Chapter 14

In the end, it was Tess who spoke first and Dave realized that what had seemed like an eternity to him had in reality only been a few milliseconds.

"Excuse me, but I'm in the middle of a conversation with my best friend here and I can't remember either of us asking for your opinion."

The sharpness of her words and the frustration that was so evident in the deep line on her forehead told Dave that her words, or rather the irritation in her words, wasn't directed so at him than it was directed at the situation in general. From Stevie's first slightly aggressive and now just hunched stance it was obvious that Tess hadn't exactly been successful in prying information out of her. And he knew how much this irritated Tess who was concerned for her friend and only wanted to help, even though her last words had had rather the opposite effect. Understanding that, Dave gentled his tone as he replied, even though some primal part inside of him just wanted to stand in front of Stevie and yell at Tess for being so inconsiderate.

"Sorry, but I don't exactly think you should speak to your best friend like this. I know you want to know what's going on, Tess, but don't you think that this is taking it a bit too far?"

"Too far? Dave, she's the one who just sent her daughter away without a second thought, but not without completely crushing the girl's belief that she could ever find any help in here. Or in the woman who's supposed to love and look out for her. Don't you think that being the one who had to comfort the girl all the way to the bus station gives me the right to demand some answers?"

"Come on, Tess, the right to demand some answers? This is not about having the right to anything, it's about helping a friend. And that's surely not achieved by yelling at them!"

And so they went on, both becoming more and more agitated the longer the conversation went on, raising their voices until they were shouting at each other over the kitchen table.

Stevie had taken a few steps back when the arguing started and now she had the strange sensation of no longer being in the room at all, even though she was the subject of the conversation that went on over her head. Her rage at Tess, her precious rage, had evaporated the moment Dave appeared in the doorway. His words hadn't even registered; her mind had been too preoccupied processing the feeling of falling, as her anger at Tess, her lifeforce for the last few minutes, disappeared. In its place now sat the emptiness she had felt earlier, before Tess had walked in. But this time it was different, the emptiness now felt so complete that she almost couldn't remember ever having felt any different. Because now she knew that her best friend held nothing for her but contempt. Contempt and fear. With a sinking feeling she realized that she no longer had a place in this house she'd called a home for so long.

Maybe she had been fooling herself all along for thinking she ever had in the first place.

And that conviction pulled the last remaining ground from under her feet. It had been crumbling for a long time already, ever since she'd learned that he was out for her again. And the moment she'd seen hatred appear in her daughter's eyes she'd known that she had no ground left to stand on. But Tess' words had shattered even the last, tiny crumb she'd been holding unto, without even noticing she did. There was nothing left for her in here anymore. Quietly, she slipped out of the house and started walking. She didn't know where she was going, apart from away, and she didn't particularly care. She was way past caring. It simply didn't seem to matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore.

"This is ridiculous!" Dave was just shouting at Tess who had accused him of never sticking up for her the way he seemed so eager to as soon as it came to Stevie, when the sound of the front door falling closed registered in his mind. He turned around, only to notice that Stevie wasn't there anymore. More panicked than he wanted to admit to himself, he didn't think twice about following her, not when the lost look on her face from when he'd first entered the kitchen was still so firmly imprinted in his mind.

He left Tess standing in the kitchen, exasperated, yelling after him that she had to collect some supplies from town anyway and oh, thanks for the conversation and he walked out of the house, in search for her. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard Tess leaving after him, starting the engine and pulling out of the driveway. But his thoughts were with Stevie. He knew she couldn't have gotten far in that short amount of time; still his heart almost missed a beat when he couldn't locate her immediately. He told himself to get a grip over the blood pounding in his ears and looked more closely. His eyes caught a glimpse of her red-brown top just as she was about to disappear behind one of the sheds.

"Stevie!" he called after her, but kept walking as if she hadn't heard him at all.

"Stevie!" he yelled again and broke into a run.

Finally he caught up with her, but it was only when he grabbed her by the arm that she stopped.

"Stevie" he said again, this time more gently.

Still, she wouldn't face him. It hurt him to see her so unresponsive and once again he cursed Moira for interrupting their moment, just little more than half an hour ago. Things could be so different now, if it hadn't been for her. They wouldn't have to be here, this whole blasted conversation with Tess would never have taken place and he wouldn't be so desperate to get some kind of reaction out of the woman in front of him, any kind of reaction, really, just so he'd know she wasn't as far away at that moment as he feared she might be. It scared him, she scared him, the way she refused to look at him, the way she wouldn't react to his calls of her name. He had to reach her somehow. He simply had to.

r have happened."