Desiring Dylan - Suzanne Jenkins Page 0,15
watched them drive off and shed another set of tears for them. They were her parents, soon to be old people, who had changed their routine to check up on their grieving daughter. What could she do for them next? It might make her feel better to step out of her comfort zone.
Back upstairs, she went out on the balcony and sat for a while, loneliness permeating every cell. She wondered how Betty and Kirk were doing, so reached for her phone.
“We’re staying busy. Kirk mentioned getting out photo albums, but I can’t face that yet. Right now, less is more.”
“I get that. My folks left a little while ago. The distraction was nice. But I don’t think going down memory lane will be helpful right now.”
They’d seen the tabloids, too, but Betty didn’t mention it. The photograph of her son’s girlfriend cradling his head where his brains had been blown out would stay with her forever. No matter what happened, Landon would always be Kenny’s girlfriend.
On Wednesday, Landon packed a bag and left for her parents’ house in New Jersey. It was right across the Ben Franklin Bridge. She called first.
“Mom, you up for some company?”
“Yes. Papa was just sayin’ he needed some gumbo and dirty rice. You want I make up a big pot?”
“Wait for me, and we’ll make it together. I’m on my way. I’m staying, too.”
“Wonderful! I’ll make your bed with fresh sheets.”
After calling for a car, Landon dragged her suitcase down the stairs. It was like taking a vacation or going on an adventure but without Kenny. Anything to get out of the house. She smirked, thinking that two days before, she was never leaving. But now she needed a change of scene.
Standing on the porch waiting for their daughter, Charlie and Calista looked so small and old, Landon wanted to weep. She thanked the driver and got out to meet the folks. The house was a rambling farmhouse from eighteen hundred on what was originally farmland along the banks of the Delaware River and now was partly industrial.
For the past several years, she’d encouraged them to sell and move to a newer house, but they were stuck like glue.
“This is where I raised my kids,” Calista said. “If Maw Maw ever wants to move in with us, we have the room here.”
“Are you kidding me?” Landon cried, laughing. “She’s never budging from New Orleans. No way. She said the winter snow would kill her.”
Charlie and Calista weren’t sixty yet. The only way Charlie could retire early was because he had been in the military forever. But Landon was young enough to think they were old.
“We’re glad you’re here with us. Let’s get your stuff stashed away, and then we can go uptown and get our shrimp.”
The time with her mom and dad took some of the sting away from missing Kenny, but by Thursday night she wanted to be home. It had been one week, one week since his senseless death. The television was full of the story of the woman who murdered Kenny, but there was a growing empathy for her, and ill will directed at Landon.
On Friday morning when she arrived back home, an unmarked car followed her hired car down the street. “Looks like you’ve got visitors,” the driver said, looking in her rearview mirror. “It’s cops, so you’ll be okay. But I’ll stick around to be sure.”
The driver got her bag and rolled it up on the sidewalk. Acknowledging the plainclothes policemen, she waited for them to say something to her. One man handed over his business card, and they both opened their identification. Nodding at her, they introduced themselves.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Miss Fontenot. Do you have time to speak with us?”
“I guess so. I knew it was too good to be true. I spent a peaceful two days with my folks in New Jersey.”
“We heard you were there.”
She looked at him sidelong. “Am I under surveillance?”
“Yes, in a way. Could we go inside?”
She went to the door with her suitcase and keyed in the code and then inside disarmed her alarm.
“It’s upstairs,” she said, lugging the suitcase up. The cop wanted to offer to take it for her but didn’t want to insult her either. His partner wasn’t concerned.
“Can I take that for you?”
“Yes, thank you. I need to get back to the gym.”
She flipped lights on when they got upstairs, and she excused herself. “I’ll get this thing stashed and be right back. Have a