Page 59 of The Night Before (Savannah 1)

God, this was hard. She watched a drop of rain drizzle down the glass. “Maybe I should amend that statement. We’re all sure they’re at least our half-cousins. Maybe more.” She turned to face him and expected some kind of censure in his eyes, a hint of revulsion, or, at the very least judgment, but his expression was the same as it had been, serious enough to etch lines across his forehead, but not enough to pinch the corners of his mouth. “You see, my father, Cameron, opted to pick up where his father left off. He met Copper through Benedict, who doted on Mary Lou until the day she died. Meanwhile, my father, who’s already married to my mother, decides to have a fling with Copper. His half-sister.” The thought turned her stomach. “There’s even a rumor slinking through this city that at least one of Copper’s children was sired by my father, maybe all three.” Caitlyn leaned her hips against the windowsill and didn’t let herself think about the times she’d stood at her open window and had seen shadows on the lawn, silhouettes of illicit lovers meeting, heard the soft moans of passion along with the wind stirring the field grass. “I guess there’s a reason my grandmother went batty,” she said. “First her husband cheating on her, then her only son involved in incest. I think she used to talk a lot about ‘bad blood’ running through the family.”

“What happened to her?”

In Caitlyn’s mind’s eye, she saw her grandmother’s coffin as it was lowered into the ground, felt an overwhelming sense of relief as she’d stood huddled with Kelly, her eyes dry. “She lived in Oak Hill, that’s the name of the family home. It’s a big house, one of the few plantations close to Savannah. We all grew up there, and Nana lived with us. She died when I was around five. On Christmas Eve. At the hunting lodge the family owns in West Virginia.” She considered leaving it at that, but couldn’t. After all, she was here for a reason. She couldn’t doubt him. If she wanted to get better, she had to tell him the crux of her problems. “I have trouble with my memory sometimes, Dr. Hunt—”

“Adam. Remember? We’re going to keep things informal. I’ll call you Caitlyn and you call me Adam, if that works for you.”

“That would be fine. Adam.” She tested out his name, managing the weakest of smiles, and then plunged on before she lost her nerve. “As I said, I have trouble remembering things, periods that are unclear and not even blurry—just missing. Holes in my life. It’s frustrating and scary and I never know when it’ll happen. It’s . . . it’s beyond a worry. Way beyond. It’s the primary reason I was seeing Rebecca . . . Dr. Wade.”

“I know,” he said with a kind smile that she found surprisingly sexy. “I did see that in one of her files.”

“Did you?” she asked, surprised. “I thought you said you didn’t have any files.” Don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious, don’t be so damned suspicious! This man is trying to help you.

“You must’ve misunderstood.” He was calm, staring straight at her through his rimless lenses. “What I said was that there wasn’t anything on the computer. The computer files, if there were any, are completely erased.”

“That’s impossible. I saw her typing her notes . . . maybe she put them on disks.”

“So far I haven’t found them.”

“Wouldn’t she want you to have them if you’re going to help her patients?”

“I would think so. As you said, maybe they’re on disks somewhere.” He mentioned it casually, but she noticed a new hardness in his features, a hint of determination bracketing his mouth. “I did find some of Rebecca’s handwritten notes. But they’re incomplete.”

“That’s so odd. She seemed meticulous to me . . . was always clarifying things.”

“When I talk to her again, I’ll figure it out.”

“She’s going to call you?”

“I would hope,” he said but there was a trace of a shadow in his eyes, a lie, she sensed, buried in the truth.

She was suddenly uncomfortable. Wary. What did she know of him? “So if you’ve got the files, why am I going over things you probably already know about?”

“Because the information in the files is spotty at best and I would like to get my own impression of those things you’re telling me.” He slid his pad and pen into the desk, then leaned forward, hands locked and dangling between his knees, his gaze as friendly as it was seductive.

That was the problem with her, she was attracted to the kind of men born to hurt her. Like Josh Bandeaux.

“Listen, Caitlyn, if what we’re doing here doesn’t feel right, then I think I should refer you to someone else. There’s a chance you’d be more comfortable with a woman.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because it’s what you’re used to with Rebecca.”

She couldn’t start over. Not again. This was tough enough. Besides, whether she wanted to admit it or not, she liked being with him. Felt safe and sheltered, which, of course, was silly. What did she know of him? To reassure herself, she glanced at the degrees hung on the office walls.

He must’ve read the indecision in her eyes. “I really want to know what you feel is important to talk about. A lot has happened since you saw Dr. Wade.”

That much was true. Truer than he realized.

“But if you want to see someone else . . .” he offered.

“No,” she said quickly. Decisively. The next unknown shrink could be worse, far worse, and then where would she be? On to the next counselor and then the next. It had taken her nearly a year to find Rebecca, and not because she was the highest priced, but because she was a warm and caring person. She and Caitlyn had clicked immediately. Now Caitlyn felt a connection to Adam. She’d stick it out. For now. “Let’s go on,” she said. “I need to get some things off my chest.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am,” she said, but it was a bald-faced lie. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Not one damned thing.

“Okay, so tell me about your grandmother, Evelyn.” Adam offered Caitlyn a reassuring smile, showing just the hint of his teeth, then glanced down at his notes again as he picked up the legal pad. “You mentioned her and your lapses of memory just about in the same breath.”

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