“Did your dad talk to you?”
I turn back. “Yeah, he did.”
“And are you moving out?”
I bite my cheek trying not to grin. “Soon.”
“Great. Nice living with you.” She disappears into their bedroom and slams the door.
I shake my head and sink down at the kitchen table.
I can feel Kellen’s hands on my hips. His lips against my neck. His voice in my ear and his body against mine and the happy heart-palpitating joy I felt at being with him, even for a short time. It was strange how we went from hating each other, to working together, to this dizzying infatuation, this intense physical wanting laced through with a deeper emotional connection. He understood me in ways nobody else ever will, and I understand him better than I think anyone else in the world. We fit together, shockingly, improbably, and we were given only a little while to enjoy it before everything was torn away.
I thought I might be happy for a little while.
That’s dead and gone. I’m a husk of a human now. Barely here, barely alive. Janet can hate me. Dad can try to throw me out. I don’t care.
Nothing matters.
I shove the newspaper away and lean forward, face in my hands. I could cry, but I’ve been crying for two weeks straight, and it doesn’t change anything. I feel as empty after sobbing my guts out and throwing up in the bathroom as I did before, so why bother? Why bother with anything?
I hear a car door slam outside. It could be Dad forgot his wallet, or maybe Janet called and told him to make sure I was really going, or maybe it was a neighbor, but then someone knocks at the door.
I hesitate, glaring at the door like it interrupted me. I want to sit here and wallow in my misery, it’s the only thing I feel anymore, but the door won’t let me. Janet’s not going to emerge from that room for another hour—it’s her normal morning nap—so I get up and answer it.
I stand there in total shock.
Albert, Kellen’s family lawyer, smiles at me and wipes his forehead with a handkerchief. He’s in a full-on suit in the Florida heat and already sweating because of the ten-foot walk from his rental.
“Hello, Tara,” he says, smiling awkwardly. “I’m sure you didn’t expect me. You weren’t easy to track down, you know. I had to follow up with your family, find out where your father was, chase a few leads—”
“Albert. What are you doing here?”
He clears his throat. “Business, I’m afraid. Can I come in? It’s horrible out here. Worse than back home. I didn’t know it got any worse, but here we are. God, why does anyone live in Florida?”
“I ask myself that question all the time. Right, okay, come in.” He ambles past me and I lead him to the kitchen. “It’s the humidity. They always say the dry heat isn’t as bad and I didn’t really get it until now. When it’s like this out there, it can be ninety and feel like twenty degrees hotter.”
“Miserable place. Do you get alligators?” He frowns out the back window at the fenced-in yard. “I hear there are alligators all over the place down here.”
“No, well, sort of, my dad’s community has a gator guy that drives around in a golf cart with a tranquilizer gun and shoots the gators and drags them off before they’re a problem. I think I’ve seen one or two since coming here and only at a distance. The gator guy’s pretty good.”
Albert gapes at me. “Are you serious?”
“I wish I weren’t. Want something? Tea maybe? How about some iced tea?”
“That’d be wonderful, thank you so much.” He places his briefcase down on the table and pops it open as I pour two glasses.
My heart’s racing fast. If Albert’s here, that means this is about the contract we signed. There’s no other reason why a lawyer would show up at my doorstep. That means this is about Kellen, and right now I’m dying for a taste of that man again, even if I don’t deserve it, and I don’t know where this is going, but suddenly a piece of hope blooms in my otherwise withered and broken heart.
Kellen is still out there and he’s still thinking about me.
But I was sent away for a good reason. I poisoned and killed Kellen’s father. Even though we both know Orin Hayle was a real piece of shit and deserved what he got, how could Kellen not punish me for it? I murdered a member of his family. I betrayed his trust by not telling him from the start.
I deserved to be shot for what I did. It was a mercy that he didn’t. Another proof that what we had was real, if brief.
But my suffering is too deep, and all I want is Kellen again, even if I know I can never have him.
I place one glass in front of Albert and sit down across from him. “What can I do for you?” I ask as I take a sip.