Promise of Safekeeping : A Novel (9781101553954) (37 page)

As Richmond’s early risers woke to their radios, as they stood in their kitchens hurrying to chew one last bite of a bagel or take one last gulp of coffee, they were struck down by disbelief at the story on the news. Those who weren’t alone called out—
Honey, come here
. Those who were alone stared at their television screens, or they paused where they were listening, trying to explain it to themselves. At office buildings and teachers’ lounges, they told one another:
Did you hear?
The baker across from the antiques store went to Will’s door, his arms full of hot bread, the least he could do, but no one answered. The local news anchors made the seamless transition from talking about back-to-school shopping to relaying Arlen’s selfless act.

A hero,
they said.
A hero.

In the hospital, Eula sat at Arlen’s bedside, worrying the corner of a sheet. Machines beeped and clicked, their soft sounds louder
than any sound Arlen had so far made. She prayed—sometimes pleading for God to have mercy and not make her suffer his loss a second time, sometimes threatening to never say another prayer again. She held Arlen’s hand, his fingers dry but warm, and she talked to him.

“Come on,” she said. She had a sense that once again he was imprisoned, this time by his body, which was keeping him away from her, locked inside. “I need you to stay. Who’s gonna fix my roof if you don’t stay?” she asked him.

The nurses brought her cups of coffee and the doctors spoke soft and low. If there was a clock in the room, she didn’t notice it. She rubbed her left hand, the finger where her wedding ring used to gleam. “Come on,” she said.

All over the city, people stole moments of quiet, at delis and libraries, at parks and playgrounds. There was the staid infrastructure of everyday life: copy paper, pencils, telephone wires, buses, the work desk, the stepladder—but none of it was the same. Husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, touched one another’s backs, arms, hands. Blessings had to be not only counted, but attended to.

At the police station, a young man sat in a holding cell after a long night of not sleeping. Until now, he’d thought panic was a thing that happened in a split second, then was over—like when someone snaps a picture unexpectedly, and everyone jumps to see the flash. But this panic was the slow, steady withering of a candle burning down—a voice playing on an endless loop:
Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

He couldn’t hear the detectives, who were talking about him in a cramped cubicle, complaining as they filled out papers upon
papers. The kid fit the profile: Antiestablishment. Antigovernment. Anti-everything. He had a blog that said he didn’t believe in courts. That the justice system needed to be brought to justice—Lauren Matthews especially.

He’d refused an attorney. He told the cops everything they wanted to know. Prior to the Fieldstone trial, Lauren played a part in his brother’s conviction for cooking and selling crank. When she became very visible during the Fieldstone case, his anger at her spiked. Arlen’s release from prison had finally pushed him over the edge. He’d found her easy enough, just by making a few sly calls. He was good and drunk when they arrested him. But he was sober now.

Morning brought to the police station the sound of tired good-byes, the smell of coffee, the ringing of phones. The words
press conference
were uttered, sometimes placating, sometimes annoyed, sometimes feeble and apologetic. Cops and dispatchers made their way to peek into the cell of the man who had done such a terrible thing, the
boy
who had done it. They shook their heads and commiserated with one another.
How unfair.

In the night Lauren sat with Will on a blanket on the second floor of his house, among all of his things. Arlen was in a hospital in Richmond, fighting for life for the second night in a row—they could do nothing but wait. They’d filled their bellies with Chinese food and soda. They’d made love on the hard floor, fast and desperate. The need to keep moving drove them, and so they worked. Though neither said it, they were both waiting for a call.

“This?” Lauren asked. She held up a box; in it was a pair of never-worn jogging shoes. “Do you want it to stay or go?”

“Those can go to charity,” Will said.

She put the box aside, held up a broken basket. She made no
assumptions. She asked him about everything, even the most broken, worn, and obviously useless things. The basket was coming apart in her hands. “Stay or go?”

He laughed. “Go.”

He looked at her. She knelt beside him in a clearing, towers of rubble on either side. His heart filled up and he reached for her hand. “What about you?”

She tipped her head, puzzled.

“Stay or go?”

“Will . . . ” She lifted herself, closed the space between them. She put her head on his shoulder and kissed his neck. “You tell me.”

“Stay.” He held her close. “You’re worth keeping.”

He kissed her, his hands catching in her hair. And they moved, finally, only when the phone rang.

By November, the weather had cooled. Sunbaked side streets were filled with children holding their backpacks by the straps. Pumpkin and squash filled the storefront windows. And the memory of what had happened during the summer began to fade with the falling of the leaves.

