“Over my dead body.” Audra deactivated her car alarm, which automatically unlocked her car. “Have a good afternoon, Sheriff.”
Audra climbed into her car and pulled out of the parking lot. She was anxious to get Wendell in her rearview mirror. Hopefully, he’d be decent enough to listen to her and leave town. But in the meantime, he’d told her he’d met Jack. Audra had a shiver of unease.
What did Wendell tell him?
Jack looked at his watch. Only four minutes had elapsed since his last time check. Why was he pacing Audra’s porch like a lovesick puppy? He had cabins to renovate and accounting ledgers to update. He couldn’t spend the afternoon wearing a path in front of Audra’s cabin. But he couldn’t concentrate on work, either. His mind kept going back to his meeting with Wendell Weber—what kind of name was that?—and what the other man’s arrival in Trinity Falls meant to his final eleven days with Audra.
The air was thick and heavy. Jack leaned against the porch railing. Even in the shade, he felt as though he were standing in a microwave. He wiped sweat from his brow and checked his watch again. Only seconds had passed. Jack had had enough. He straightened from the railing and jogged down the porch stairs. He followed the graveled path from Audra’s cabin. His mind wandered as he traveled his customary trail home. Where is she? Who is she with? What is she doing?
The familiarity of his main cabin pulled him from his musings. Jack mounted the stairs. His limbs felt heavy from the day’s heat and frustration. He crossed the porch and pushed open the front door.
The sight of the woman in front of the registration counter brought him up short. “Can I help you?”
Kerry Dunn Green looked at him over her shoulder. She tossed back her straight, dark brown hair. “You shouldn’t leave your door unlocked.”
The buzzing started in Jack’s ears. His heart raced as he was yanked back in time. “What the hell are you doing here?” He pulled the door closed behind him.
“I was leaving you a note.” She glanced at the counter. “But I guess I don’t need to now. Isaac and I were invited to participate in the Founders Day Celebration.” She turned to Jack.
His gaze dropped to her stomach. The ground seemed to shift. “You’re pregnant.”
“Yes. Six months.” Kerry’s ginger brown cheeks pinkened. She settled her hands on her rounded stomach.
Jack would have considered the gesture protective if his ex-wife had had a maternal bone in her body.
“You got pregnant less than a year after Zoey’s death?” He leaned against the door and crossed his arms. “Do you expect me to congratulate you?”
“No, I don’t.” Kerry’s response was resigned.
Jack wasn’t appeased. Kerry hadn’t been with him as he’d watched their child die. Now she was having a child with another man. Did she think Zoey could be replaced? “I hope for this child’s sake, she or he is a healthy baby. Maybe then, you’ll keep her.”
Hurt and anger flashed across Kerry’s brown eyes. “That’s not fair, Jack.”
“No, Kerry, it wasn’t.” He straightened from the door. His tone made it clear it was Kerry’s actions and not Jack’s accusation that was unfair. “Why are you here?”
“I told you. Isaac and I are here for Founders Day.”
“I mean, here.” He stabbed a finger toward the ground. “In my cabin.”
Kerry looked away. She drew her hand through her dark brown hair as her eyes bounced around the wide, barren room. “Why don’t you have any chairs for people to sit on?”
“Because I don’t want them to stay.” Jack gave her a pointed look.
She shook her head as though exasperated. “I’m here because I didn’t want the Founders Day Celebration to be the first time we’ve seen each other since . . .”
When Kerry’s voice trailed off, Jack tried to fill in the blank. “Since your affair? Since your decision to desert your critically ill child? Since you—”
“Stop it, Jack!” She pressed a hand to her hair as though trying to keep her head from exploding. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
“Yes, it was.” Through strength of will, Jack kept his gaze from drifting again and again to Kerry’s ripening belly. She’d come to see him, pregnant with another man’s child, after she’d disappeared when their child had been dying. She must be mad.
“But I had to see you.”
“Why?” Jack met her eyes with all the hate, hurt, and anger that had been building inside him since he’d discovered her deception.
“I wanted to explain why I wasn’t there with you and Zoey.”
They’d never talked about Kerry’s reason for leaving. Jack hadn’t seen the point. After he’d discovered her affair, Jack hadn’t been able to stand to look at her. He’d just wanted her gone. And when she’d asked for a divorce, he hadn’t been able to sign the papers fast enough.