Page 33 of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

I stared at her, agape. “You seriously want to hire Summer Butler?Are you kidding?”

“Do you want to hire the other guy? He was too busy looking at your breasts to even hear what you were saying.”

“Well, I didn’t say much,” I snapped. “You did plenty of talking for both of us.”

Belinda gave me a look that was equal parts frustration and disappointment. “We can go home if you like. Or we can try to salvage what’s left of the weekend. We’re only a couple of hours from the Gulf of Mexico. We could find a hotel on the beach and lie around getting tan and reading beach novels, but I honestly think you’ll regret it if you don’t get some kind of closure about your mother.”

She was right and we both knew it, but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to admit it. “Fine. Call Summer if you want. Get your answers.”

She gave me a hug, gently pulling me to her and holding me close. “Everything’s going to be okay, Magnolia. I promise.”

“No one can promise that,” I said, sounding like a sullen teenager.

She grabbed my upper arms and stretched back to look at me. “You just have to give it time. Maybe you need more space away from Franklin and Nashville. If you sell this land, maybe you and Colt could take a real vacation. Go away for several weeks and hope things die down with Mo and Molly and their stupid podcast.” She hesitated. “You could even consider moving away.”

“Away from you?” I asked in horror. “I need you, Belinda. You and Colt have been my rock through all of this, even though I know you’ve surely struggled to deal with all of this too. You were there at the end of this mess. That had to be traumatic for you too. You saw me…” I paused. Dr. Norton told me how important it was to not bury the trauma, but to give it voice. “You saw me covered in blood, practically from head to toe. And you saw Colt with a bullet in his chest, and you saw me shoot my father. You can’t have witnessed something like that and escaped unscathed.”

She gave me a soft smile. “I’ve seen a therapist a time or two, but honestly, Owen has been there for me, much more than I ever expected. He understands what we went through, and he not only lets me talk and talkand talk—he listens. That’s more than your brother ever did.”

That wasn’t saying much.

“I’m not moving away from you,” I repeated. “Besides, Colt still dreams of hitting it big in country music, and Franklin and Nashville are where he needs to be to make that happen. I wouldnevertake that from him. Not after everything he’s done for me.”

She smiled at me, her eyes tender. “Things will get easier as time goes on. You’ll likely suffer from PTSD for the rest of your life, but you’ll learn to handle it. That’s what Owen told me, and he was right. It rarely bothers me nowadays.”

Shame washed over me as I realized that she’d experienced PTSD and I hadn’t been aware of it, although I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I’d been too lost in my own battles. “You’re right. I’m healing. I’m already much better than I was when I woke up in the hospital. Don’t mind me. I’m being a baby.”

“You’re not,” she said, “but I also feel like maybe I’m forcing you to do too much out of your comfort zone. That it’s doing more harm than good. If you want to go home, we can go.”

I stared at the house, feeling torn. I really did want to see Colt, but I was also curious about my mother’s past. “I wonder if all of my grandparents’ belongings are inside.”

“Do you want me to go in and look?” she asked in excitement.

“Maybe…”

“Actually,” she said, “I’m going to make a call. I’ll be right back.” She pulled out her phone and headed toward the house, only talking for about a half minute as she peered through the windows. After she hung up, she headed back toward me. “The place looks fully furnished, but it very much looks like it wasabandoned. In any case, Chief Montgomery is headed out here to do a walk-through and make sure it’s safe.”

I gave her a blank look. “Chief Montgomery?”

“The police chief. He said he was more than happy to help and that he was in the area. He’ll be here in ten minutes or less.”

“He’s going to think we’re nutcases.”

“No, he said he thought it was a good idea since the property has been abandoned for so long.”

I suspected he was placating us, but I wasn’t opposed to him checking out the house first. “You do realize that we’ve met him already,” I said. “He’s Summer’s boyfriend.”

“It’s a small town and I suspect there aren’t many officers,” Belinda said, leaning her butt against the car as her gaze swept over the land. “I still find it hard to picture Lila here.”

I leaned next to her. “Same.”

Chief Montgomery arrived a little over five minutes later, holding a flashlight as he climbed out of his SUV. He was a good-looking man, so it was easy to see why Summer was interested in him.

“Ms. Steele and Ms. Steele,” he said in a friendly tone as he approached. “How about I go in first and make sure everything’s okay, then stick around while you walk through?”

“Thank you, Chief Montgomery,” Belinda said, pushing away from the car and walking toward him. “You have no idea how much we appreciate your assistance.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he said, flicking on the flashlight. “Y’all wait out here.”

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