In the auditorium of a community college, Lauren adjusted the microphone, which was old when Will had found it in his attic and which now worked only when it was raining or when it didn’t need to be used. She tapped the mesh and a breathy puff reverberated over the rows and rows of empty seats. Will appeared from behind a fortification of boxy black speakers, coming toward her and wiping his palms on his pants.

“Working?” he asked.

“So far,” she said, and her voice boomed through the auditorium. She laughed and stepped back.

“Don’t turn it off,” Will said. “It might not turn on again.”

She heard noise on the roof; it was raining harder now—a cold autumn rain. She worried her lip. “Do you think the weather will keep people away?”

“I don’t think so. Not from something like this.” He stole a moment to wrap his arms around her. She closed her eyes, grateful for the feel and smell of him. Her heart was quiet. His warmth had gotten her through the last few months.

Last night, somewhere around three a.m., while he sat with her at his kitchen table and they sifted through letters upon letters written by incarcerated men, she’d looked up from her work and realized she loved him—and that she had for some time. Who but Will would have so thoroughly and completely supported her when she’d said,
No, thank you
, to more money? When she’d said,
For a while, I’m going to work for charity
? She hadn’t told him yet that she loved him, but she would. Until then, she would hold the knowledge inside her, to savor it—but not for very long.

“What? Is there something in my teeth?” he asked when he pulled back.

She knew she was looking at him funny. And she realized she didn’t need to tell him she loved him for him to know. “They’re fine.”

“Then what are you staring at?”

“Ask me later,” she said.

Eula opened the doors of the auditorium, both at once, and walked inside. She walked alone down the long, long aisle. She wore a fire-red suit, and Will and Lauren both stood up a little straighter. Lauren thought that in another life, Eula must have been royalty.

“Everything set?” Eula asked.

“We’re ready for them,” Will said.

Eula stood close and leaned in. When she spoke, her voice was a whisper. “I’ve got a promise from the fund-raising council that
they’ll match any donations that the kids come up with, until the end of the year.”

“That’s amazing,” Lauren said, pleased. Outside the gym doors, she could hear a loud group of students gathering with parents, teachers, and friends. Some camerapeople from the local news station had come in through a side door and were setting up their tripods.

Eula glanced around the auditorium. “Where’s the main act?”

“Right here,” Arlen called. He’d come in through the handicapped access door on the side of the building, wheeling himself with two strong arms. The bullet had made it difficult for him to walk, but it had not paralyzed him. When he reached Eula, she leaned down to take his arms and help him stand.

“Want to hear my good news? The school is going to match donations that the kids come up with. Isn’t that great?” Eula said.

“That’s fantastic.” Arlen shuffled a few steps to sit on the stool near the mike. “What’ve you got lined up next?”

“Next month, a senior center in Florida. Then a high school in Missouri. And after that, another gig here in Richmond,” Lauren said.

From the back of the auditorium, one of the men was signaling to them, waving his hands. People began to file noisily into the room, their voices loud. Will put his arm around Lauren’s waist and gave her a squeeze. “Got your introduction ready?”

“All set,” she said.

One by one, the children dropped into their seats, some looking to the front of the room, their eyes flashing speculation of what was to come.

“Let’s tell people what happened,” Arlen said.

Thanks once again to everyone who made this book possible: especially Cindy, Kim, Leis, Erin, Rita, and Lee. Thanks to Cathy and Michael for a great tour of Richmond—complete with personalized tour book and visit to the Richmond vampire. Thanks to Betty (a one-woman publicity machine and the best mother-in-law a girl could ask for). Thanks to my family and friends for letting me disappear for months at a time while writing.

Books on body language that helped with this story are
What Every Body Is Saying
by Joe Navarro and
Reading People
by Jo-Ellan Dimitrius and Wendy Patrick Mazzarella. I’ve taken liberties with some minor logistical elements, including the hierarchy of the DA’s office in Albany and their accident procedures. To learn more about joining the fight against wrongful incarceration, visit
www.innocenceproject.org
.

Dear Reader:

I hope you liked
A Promise of Safekeeping
. There’s certainly a lot to talk about in this story! I would love to host your next book club meeting by joining your conversation and by sending you my
A Promise of Safekeeping
book club care package, which includes goodies and adorable antique-looking key charms. If you would like to read
A Promise of Safekeeping
with your friends (and with me!), please see my website for details. Otherwise, enjoy the group discussion questions that follow!

