Page 107 of The Man Next Door
“Where is she now?”
“Staying with some fool she met in a bar. She’ll use him up and then move on. But not back to my place. I took all her crap to her and told her I’m done enabling her. If she needs a place to crash, she can go crash with her sister in Montana.”
So that was what he was doing the night Louise had seen him hauling all those things to his truck, making sure Angela didn’t have an excuse to come back.
“Sounds like she has issues,” Zona said.
He let out a long breath. “She creates them for everyone around her. I’ve run out of patience with her, and I’m tired of being used.”
“I can identify with that,” Zona said. “People will always use you if you let them. Why did you let her use you in the first place?” It was a judgmental question, and she was certainly in no position to judge. “Sorry, that was tacky.”
“Nah. It’s a question I’ve asked myself more than once. Our parents are dead. Her older sister got married and moved away and then I was the only one left.” He gave a grunt of disgust. “Dad loved the girls, especially Angela. And after my stepmom died, they were all he had left of her. Ariel wasn’t too bad, but Angela was another story. He refused to see she had problems and kept making excuses for her and indulging her. She’s never had to grow up and accept responsibility for her behavior. She’s always a victim. Whatever is going wrong it’s always someone else’s fault.”
“And yet, there she was, in your life.”
“When Dad died, he saddled me with her. Deathbed promise and all.”
“As in watch over little Angela?”
“Something like that. But little Angela is out of control, and, like I said, I’m done.”
No wonder he’d been yelling, and no wonder he’d had that angry air about him. It had started about the time the red PT Cruiser had showed up. And then along had come Zona and her mom, adding to his misery.
“I never hit her,” he said, “no matter what you might have heard.”
“So you told me.”
“Not sure you believe me. Look, I was a jerk at times. Angela was driving me nuts and...” He let out another long breath. “That’s no excuse for how I’ve been acting. I’ve beensour as a Meyer lemon ever since she showed up on my doorstep. I thought I was rid of her, figured she wouldn’t want to be here in the burbs, figured she’d stay in LA where the action is.”
“Why did she show up on your doorstep?”
“Because her latest boyfriend dumped her. She played on my sympathy. Again. So I took her in. Again. But then I discovered the whole credit card thing.” He shook his head and let out a long breath. “I’d been busy with moving, sorting stuff out. She’d come over one day tohelpme,” he said, using air quotes. “I didn’t realize she’d been snooping and helping herself to my information and my plastic. After I saw the bills she’d racked up, I have to admit, I wanted to throttle her. But I do have some self-control.”
“She was just back again. We saw her.”Watching from the window like the nosy neighbors we are.
“It was a short visit. She wanted to move back in and I said no. So, how about it? Can we start over?” he asked, his expression earnest. “I don’t need your mother searching my yard for dead bodies anymore.”
Neither did Zona. They’d had quite enough neighborhood drama.
“Okay. Hi, I’m Zona Hartman,” she said, and held out her hand.
“Hi, I’m Alec James. Nice to meet you.”
He took her hand in his large one and there went the live wire. She felt the jolt clear up to her chest.
“So, how about that burger? Lunch tomorrow? Our personal détente.”
Having lunch with this man could prove risky to her emotional health. “Just a lunch. Nothing more?”
“I’m not asking you to the prom, Zona. You did say you wanted to pay me back, didn’t you?”
Money was safer.
But it was only burgers. And she did owe him for rescuingher. “Okay, lunch tomorrow. The In-N-Out on Lone Hill. Meet you there at one.”
“I’ll leave my hatchet at home,” he cracked.
“OH, MY,” LOUISEsaid weakly when Zona shared her conversation with Alec about his stepsister the next morning.
