Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
For the past hour, Betsy had stood off to the side, staying out of the way as police did a quick questioning of everybody in Joanie’s. A déjà vu moment spiraled her back to Phillip. On drugs. Belligerent. Paranoid. Was Earl using? She’d never seen him like tonight. Nothing unusual at work.
A line of customers had formed at the checkout counter to pay their bills and leave. All thoughts of fun for the evening had ended, and Joanie had decided to close early.
Betsy moved to the pool table she and Cain had played on earlier in the evening.
Trying to get the vision of Earl’s collapse out of her mind, she pulled the balls from the pockets and racked them in the center of the felt.
Gently she tapped her fingers against the cue ball and watched it skim the length till lightly bouncing off the far rail.
For a moment the heaviness of the evening lifted.
“Let me pay and I’ll be right there.” Walking toward the checkout, Cain shouted across the room to Deputy Evans and JB leaving out the front door.
“What’s going on?” Betsy asked. “I mean, I know drugs seem to be everywhere now, that’s why I’m so determined to keep my workers out of harm’s way. Peyton’s is a drug-free zone, and everyone there knows my rules. Maybe it’s not drugs. Earl’s a good family man.”
Cain found it odd that she’d made such a point of telling him no drugs were allowed at Peyton’s.
That she was na?ve enough to believe drugs hadn’t been the culprit in what everyone had just seen.
Stressing that Earl was a good family man, as if drugs didn’t happen to good people and their families.
She was right about one thing though. Drugs were everywhere.
In fact, if this were any other time, any other place, any other case, he’d be putting her name on a Persons of Interest list, right alongside her company.
“JB said you hadn’t been able to reach Earl’s wife, Wanda, so the police have called Steven to meet them at the hospital. They want me to be there. See if I can pick up on anything that might point to where Earl got the dope.”
“Since you don’t work for Crayton Police, how can you be part of the questioning?”
“Can’t. But I can provide the police with a list of what to ask. Maybe I’ll even pick up on something in Steven’s answers. Something I’ve encountered before.” Cain tossed two fifties on the counter. “Does that cover it?”
Joanie waved him aside as she took the next customer in line. “Keep your money. You stepped up and took care of Earl tonight, that’s payment enough.”
“Thanks.” Cain sighed heavily as he pocketed his money. “I wish I could say Earl will be okay, but he’s not out of the woods yet.”
He moved in Betsy’s direction. She’d hoped he’d pay and leave. So much for hoping. Easing around to the side of the table, she spun the cue ball on the felt. He stepped up behind her, reached around and scooped up the ball.
“Hey!” She grabbed it out of his hand, then leaned away from his heat. Being that close had its effects on her, some of which she couldn’t control. Like the fact she found herself holding her breath.
She felt a hint of warmth rush to her cheeks and tilted her head forward, letting her long hair ease to the front to shield her emotions.
Their silence carved its way into their space.
A space so small, she couldn’t help but feel the change in the air as he slowly moved his hand in her direction. She didn’t flinch.
“Hey, yourself.” He gently brushed her hair behind her ear. “For a second there, I thought you were hiding from me.”
When she looked up, his lay-you-down look focused on her, and before she could stop herself, she felt the unconscious parting of her lips. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
“What’s that for?” This time he was the one who stepped back.
She shrugged. “A thank you for what you did for Earl.”
“All in a day’s work.” His gaze skimmed across her face, finally resting on her lips. “I don’t know how long I’ll be helping the police tonight. Guess we’ll need to change my game winning dinner to another time.”
“That’s too bad.” Why the hell had she said that? She wasn’t a fool. Like it or not, the two of them had chemistry. Didn’t mean they had to act on the attraction. “I mean… Uh… That is…”
Cain grinned. “How about tomorrow night? I can pick you up about—”
“I don’t think I feel like having fun after what happened here tonight.
” At least she got that out without stuttering like a teenager on her first date.
The idea of sitting across from him tomorrow night, or any night, for that matter, scared her senseless.
Right now, she was feeling a little vulnerable.
“You’re right. How about sometime next week?”
For more than a moment, she let that idea float within her. Let the warmth and thoughts of what could be fill her with longing.
This past week had been hard enough, what with trying to keep herself from learning to like having him around. He’d showed up in her office at least once every day, usually two…three times. Made her smile. Made her laugh. Made her forget she had any qualms about being alone in the same room as him.
Then he’d cut himself on a piece of metal and she’d plunged into downright female panic mode. Got him ice. Got him antiseptic and a bandage and told him he needed stitches. She’d made a fool of herself. Never mind the fact Cain had let her take care of him like she’d been doing it for years.
That’s when she’d realized how much he affected her reasoning and reactions. “You know, it’s hard running a business on your own. And—”
“Stop right there.” He popped the cue ball into the table’s side pocket, then stepped away from her.
“Let me get this straight. First, you gave me a chance to win at pool tonight. Which I connect to our bet of me not asking you out again if I lost. Next, you kiss me. Now when I ask you out, you slam the door in my face.”
