Promise of Safekeeping : A Novel (9781101553954) by Lisa Dale Read Free Book Online Page A

haze of purple, and he breathed in.
    “I’ll take this one. And— Oh!”
    She turned her head. Arlen straightened up, caught. The woman’s eyes grew wide under her white visor, and her mouth was open so far that he saw she had lipstick on her teeth. He knew enough not to apologize, because if he said he was sorry he would have to explain himself. He wasn’t certain she knew
why
he was leaning toward her; she knew only that he was.
    She turned bright berry pink and held up a few more bottles for Arlen’s inspection. “I’ll, um, I’ll take these as well.”
    Arlen nodded. She hurried to the front of the store a little more quickly than she’d walked into it, and Arlen followed. Behind the register the cashbox was locked up, but Will had shown Arlen where he hid the key. Arlen made change for the woman, then carefully rolled each blue bottle in brown paper and secured it with a bit of tape. And it felt good—so good—to be packing them up and handing them off. He liked the idea that the woman thought he did this all the time.
    “Thank you,” she said. “You have a nice day now.”
    “Same to you,” he said.
    And he realized they were the first words he’d spoken to anyone but Will since he’d been freed.
    Lauren and Maisie had breakfast in the sun-filled kitchen—hazelnut coffee, toast, and sliced melon. Maisie’s sleep-rumpled hair and foggy eyes reminded Lauren of mornings spent on the beds of their dorm room, chasing mild hangovers with cups of orange juice and analysis of the night before. Before Maisie left for work, Lauren thanked her and gave her a long hug in the doorway. If Lauren connected with Arlen today, she would leave right away.
    With the house empty, Lauren dialed her brother, tucked her cell phone against her shoulder, and washed the dishes. Jonah’s phone rang and rang. She was just about to disconnect when her niece picked up.
    “Hello, this is Dakota speaking.”
    “Kota! It’s Aunt Lauren.”
    “Hi!”
    “How are you?” Lauren asked.
    “Fine.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Doing anything fun?” Lauren asked.
    “Yes.”
    “What?”
    “Playing.”
    Lauren put a mug into the drying rack. She’d fallen head over heels for her newborn niece when Dakota had burped on her shoulder and ruined her favorite shirt. Lauren wanted to keep her talking, just a little more.
    “What are you playing?” Lauren asked.
    Dakota made a good effort at conversation. She was trying—Lauren could tell. But the fact remained that human beings weren’t designed to talk to each other via screens and fiber optics. Adults learned to work around the relative “blindness” of cell phone calls and text messages. But Dakota had yet to develop the proper brain muscles and attention span for artificial communication. She just wanted to get off the phone.
    Eventually, Lauren let her go and her brother got on the line.
    “Hey, Laure! Checking up on me?”
    “Just calling to get the latest from my favorite stay-at-home dad.”
    “Dakota’s driving me crazy,” he said. “She just learned about tap dancing. Now she wants to be a Rockette.”
    “I thought she wanted to be president.”
    “That was last week,” he said.
    Lauren smiled and adjusted the phone on her shoulder, careful not to get suds on her cell. Jonah and his wife—who had been his nurse when he’d been incarcerated—had managed to work out a good life for themselves despite Jonah’s early setbacks. He didn’t have a good track record when it came to holding down a job, but he was an amazing father. Some people said he was immature; Lauren liked to think that he’d simply never lost his innocence.
    “So did you see Arlen?”
    “I’m working on it.” She turned off the faucet and put down the dish sponge. “I have to be honest. It didn’t occur to me until I got down here that Arlen might not want to talk to me.”
    “I could have told you that.”
    “I figured he would
want
to see me. You know, for closure.”
    “Did