If Angels Fall

FIFTEEN

Reed spotted Ann and Zach in the Star’s reception area.

“Could you cover for me?” Reed, standing to leave,said to Molly Wilson, who followed his attention to his wife and son.

“Sure.” She was typing. “Just remember you’ve got theprofessor coming and I’m leaving soon for an FBI interview about Becker.”

Passing a hand through his hair, tightening his tie,he was suddenly nervous.

“Hi, Dad.” Zach leapt up. He must’ve sprouted anotherinch. He was wearing a Giants’ ball cap backward, sweatshirt, jeans, Nikes, anda beaming smile.

“Hey, big guy.” Reed hugged his son.

“Are you sure you’ve got time today? You’re not toobusy?” Ann observed the hectic newsroom.

“Naw,” He walked them to an empty room. “You lookgood, Ann.”

She was letting her chestnut hair grow out. Dressed ina pastel silk jacket, matching pants, and pearl necklace, she embodied asuccessful business woman. In her fresh-scrubbed face, her soft lips, hersculpted cheeks, and lovely brown eyes, Reed saw the woman he fell in lovewith-a love evinced in their son.

The glass walls of the office faced the Metro Desk andtwo dozen cubicles where reporters worked at their computers. The family sat atan empty round table. Reed gave Zach a brown envelope.

“What’s this?”

“A present.”

Zach pulled out an action color eight-by-ten ofGiants’ left fielder Barry Bonds sliding into home. “Wow! Thanks, Dad.”

“It’s nice, Tom.”

“So, Zach, tell me how you’re doin’.”

“Well, I don’t like getting up so early so Grandma candrive me to school. I don’t like going over the bridge so much.”

“The school’s break is coming fast, son.”

“And I miss playing with Jeff and Gordie.”

“Meet any new friends in Berkley?”

“Not really.”

“Zach, if there’s something you want to get off yourchest then now’s the time to tell us,” Reed said.

Zach put the picture down, keeping his eyes on it.“Know what the kids at school say?”

“Tell us what the kids at school say.”

“They say my mom left my dad because he was washed upas a reporter after making a man kill himself because of a screw up.”

Reed swallowed hard.

“That’s not true,” Ann lied.

“Is that what you think too, Zach?” Reed said.

Zach shrugged and met his father’s gaze. With hismother’s eyes, flawless skin, he emanated innocence. “I told them my dad foundthe guy who killed the little girl and the police didn’t like it. I told them Iam going to be a reporter, too.”

Reed was awed by his son. After all he had put himthrough, his love survived. Unyielding. Unconditional.

“You still got to put in more time at being a kid.”

“Know what else they say?”

“What else?” Ann asked.

“They say that when your folks split and move out,they never get back together. No matter what they tell you, it never happens.”

“Son, look. I know it’s tough,” Reed said. “But you can’tput much stock in what kids say. Listen to your heart. We want to move backtogether, that’s why we’re talking about it. And that’s better than not talkingabout it, right?”

“I guess.” Zach looked at them. “But someone’s in ourhouse.”

Ann touched Zach’s hand. “A nice businessman fromTulsa and his wife. They are only renting. It’s still our house.”

Zach looked at his father. “Dad, is there anotherkiller out there killing little kids?”

A curve ball.

“Nobody knows, but the chance of it happening to youis like being hit by a golf ball. That’s why it’s such a big deal. Know anybodywho’s been hit by a golf ball?”

“No.” Zach giggled.

Ann smiled. “Didn’t you have something else you wantedto ask?”

“About the Kitty Hawk?” Zach wanted a model ofthe carrier.

“No, the other thing.”

“Oh, yeah. Dad, can I sit at your computer.”

“Sure, come with me.”

“All right!”

***

Bending over his terminal, Teed typed a quick commandon his keyboard, clearing his screen. Zach plopped into his father’s chair andwatched.

“Yo, yo, handsome.” Molly Wilson glided around thecubicle and crouched beside Zach. “Haven’t seen you in awhile. You’re gettingto be a big guy. How’s school?”

“Okay.” Zach liked Wilson. She smelled good.

“Molly, Zach wants to hack around on the machine,”Reed said. “Could you please watch him so he doesn’t crash the newsroom?”

“That’s a pretty big assignment, but I think I canhandle it, Dad.” She offered her perfect-teeth smile, then stood and, whileglancing toward Ann alone in the interview room, whispered, “You’re lookingdominated, Tom.”

How dare she say that with his son present? She lovedto rile him, loved to tease. “I’m going to the FBI in a few minutes,” she said.

“We’ll be done before the. Behave yourself and havefun, son.”

“Okay.”

Wilson bent over Zach, her nails clicking on thecomputer keyboard. “Want to surf the Internet?”

Reed returned to Ann, shutting the door behind him.

“Molly’s very pretty.”

“She’s a flirt, Ann. And I’m a married man.”

“You’ve lost weight.”

“Well, wallowing in self-pity has its benefits.”

“How’s work going here?”

“I’m getting by, but they’ve got me on a short leashthese days. How’s the business?”

“We’re getting more orders. My loan is almost paidoff. I think I’m going to have to hire another part-time clerk.”

“I brag about you to the people here who’ll still talkto me.”

Ann blushed a little. “Why?”

“I don’t know, it’s something I should have told you.I just…I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Ann.”

“Have you?”

“I realize what a jerk I’ve been. I was wrong about alot of things. I can’t explain it, but I know I’m not the same guy.”

“How do I know that, Tom?”

“You don’t.” Reed stared at his hands, debating withhimself as he twisted his gold wedding band. Ann still wore her diamond.

“I took a walk at the Golden Gate one night, a fewweeks after you left. Let me tell you, when you’re on the threshold of losingeverything, when your feet are dangling over the abyss, life’s prioritiesbecome clear.”

“You were going to kill yourself if we didn’t get backtogether, is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

“No, I was speaking metaphorically.”

“Were you?”

“I am not that much of a coward. I am telling you thatyou did the right thing, forcing me to live alone with the bad guy. Now, I…Iwant to, I am hoping we can try again.”

She regarded him for a long time. “I don’t know if Ishould believe you.” She pressed her hands flat on the table.

“You damn near destroyed me. The way you treated us.It was as if we were nothing to you, like this place was the universe and youwere its self-righteous self-centered king. Never wrong. I loathed you for it.I am so confused and scared. You’re telling me things, but it could be yourself-pity talking. Are you still drinking?”

“Alone in my room at night. It fills the void, helpsme sleep.”

She wanted to believe him, he could read it in hereyes.

“We can’t go on like it was before. I refuse to acceptyou back if nothing’s changed.”

“I’ve never stopped loving you. And this job”-Reednodded at the newsroom-“it’s no longer my life.”

Ann said nothing.

“I’ve given a lot of thought to something you wantedme to do.”

“I’ve wanted you to do a lot of things.”

“I’ve been thinking that maybe I would take a leavefrom the paper, stay home and work on a novel.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

They watched Zach playing on the computer.

“He misses you,” she said.

“I miss both of you.”

Reed looked at his wife.

“I have to think, Tom. I have to think abouteverything.”

Reed squeezed her hand and nodded.