I said in Eric’s defense. “I know he shouldn’t have snuck out but I’d had a really bad day. He admitted to me that he knew he shouldn’t have violated your trust that way. He didn’t do it again.”

At least not that I knew of. I didn’t say the words out loud, but I was thinking it. Judging by the look on Lisa’s face, she was thinking it too.

She glanced at her watch. “Miriam, his caseworker, should be finishing up with him soon. We all met together but she wanted to speak with Eric alone for a bit.”

I clasped my hands and placed them in my lap to keep myself from fidgeting. “Next he’ll meet with a lawyer?”

“Yes.” She cast a glance over her shoulder at the quiet house. She looked nervous, her posture was stiff.

“Do you think he did it?” I hadn’t meant to ask the question but there it was.

She returned her gaze to me. “If I only looked at the evidence, I would have to say yes. But I’ve gotten to know Eric. Knowing him the way we do, neither Tim nor I can believe it. It isn’t just the theft, but the damaging violence behind it. The Eric I’ve gotten to know is not capable of that.” She drummed her fingers across the tiled tabletop. “One of my best friends in high school was a foster child. She’d had a rough life; she was in and out of foster care for most of it. It wasn’t until her last few years of high school that she ended up in a stable home. To this day, she’s one of my closest friends. I remember watching her struggle in high school. I remember the stigma that wouldn’t go away. I also will never forget how sweet she was, how kind and caring despite everything she’d gone through. All she needed was a family to give her a chance, people to show her what a real family was like. What a stable home was like. All of the things so many of us take for granted…”

“Where is she now?” I asked.

Lisa smiled. “She lives a few towns over. She’s a kindergarten teacher now with three teenagers of her own. She’s happily married. The family that took her in our senior year…she’s still close to them. They’re kind of like surrogate parents.” She shrugged. “Watching the way she struggled, and seeing what a difference someone can make, I knew that I wanted to do that. When we read over Eric’s file, we just knew he was the one. He wasn’t a trouble maker. He got decent grades. He was in a bad situation due to no fault of his own.”

I wanted to ask her more but I wasn’t sure that would be right. I should hear about Eric’s life from him. It was frustrating that he’d been so reluctant to share. As much as I wanted to push Lisa on the subject, I did not want to go behind Eric’s back.

Her voice cut into the silence again.

“We just wanted to give him a chance, you know? Right now we’re the closest thing he has to family. So we’re going to act like it. We’re going to stand by him and try to find a way out of this mess.”

The sliding door
whooshed
open on its frame.

“EmLynn,” Eric said. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you?” What I was really asking was whether or not it was okay I was there.

“Right,” he said. “Okay. Lisa, Miriam would like to talk to you before she leaves.”

Lisa reached over and squeezed my hand. “We’ll chat later, EmLynn.”

I nodded and she got up from the table. She stopped in front of Eric. “Mr. Munson will be here shortly.”

He nodded. “I know. Can I talk with EmLynn until he gets here?”

“Of course.” She stepped inside, closing the door behind her, giving us some privacy.

“How are you doing?” I asked. He looked awful. Exhausted and pale.

“Not the best,” he admitted as he dropped into a chair next to me.

I wanted to say something supportive but I wasn’t quite sure what to say, where to start. I’d never been in this kind of situation before.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I finally asked.

He pulled a hand through his hair.

“No, but thanks.”

The leaves rustled in the trees. The waves lapped against the shore. A car passed by on the road. But Eric and I were silent.

“Aren’t you going to ask me if I did it?”

His question took me aback. A part of me did want to ask. I realized then that while I’d been so adamant in front of my mom, I was worried. A part of me was afraid of what his answer would be. Then I thought of Lisa’s words. I realized that if she had faith in him, then I had better have faith in him too. Because that’s the way things should be with people you care about.

“Did you do it?” I finally asked.

“No.”

“Okay then. I believe you.” As I said it, I realized that I did. Maybe it wasn’t logical or even smart, but it was the way I felt. It was the calm, firm, unequivocal way that he said it. “If you say you didn’t do it, I believe you,” I repeated.

“Just like that?” he asked.

I reached over and took his hand, more sure of my words with each passing heartbeat. “Just like that.”

“I
didn’t
do it, EmLynn. I don’t know how my ID ended up in the Deverouxs’ yard. And I have no idea how the pendant ended up in the truck. I mean, really, how stupid would I have to be to be
that
careless? Which isn’t even really the point. The point is that I didn’t do it. I wasn’t there. I didn’t trash the house. I didn’t take anything!”

“A pendant?”

He nodded. “Yeah. It was a piece that belonged to Mrs. Devereux, one the pieces that are missing. I guess she’s freaking out because her grandmother’s wedding ring is one of the missing pieces, that and about thirty thousand dollars worth of other jewelry. They told me they’d consider a plea if I returned the rest of the jewelry. But I don’t have it.”

“I was under the impression all of the jewelry was found in the truck.”

“No. Just the one piece. The thing is, my uncle drives this total piece of shit car. He let me borrow it when I needed to. He never locked it. I never locked it. There was no reason to. I’m not so sure I locked the truck the last time I used it. Anyone could’ve had access to it.”

“Did you tell them that? Never mind, stupid question.”

“Of course I told them. They just think it’s a cover. That’s not even the worst part of this. Mr. Deveroux wants me to be tried as an adult.” His voice had shot up several decibels. He shook his head frantically. His tone dropped down to a normal level as he let out a bitter laugh. “My record is clean. But once they start snooping around in my family history…”

“I know you didn’t do it. And if you didn’t, then they’ll prove that. You have nothing to worry about.” My words were firm. I wanted to offer him support.

When he looked at me, he looked lost. He looked…troubled.

“Em, there’s something I need to tell you.” He’d been gazing across the yard. But when he spoke, he returned his gaze to me.

“About the robbery?”

He shook his head. “No. Not really. It’s about my parents.”

I shifted in my seat. I had wanted to hear about his family for the longest time. He’d always sealed himself off whenever I brought it up. Why he wanted to talk about them now was beyond me. But I was willing to listen because whatever he had to say looked like it was eating him up.