Unexpectedly, Milo - Matthew Dicks [137]
“I’m fine. Seriously. Stop asking.”
The ride from Maryland to New York had been surprisingly uneventful. They had stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast and had otherwise not left the interstate. Milo’s mind had been quiet all morning, the U-boat captain perhaps having gone silent, deep in enemy waters, allowing for conversation to flow between the two of them. They had spoken about their careers, with Emma detailing the plots of both of her novels and Milo describing some of his more interesting clients, including Edith Marchand, whom he hoped to see later that afternoon. Emma was highly entertained with the stories of these old people, and laughed when Milo told about Arthur Friedman’s addiction to Internet porn and his need for Viagra, and Grace Bedford’s necklace of baby teeth.
“Is she some kind of witch?” Emma asked between giggles.
“No, she’s just an old lady with an herb garden who needs some company and an occasional foot massage. Actually, I looked the baby teeth thing up and found that it was actually common for people to do that sort of thing years ago.”
“Disgusting.”
“I know, but you have to wonder where all those baby teeth go after parents take them from underneath their kids’ pillows. Right? What do you do? Throw them away?”
“You sure as hell don’t wear them around your neck.”
As the sun rose high into the clear blue morning sky, conversation had dwindled for a while, which was okay with Milo. Ordinarily he would’ve felt the pressure to maintain a conversation, searching for topics of interest and a means to sustain the dialogue, but with Emma, he was able to simply sit beside her and drive. Without his secret to protect, his life had suddenly become easier and more relaxed, at least around her. For once, he was perfectly at ease with himself and whatever that submariner might have planned.
It was almost noon. They had crossed over the Hudson River about an hour before, and Emma had been silent for most of that time. Unable to see her face, Milo had started to wonder if she was taking a nap. The traffic had been heavier than he expected, and he was beginning to worry that he wouldn’t make it to Edith’s house by three. He was considering calling and warning her that there was a chance he would miss his scheduled appointment when Emma finally broke the silence with a question that was almost asked in a whisper. “Do you think that I sort of ruined Cassidy’s life? Don’t lie.”
“What? No. Of course not.”
“You said yourself that she’s been thinking about me for a long time. Ever since I disappeared. That she talked about it on the videotapes. She’s spent her whole life thinking that she was responsible for my disappearance and death. That’s got to weigh pretty heavily on a person.”
“Sure. But it doesn’t mean that you ruined her life.”
“No, but it didn’t make her life any easier.”
“Look, Emma. You had no idea what was going to happen. You were thirteen years old. Do you really think that she’s going to blame you for not calling from North Carolina to tell her that you were okay?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. How would you know? You talk like you know her, but you’ve never even met her, Milo. You can’t predict what she’ll say when she sees me.”
“You’re worried about how Cassidy’s going to react?”
“Maybe,” she said, her tone negating the uncertainty of the word. “I think I have a reason to be.” There was anger in Emma’s voice now, but Milo knew that it was not directed at him. Like the anger that he sometimes experienced from clients who could no longer do the things they once loved, this was self-directed, so Milo knew better than to respond in kind.
“Emma, she’s going to be thrilled to see you. I promise.”
“How can you know that?”
“I watched the tapes. You’d be surprised how much you can learn by watching and listening to a person’s diary.”
“And you’d probably be surprised by how much you didn’t learn.”
“True,” Milo admitted. “But she didn’t hold back on those tapes. There came a time when I felt awful for watching them and listening to her secrets, but