Page 65 of Right Place, Right Time (Second Chances)
Chapter Thirty-Three
Kate
I’m still lying in a heap on my floor when Casey comes in.
“Kate?” Her voice is full of concern, and it makes me cry harder. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. We didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to overhear.” She’s on the floor beside me now, rubbing my back. It’s a gesture a mother would make to comfort her child, I guess, if I had any idea what a caring mother was like.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“He left me,” I sob.
“I know, hun. I’m sorry.”
“I love him.”
“I know you do. I think he loves you, too. I think he’s just scared. I don’t think he meant the things he said.”
“Then why say them?”
“Because he was afraid. Afraid of being with you…afraid of hurting you…afraid of losing you. That’s how it was for me when things got real intense with Decker. I was scared to death that my secrets would hurt Decker, so I pushed him away.”
I remember just a few weeks ago when Casey and Decker had gotten into their fight right before Casey ended up in the hospital. She’d pushed him away because he was getting too close to finding out the truth, and she’d freaked out.
“But Jay isn’t hiding anything, Case. I already know all his secrets.”
She’s silent for a moment, then asks, “Was he really in prison?”
I sit up, wanting to look her in the eyes and see her reaction to what I say. I haven’t told anyone about Jay’s past, it’s not relevant to his future—or to mine—but Casey is my best friend. If I’m going to tell anyone, it’ll be her.
“Yes,” I say, waiting for a reaction. When I don’t get one, I relax. See? It’s not the end of the world. Why couldn’t Jay just see that? Not everyone is going to judge him poorly. At least not those who matter.
“What happened?”
I adjust my position so my back is resting against my bed, and my knees are pulled up to my chest. Casey mimics my position beside me. Taking a deep breath, I tell Casey the truth.
“Jay didn’t always hang out with the best people. One night, shortly after we’d first met, he stopped at a gas station on his way home. It was in a not-so-great part of town, but it was close to the apartment he shared with his brother. He came out of the store after paying, and bumped into an old friend of his. The friend asked Jay for a ride, so Jay gave him one. The guy had a black duffel bag with him and was acting all paranoid; Jay just figured he was on something.”
“Like drugs?” Casey asks with wide eyes. If only that was the worst of it…
I nod my head. “Yeah. Jay didn’t do drugs, but he used to hang out with some guys who did, and he was a bit of a troublemaker. His brother—Mac—is a cop, and he’d been trying to straighten Jay out. It was working, and he was steering clear of that crowd, but he’s a nice guy, and he didn’t think there would be any harm in driving a friend home. Anyway, they had just left the convenience store parking lot when he got pulled over. His friend started freaking out, trying to stuff the bag under the seat.”
Casey’s eyes widen again. “What was in the bag?”
“Money and guns.”
“What?!” her mouth drops.
“Turns out his friend had robbed a pawn shop a couple hours earlier. A video camera caught an image of his friend at the pawn shop, and the cop had spotted the guy getting into Jay’s car at the gas station. Jay’s brother was one of the cops that showed up on the scene.”
“But how did Jay end up in jail? He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“He told them he had no idea, but was his word against theirs. With his history of being a troublemaker, they didn’t believe him. And his friend didn’t say anything to the contrary. In fact, he said Jay had been waiting to give him a ride after the robbery.”
“What a dick!” Casey shrieks.
“Yeah,” I nod.
“His brother didn’t believe him?”
