Tyler didn't get it. Truthfully, there was little in life that Tyler did get. Why couldn't people just be nice to each other? Why couldn't everyone follow the rules, do the right thing and share their Dortios at lunch time? He knew that he was hopelessly Out of It but Tyler, age twenty-two and heir to a mega-fortune, no longer cared. So what if he wasn't Cool? He was a nice human being and that had to count for something.
He stood in the doorway of the living room brooding. It made him positively ill to see his mother sitting with that slimeball police officer. Granted, his parents' marriage hadn't been the stuff dreams was made of but did she have to be so blatant?
"Tyler," his mother said, her voice three martini's past tipsy, "You remember Officer Van Husen."
"Of course I do," Tyler snapped. "What's he doing here?"
His mother hesitated. "Peter needs a place to stay for a while. I'm going to let him stay with us."
Her words remained in the air like time bombs. Finally, Tyler said, "Are you out of your mind?"
"I'm here because your mom needs me," the creepy, uber blond cop told him. "She was kidnapped, Tyler. I'm going to stay with you and your family to keep everyone safe."
Yeah, right. And Cool Whip was diet food. Good grief, what was wrong with his mother that she couldn't see through this...this white bread faux protector? Was she that desperate?
"Tyler? You look upset. Are you all right?"
"I am upset," Tyler said through clenched teeth. "Dad isn't even cold and you're moving in his replacement?"
Mavis paled. "It isn't like that."
"All right," Tyler said evenly, "then where's Officer Van Husen sleeping tonight?"
He watched as Peter Van Husen and his mother exchanged shifty glances. It was embarrassing to be in the same room with the two of them, they looked so complicit. "In the guest room, of course," his mother replied.
"Where else?" Peter murmured.
Where else indeed? Tiffany had all but told him what was going on between Schuyler Square's finest and his own mother but Tyler hadn't believed her. He was unable to believe that the woman who had made him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches whenever the maid was sick, the woman who had tucked him in and read him a bedtime story at least once a month, the woman who had given birth to him was fooling around with a guy young enough to be her nephew. It was sickening.
"All right," Tyler said. "As long as everything is above board of course I don't mind if Officer Van Husen stays here. I think it's an honor to have someone of his caliber as our guest and of course I'm pleased to know that he only has your best interests at heart, Mother."
Mavis looked away guiltily and Officer Van Husen looked a little sick to his stomach. Tyler felt sick too. His dad hadn't been gone for a week and Mom was moving in the replacements. Was there no justice in this world?
Sometimes, Tyler thought grimly, you have to make your own justice.
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