After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 41

December 21, 1992. 3:21 PM.

The last couple hours of the trial went by painfully slow. It was hard for Ralph not to listen given that they were talking about someone he knew well, with other people he knew well. But what made it hard for him to focus was how shaken up he was by his conversation with Evan in the bathroom. Ralph never acted like it or even admitted it aloud, but he was afraid of Evan Merridew, even more so than the kid he actually beat on was. Evan was the very first adult in Ralph's life who he knew was unquestionably a bad and dangerous person. Evan was the first adult Ralph was ever really afraid to be alone with. And the ironic thing was that Jack was once the first kid Ralph was ever really afraid to be alone with.

Or perhaps it wasn't that ironic at all.

Thinking about how his breath got stuck in his throat when Evan came into the bathroom earlier made it harder than usual for Ralph to focus on the testimony that afternoon. The last couple witnesses for the day were two other authority figures in Larry's life who Barnes called to attest to his violent tendencies. And as expected, Reynolds' cross-examinations intended to establish that Larry's aggression didn't set him apart from non-murderous kids at all, or that the incidents were merely one-offs attributed to nothing more than a bad day.

Judge Eldeson adjourned court a few minutes before five in the afternoon. Sometimes, depending on how long the different testimonies took, they would get off a few minutes before or after the scheduled time. Today, it was a few minutes before, and not a moment too soon if you asked Jack.

Jack Merridew would sometimes pretend to be dumber than he was to avoid the expectations that came with being smart. Currently, he was pretending that he didn't know the real reason his dad came back to court after being absent for the majority of the first three weeks. Brett Winslow surely told him how poorly his long-term absence would reflect on their family, which could hurt Jack's case, which could hurt the Merridew family name and its growing fortune.

But still, if you saw the way Jack's eyes lit up when Evan returned to Savannah on Sunday night, you would never know that he knew better.

Evan was quick to abandon the kids in the lobby when they got back to the hotel after court that day. He mumbled to Paige that she could come stay in his room later in the night if she needed before he disappeared behind the door leading to the stairwell.

"I can stay in your room" Paige insisted as she looked down at her brother, ignoring how hard it was for him to stay composed in the face of Evan's rejection.

"Do what you want" Jack said with certainty, glancing up at her. "Doesn't matter to me either way."

What Jack and Evan failed to see was that the two of them could retreat to their own rooms, to their own sides, at the end of the business day. But Paige was in the middle, and always had been. And now that they had two separate rooms on two separate floors, she didn't really feel like either one was her own. She was either with Jack or with Evan. There was no common ground, no mutual territory, no switzerland for her to stand on. So as usual, she took Jack's side. Paige never would've said it out loud because Jack would undoubtedly deny it, but she knew he needed her more than Evan did.

"I'm coming then" she answered her dismissive brother before following him into the elevator up to the fifth floor. As they walked past the Langley family's room, Jack hesitated ever so subtly. If you didn't know him as well as Paige did, you might not have even noticed it.

"So things are really over between you and Ralph? For real this time?" Paige asked when they were back in the privacy of their room.