Best,
Lisa Dale

1. All of the characters in
   A Promise of Safekeeping
   hold on to various objects (or they reject objects) for various reasons. Eula stays in the house she bought with Arlen. Will keeps trinkets from his boyhood (which Arlen can’t bring himself to touch). Lauren says she doesn’t hold on to anything (though she takes overly long to delete Edward’s number from her phone). What objects have special meaning in your life? (HINT: For a little extra book club fun, have each reader bring in her object of choice and tell about it!)
   
2. If you could see into people the way Lauren sometimes does, how do you think that ability would affect you? Will can read Lauren as well as she can read him. Discuss the irony in that and also her confusion at being attracted to him physically, despite her thoughts that she only wanted to be friends.
   
3. Early in the novel, Will describes Lauren as “morally deformed.” What does he mean by this, and how will it come to shape his burgeoning feelings for her? Do you think he’s actually reflecting
   on his own issues, or is he confused by his own feelings of having hated her for so many years and now finding her attractive?
   
4. Arlen is anxious and agoraphobic at the beginning of the novel. Discuss the parallel with Lauren and her palpitations.
   
5. Although Lauren and Arlen are two very different characters, they’re connected by a similarity in the sounds of their names. What do you think this means?
   
6. At one point, Lauren talks to a colleague who indicates that “as far as the prosecution was concerned, Arlen’s conviction was proof not of the system’s failure, but of its success.” He believes the jury made the best decision possible given the evidence, and therefore justice was not obstructed. Do you agree?
   
7. Why does Lauren deem it her personal fault that Arlen was convicted and not believe that it was the system at work, as so many people have told her?
   
8. Discuss some of Lauren’s reasons for righting Arlen’s wrongful conviction as you came to read in the book. Do you agree with her need to apologize to Arlen? Would you do the same?
   
9. It’s sometimes said that a person’s greatest talent is also his or her greatest weakness. How does this idea pertain to the characters in this story?
   
10. Throughout the novel, the author explores themes of keeping, holding, hoarding, and locking away. And yet, it is not always secrets that are being hidden and kept, but rather something
    more fundamental. What is each character holding on to? How do they learn to let go?
    
11. When Lauren finally goes to Will’s home, she admires his key collection and understands why he likes them. Do you agree or disagree with her assessment and why?
    
12. Lauren and Will both know secrets about each other that no one else knows. Discuss what this says about their individual character and their pride.
    
13. Discuss how the lessons at the beginning of each chapter relate to the story. What are your favorites and why?
    
14. Maisie, talking about Richmond as a city with a difficult past, tells Lauren: “When there are no answers, a person learns to live with the questions.” What does this mean? Do Lauren’s actions indicate that she agrees with this idea? What do you think of it?
    
15. At one point, Will accuses Lauren of hoarding behavior. He says, “Everybody’s got a safety blanket. It’s just that mine collects dust.” Is he right? What are the parallels of their self-preservation strategies?
    
16. Discuss the idea that Will is emotionally attached to Lauren like he is to one of his antiques. Does he prefer the polished Lauren that he’d sell in his shop, or the real gem that he would keep on his second floor, only for him?
    
17. Lauren and Will’s first serious sexual encounter is surprising to both of them. Why? When Lauren goes to Will’s house the night
    before she leaves Richmond, what changes that closes their emotional distance?
    
18. Chapter 13 begins with: “It had always seemed to Lauren the important decisions in life stored themselves up until the last possible moment . . .” Has this ever happened to you?
    
19. Early on in the story, when Arlen steps out of the antiques shop for the first time, he toys with the idea that freedom is about not caring. Later, when Arlen saves Lauren’s life, he finally understands what freedom means to him. What does it mean? What enables him to reach that realization?
    
20. Will describes himself as “fundamentally alone,” which he means as who he really is, the hoarder. Why do you think Will aligns himself with this thinking? And why does it take Lauren to make him want to change?
    
21. When in the story did you realize that Will has a hoarding problem? Is Will’s hoarding endemic of something missing in his life? Why doesn’t he think he can lead a normal life? Discuss why Will is relieved when Lauren finally knows his secret.
    
22. Did you see the ending coming—that Lauren was in danger?
    
23. After Lauren’s time in Richmond, where she actually ceased her workaholic mentality, why does she still feel the need to follow a path that is no longer right for her? Is she doing it for herself or to make other people happy? Discuss.
    
24. An early draft of
    A Promise of Safekeeping
    had a much different, darker ending. In that version, Arlen doesn’t recover from his
    wound. How do you feel about the final version of the ending? Was it the right ending for the book?
    
25. Truth is a major theme of the book—both real and perceived. Discuss how each character took a perceived truth and made it real to him or herself.