“I didn’t want to fight about it.”
She’d told him Robert wouldn’t be able to hang on to a job, especially one that required a commute. Robert couldn’t even keep regular hours. He stayed up until dawn, then slept past noon. “What’s he doing now?”
“I’ve told him he has to get a job by the first of next month or I’m kicking him out.”
Karen would’ve been thrilled by this news, except she’d been through this cycle too many times. John would never follow through. He’d give Robert another chance and another and another….
“How are you and Cain getting along?” she asked.
A muscle flexed in his cheek as he held his fork in midair, and she clasped her fingers nervously in her lap. It was a risk just bringing up Cain’s name. But she felt she owed him something. After what she’d done twelve years ago, she and Cain could never be friends, but she could use her influence to try and make things better between him and his stepfather. “I don’t want to talk about Cain,” he said as if he’d already made that clear enough.
“I’m just asking how you’re getting along. That’s not a big deal, is it?” She averted her gaze as she picked up her glass.
“I pretty much avoid him.”
That didn’t surprise her. “So you haven’t asked him how he thinks the rifle ended up where it did?”
“Why would I? You figure he’s going to admit to killing Jason?”
“I don’t believe he killed Jason.”
“And that’s why I don’t want to talk about it. You stick up for him every time I have something to say.”
The accusation rankled. “I’m trying to help,” she said. “You told me you haven’t been sleeping.”
“That’s nothing new. I’ve had trouble sleeping for years. You know that.”
She did know. That was the excuse he’d given her for staying away over the past several weeks. He said it helped him relax to be able to go out and work in his shed on his metal animals. Or he’d say he didn’t want to keep her up with his tossing and turning. Bottom line, he was so preoccupied with blaming Cain that it was taking a toll on his health and creating stress in all his relationships. Including theirs. “I’m worried about you,” she said frankly.
His expression lightened for the first time that evening as he reached across the table to take her hand. “Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? I know you get depressed sometimes, over Jason. Is that what this is about?”
“I’m fine,” he said again and gave her fingers a squeeze. “I love you. I’ve loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”
She smiled because she couldn’t say the same. When she’d met him, he’d been cleaning her classroom at Whiterock High. She’d been twenty-seven; he was forty-two. She’d felt his interest right away but hadn’t returned it. He was raising four boys, all of whom were closer to her age than he was—two of them became her students. And he was married to a woman who was dying of cancer.
She’d largely ignored his calls and letters. It wasn’t just his situation at home that put her off. She’d been far more attracted to his charismatic stepson, who always sat in the back row of her class….
“Are we having dessert?” John asked.
Suddenly, Karen wanted to make love. It’d been too long. She needed reassurance—reassurance that John didn’t know and would never find out the one thing that would, without doubt, destroy their relationship. “Let’s have it at my place,” she said.
It was late, but for the first time since the attack, Sheridan couldn’t sleep. She kept hearing Robert’s statement read aloud, kept hearing Amy proclaim that Cain had shot Jason out of jealousy. But that wasn’t true.
She’d simply tell everyone what had happened and take full responsibility for it. She knew she’d have some explaining to do when her parents heard, and she felt terrible about the shame and embarrassment it would bring them. But if Cain was guilty of anything, it was abusing his sex appeal, not murdering his stepbrother.
She’d call Amy right now.
Leaning on the furniture and against the walls to stay upright, she got out of bed. Her balance was improving. It wasn’t as difficult to walk as it had been just yesterday. Or maybe it was because of the drive she felt to control Amy’s reaction to Robert’s statement before this witch hunt could get any more out of hand. Either way, she made it to the living room and found Cain’s phone easily enough. She didn’t know Amy’s number, but she was willing to reimburse him for a call to information.
Because she didn’t have anything to write with, and her short-term memory wasn’t what it used to be, she repeated the number over and over until she dialed it. Then the phone rang and she waited, eager to set the record straight.
But it wasn’t Amy who answered. It was a man.
“’Lo?”
Sheridan paused. Had she dialed wrong? She didn’t think so. “Is Amy there?”
“Who’s this?”
“Sheridan Kohl.”
“Sheridan.” There was a soft laugh. “This is Tiger.”
Of course. She remembered Cain’s telling her that Amy and Tiger were seeing each other. Judging by the sleep in his voice and his confidence in answering Amy’s phone, they were serious. “Hello, Tiger. How are you?”
“Better than when I knew you before, I can tell you that much.”
Sheridan chose not to respond to the verbal jab. “I need to speak with Amy, if I could.”
“I’m afraid she’s pretty tired. She spent the whole evening laughing her ass off over the fact that your secret is out. The Virgin Queen was screwing Cain Granger. I found it amusing, too.”
Sheridan swallowed hard. “That’s what I want to talk to her about.”
“Tell me something,” he said.
She gripped the phone tighter at his intimate tone. “What?”
“Was it worth it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I need to speak with Amy.”
“I’m talking about you and Cain.” Obviously, he wasn’t going to pass Amy the phone until he’d exacted a bit of revenge. “Was it worth breaking up with a guy who really loved you so you could screw someone who didn’t give a shit about you?”
Sheridan drew a deep breath. Don’t react. There’ll be more. A lot more. Tiger was just at the front of the line. “You’re right,” she said. “Cain didn’t give a shit about me. He got what he wanted and moved on. Does it help to hear me acknowledge it?”