Page 36 of Crossroads of Betrayal
“Okay, little kitty. I got you.” He filled the food dish to the brim then replenished the water. “She’s a sweet cat,” he said, making his way back to Grace.
Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was slow and even. She’d always been able to fall asleep at a moment’s notice. Being through hell physically and emotionally probably helped as well. The sound of the cat scarfing down her food combined with Grace’s soft snores.
Should he leave? He hated sneaking away without saying goodbye, especially when she was hurt. The doctor had assured her nothing was broken and she didn’t have to stay off her feet—although rest was recommended—but he hated the idea of her waking up in pain with no one to help.
A quick glance at the microwave mounted above the stove told him it was only early evening. Ruby was back with Tucker, and he had nowhere to be. He could either sit here for a while, or head back to his cabin alone. Grace might not like him hanging out at her place while she slept, but he couldn’t leave her.
Decision made, he crossed over the tiled floor to the stainless-steel fridge and searched for a beer. Grace might be a different woman than the one who left him high and dry, but some things never changed. And Grace’s penchant for an ice-cold beer after a long, hard day clearly wasn’t one of them. He grabbed a bottle by the neck and strolled out to the deck. He dragged a cushioned chair to the corner where he could enjoy the view of the mountains as well as keep an eye on Grace.
He used the edge of the railing to crack open his beer then took a long sip, relishing the coolness of the ale as it slid down his throat. The hit of alcohol helped calm his nerves, but he couldn’t settle down—couldn’t calm the constant quiver in his chest. Needing to talk to someone, he slid his phone from his pocket and dialed Penelope.
“Hey there, stranger. Still mad at me?” Penelope asked when she answered.
Hearing his friend’s voice loosened the emotional tentacles strangling his insides. “I was never mad.”
“Really?”
“Okay, maybe a little. I don’t know what I am now.” He stared through the cluster of trees surrounding Grace’s backyard and wished the warm rays of the setting sun could force themselves through the tangle of limbs and chase away the chilly air.
“Better than before you got there?”
He blew out a long breath. “More confused. In a lot more trouble. Trying to wade through the muck of emotions, find a way to break through Grace’s concrete walls, and make sure I don’t get arrested for some poor woman’s murder.”
“Wait. Back up a second. What murder?”
Propping his feet on the railing, he told Penelope everything. Working through the issues in his head as he spoke them out loud. He and Grace had been entangled in so much turmoil with a giant heap of unresolved conflict on top they couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. Getting things off his chest and discussing them with Pen helped him sort things out.
“Wow,” Pen said when he’d unloaded everything. “Let’s attack this one problem at a time. Start with the investigation. There’s clearly no evidence that points directly at you, or you’d be calling me from a jail cell.”
He snorted. “Don’t worry. That call might come sooner than you think.”
“Have you and Grace made any headway in figuring out who killed that woman and tried to hit her with a truck?”
“Not really. We haven’t even discussed the attack in detail. Grace fell asleep once we got back to her house. But she mentioned wanting to dig deeper into Tessa’s background. Why she was here. If anyone had a clear motive to hurt her.”
“You’re at her place?”
He could practically see Penelope’s eyebrows hike to her hairline with the question. “I drove her home from the hospital. She fell asleep and I didn’t want to just take off.”
“What’s it like being there? She still the same old Grace?” A hint of nostalgia weighed down her voice.
“Her kitchen’s a mess, if that’s what you mean.”
Pen huffed out a puff of laughter.
He took another drink then rubbed a hand over the back of his head. “I’m shaken. To the core. I can see what our life could have been. Our cabin in the woods, sitting on the deck drinking a beer after work, chilling with the cat.”
“She’s got a cat?”
He smiled at the shriek. “Shocked me too. I don’t know if she’s changed as much as it appears at first glance, or if the Grace we know is stuffed down deep in there somewhere. I see glimpses of her. The witty sense of humor. The warmth and concern she always had for others. A sliver of vulnerability. But then it’s like a door slammed.”
“How so?”
“She’s distant with everyone, not just me. Hell, it doesn’t seem like she’s told her friends around here anything about her past. Smiles are hard to coax out of her, and she avoids any conversations about us or what brought her here.”
A large bird swooped down and landed on the railing. Zeke stilled, not wanting to spook the animal and force it to fly away. Same thing as he’d been doing with Grace since he’d gotten here.
“When I saw her on the ground, injured and scared, all I wanted to do was help. Her friends didn’t know who I was, and I told them I was her husband.” A lump lodged in his throat. “Even when I clarified I was her ex, they were still shocked. She withdrew after that. Any progress we’d made completely vanished.”
