conversation over dodging raindrops as he left his hand-me-down Camry, a crappy gift from his father. He loathed his dad for being an ass, first to his mother, then to Tori. Doing what he needed to do was getting easier with every step. His heart rate escalated as he entered the west end of the Tacoma Mall. The place smelled of popcorn and damp clothing. He noticed the pimply-faced clerk, probably his age, as he went inside Radio Shack. There was no one else in the store.
“Hey,” the clerk said, sauntering over to the video cameras where Parker stood, his shoulders hunched and his hands stuffed inside his dark-dyed jeans.
“You looking or buying?” Parker glanced at him.
“Buying.”
“Excellent. We’ve got a sweet sale. Do you know what you want?” Parker shook his head, though he already knew what he wanted. Tori had been specific. She always was specific. Her clear-cut instructions would make it easier when the time came.
“How do those Lorex cams work?” he asked.
“Like Jason Bourne,” the clerk said, “on a road trip.”
“Awesome. I’ll take one.”
The day before the intruder killed her ex-husband, Laura Connelly and Parker had a fight that left her to contemplate the difficulties of motherhood with half a bottle of Riesling and a tub of Dreyer’s vanilla frozen yogurt. He’d been moody since his most recent visit with his father. It wasn’t that he ruminated about what a jerk his dad was; it was how much he wanted to return to North Junett.
“I want to live with Dad again,” he said.
“We’ve been over that. You’ve made a commitment and you have to live up to it, Parker. That’s the way life is.”
“I hate it when you say such bullshit.” Laura winced.
“Parker, I don’t think you should talk to me like that.”
“Why not?” Parker asked, now standing close to her.
“I can talk to you any way I want. I’m not some little kid who can be shuffled around by you or Dad or anyone. You know, I’m not going to be pushed around by someone like you. The day I turn eighteen, I’m out of here.”
“I’ve never ignored you,” she said, backing away.
“More bullshit.”
“Parker, please.” He turned away.
“I’m going to spend the night at Drew’s.”
“I didn’t say you could,” she said, raising her voice a little for the urgency. Parker’s eyes flashed at his mother.
“Are you serious? Are you really trying to control me? Give it up, Mom. You lost that ability a long time ago. I’m doing what I want to do, for the reasons that make me happy.”
“I’ve made dinner.”
“You’re a shitty cook, Mom,” he said. The door slammed and Laura turned off the oven. The lasagna that was one of her son’s favorites wasn’t going to be served that evening. The little boy whom she had loved was lost to her. She knew it. She knew it the way that a mother does when her child no longer looks up with adoring eyes, but eyes that see the truth. I pushed him. I pushed him too hard. Why did I do that? Laura poured herself some wine and went into his room. A Ghostbusters poster, a reminder of her boy’s favorite movie, hovered over his bed. Laura sat down and looked around the room. On his desk was a cutting board and spools of colored duct tape. He’d once spent hours there making duct-tape wallets that he and his best friend, Drew, thought they could sell door-to-door. It seemed so long ago. It seemed like he was a different boy. She wondered when he’d grow out of his moodiness. She hadn’t been a perfect mother, but she did the best that she could. Like her mother, probably. And her mother’s mother before her. There was no owner’s manual dispensed with each hospital birth. She noticed the packaging for a webcam and she wondered what that was all about. I really don’t understand all this social networking stuff, she thought.
In his car, Parker called his buddy, Drew Cooper, and explained that he wanted to lie low and that he’d told his mother he was staying with him. He didn’t have a hands-free device, so he hunched a little as he passed a Washington State patrol vehicle parked by the Puyallup River Bridge exit. The last thing he needed was to be noticed.
“When are you going to tell me about the chick you’re boning?” Drew said. Parker laughed.
“Soon enough, bro.” He and Drew were no longer close, and he’d never tell that doofus about Tori. Drew had a big mouth and a judgmental mother. Confiding in him was as good as posting it on his Facebook wall. In two minutes’ time, the information would be shared by everyone he knew.
“You staying with her?” Drew asked.
“Yeah. For a day or two. Watch my back, all right?”
“Sure. Her parents gone?”
“Something like that.”
“Why can’t I be so lucky? What do I have to do to get a girl to put out?” Don’t go for a girl, go for a woman.
“Don’t have an answer for you, bro,” Parker said.
“Just be patient. The right one will come along.” That was a lie, too. Parker Connelly knew that soul mates almost never really found each other. Drew was a loser like the rest of the people he knew. Like his dad. His mother. They couldn’t conceive of the power and deep satisfaction that comes from finding the other half of one’s self. For always like swans. Parker hung up and turned on the radio and listened to the news. Tori liked him for his body and his brain. He wasn’t like anyone she’d ever met. He was handsome, strong. Smart. He parked and made his way to the airport ticket kiosk. It was the one tricky element of their plan, a ticket to the Caribbean so they could start their life together. They talked about the danger of leaving a trail of any kind, even though there was absolutely no way they’d be caught. He didn’t even buy the ticket under his own name. Tori thought of everything. He wore a down vest under his dark blue hoodie and kept his head down.
“I wish we could buy a ticket with cash,” Tori had said as they snuggled in bed, making their plans.
“But those terrorists have screwed up everything for everyone.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Cash in your father’s frequent flier points,” she said.
“Got it handled, Tori.”
“Then make love to me.”
“So the money will be transferred at midnight?” Tori asked.
“Midnight their time, but yes, that’s right.”
“We do not have to take any action to have the money go directly into the offshore account?”
“Nope,” the lawyer said.
“Nothing. All set up.”
“Wonderful,” Tori said.
“Two million dollars, that’s some birthday present,” she said. Tori felt a surge of excitement, like the first few minutes of really good sex.
“Yes, it is. He’s a very lucky boy.”
Kendall crawled under the covers and nuzzled Steven. He was asleep, snoring softly in the manner she found more charming than irritating. The regular rhythm of his slumber was something that she could always count on and it comforted her just then. She found herself thinking of how her life might have gone if they’d stayed apart. She remembered how lost she’d been those lonely, dark days. Jason Reed’s voice reverberated in her memory.
“Kendall, I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t, either,” she said.
“We need to do what’s right.”