“I only gave you a little kiss on the cheek.”
“Coming from you, that was like a full-blown lip lock.”
Footsteps on the wood floor broke into their discussion, then Marcy stepped up next to her sister. “Good, you’re still here. I’m going to need a ride home since JB had to go the police station.” She glanced from Betsy to Cain and back again. “I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?”
“Nope. Not a thing. Your sister was just telling me how busy she is at Peyton’s.” Cain pulled his keys from his pocket. “Don’t worry, Betsy. I won’t ask again.” He turned to leave. “Good night, Marcy…Joanie.”
Marcy didn’t say a word, but the sideways tilt of her head said there’d be questions later.
After locking the door behind Cain, Joanie turned off all the lights except the ones near the counter. “What just happened here? I thought you and Cain were going to turn out to be the hottest item in town.”
Betsy pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail with her hands as she pinched her brows together.
She had to be in control. Had to be on guard.
Had to take care of herself. Wasn’t that what she’d done?
Kept a safe distance between her and any feelings she might still harbor for the opposite sex. Especially Cain.
And ever since Earl had collapsed, visions of her Phillip kept flashing in her mind. She recalled seeing him stumble and fall when he was on a binge, but she’d never seen him stop breathing. Never had to call for Narcan.
She bit her bottom lip to keep the tremble in her chin at bay, then gave Joanie a hug. “I know you mean well, but I can’t do this right now. Not after what happened here tonight.” Squeezing her friend one more time, she stepped away. “Understand?”
Joanie nodded and unlocked the door. “Go on. It’s been a long night for all of us.”
Betsy followed Marcy out the door and heard it lock behind them. Fog from their breath formed in front of the two sisters as they walked side by side toward the car.
“You want me to drive?” Marcy asked as she pulled her jacket tight around her.
“No. I’m fine.” Betsy beeped the unlock on the car, then stopped. Shivering, she quickly realized she was more than a basket case right now. She tossed her keys to her sister. “You know, I think you’re right. I’ll let you drive.”
Marcy gave her sister a tiny hug, then pushed her toward the passenger side of the car. “It’s cold out here. Get in and let me start the heat.”
Once inside the car, it didn’t take long for the seat warmers to beat the dashboard vents in heating up the car.
“What’s this about being too busy to go out with Cain?” Marcy’s tone sounded like the one their mom used when they were growing up. In fact, the same tone she still used with them even now, if the time was right. “Don’t you like him?”
Betsy knew that she might as well answer the question, because once her sister started on a subject, the thread seemed to never end. Marcy had always been tenacious, not just since she’d gotten her counseling degree. In fact, that stubbornness ran in the family.
“I like Cain. I like him a lot. That’s why I can’t afford to let him get too close.” Betsy rubbed her lips together and felt the chapped roughness. Didn’t matter. “And before you ask, I do realize that you and Joanie are right that I need to move forward.”
“So why not with Cain?”
Betsy pulled on her gloves, then reclined the seat a few inches. Closing her eyes, she let herself feel the emotions building inside. The ones so ready to overflow, she could hardly breathe. “Don’t you understand? Cain makes me feel like I want to jump his bones.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“Oh, yeah, there is.” Betsy turned off her seat warmer. “He’s like a cookie sheet full of fresh-baked cookies. Once you’ve had one, you just can’t stop.”
Marcy stared straight ahead as she drove down the road. “You do realize you sound like a crazy woman, right?”
“I am not a crazy woman. A crazy woman would have said…” She threw back her head and laughed. “…Cain makes me want to wrap my legs around him and not let go till we’re both sweaty and exhausted and I’m screaming his name at the top of my lungs.”
“Whoa, baby. What are you waiting for, Betsy?” Marcy fanned herself with her gloved hands. “I think you need to open that big sexy gift called Cain as soon as possible. It’s about time you had some happiness.”
Betsy fidgeted her hands while she put a lid on the steamy emotions churning deep inside. Wouldn’t take much for her to speed-dial the man and ask him over. “What if he turns out to be different than everyone thinks he is? What if when he has a few drinks he turns into a monster?”
“You’re reaching, big time. Can you really tell me you believe for one minute that Cain Connery would ever be like that? Can you?” Marcy pulled out onto the main highway and headed home.
“No.” Betsy focused on the headlight path beaming down the road. “I also never thought Phillip would either. But once he got all jacked up on drugs and booze, he became someone else.”
It had only taken one time, and she’d walked out the door.
If she hadn’t paused to grab her coat, he wouldn’t have had time to stumble out behind her and grab her arm.
Only took a second and a kick to his knee to put him on the ground.
In her mind, she still couldn’t say for sure if her jerking her arm away or his body twisting as he fell was what pushed her down the front porch steps.
She rubbed her thumb across her forearm, feeling the imprint of the pins holding the bones in her wrist together nowadays. The ones she’d broken as she braced for a fall on the concrete sidewalk that summer night. “I won’t ever let that happen again.”