Chapter 6
SIX
She had to do something. Allie drummed her fingers on the now pristine counter and glanced around the Jude County Hotshots’ base kitchen. The lemon-scented cleaner still lingered in the air. There had to be something more to do. But the stainless steel sink sparkled, the floors were swept and mopped, and no more science experiments sat rotting in the fridge. Instead, she had raw oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ready to slide into the oven when her main dish was done baking. She released a long sigh and checked the mac and cheese. According to Emily’s recipe, it still needed time.
She’d rather be searching for Scout, but Emily and Dakota together had put the kibosh on that plan before they’d left. It wasn’t fair how they’d both ganged up on her.
“There’s no way we’re letting you go out there. Especially alone!” Dakota blocked her way to the door outside, his blue eyes sparking with challenge.
“I can take care of myself. I have to find Scout.”
“And we’ll help you as soon as it’s safe. But if you don’t promise me right now that you’ll stay put, I’ll tie you to a chair myself.” Emily stood shoulder to shoulder with Dakota, hands on her hips.
Knowing Emily, she’d do it too. So what other choice had she had but to stay and distract herself by giving the place a thorough scrub down?
Allie jumped to grab her ringing phone, resting on the table in the middle of the room. Maybe someone had found Scout!
The picture of her mom and dad shone up from her screen. Again. Allie sucked in a deep breath. Better to get this over with.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Allie, are you okay? Belle told us you were caught in a forest fire. Your father and I are worried si?—”
“I’m fine, really. No need to worry.” Of course, right then her throat seized and she had to cough.
“Maybe you should come home.”
“No, really. I’m okay. Just a bit of a cough.”
“We barely saw you at the wedding, and you didn’t even come for Christmas. If you have the time off right now, we’d love to see you.”
“I can’t leave. My dog is?—”
A long beep indicated another call. Belle.
For once, her best friend had perfect timing. “Sorry, Mom. I gotta go. I’m getting another call. But I promise I’ll talk to you soon.”
Her mother’s sigh came through loud and clear. “All right, dear. Love you.”
“Love you too. Bye.” Allie quickly switched to Belle’s call.
“Any word?” Belle asked.
“Nothing.” Allie slumped into the nearest chair. “I posted on all the lost pet sites and groups in this area that I could. I called the local vets and animal shelter and left my number for them, but so far…” She couldn’t finish the thought. The silence was eating her up inside.
“He’ll show up. I asked the church prayer chain to pray for him. Plus, he’s a smart dog.”
He was. Too bad she wasn’t a smart dog handler . Because she should’ve caught on way earlier that his obedience training wasn’t the problem. Belle was right.
I haven’t seen you once smile or look at him like you actually like him. Like you would with Dixie ? —
Maybe if she’d shown him a little more attention, he wouldn’t have run off.
“So, what now?” Belle asked.
“Once the hotshot and smokejumper crews get back, I’ll know more. All the roads around the burnt area were closed off, but hopefully by tomorrow I can go back and start looking for Scout. Until then, looks like I’m honorary basecamp mom. I’ve cleaned the kitchen top to bottom and have dinner in the oven.”
Belle laughed. “I’m sure the microwave has never been cleaner.”
“It was the first thing I attacked. It was so gross. All that food splatter—” Allie shuddered.
After a beat of silence, Belle spoke. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come back and help you look for Scout? You don’t have to do this alone.”
Her best friend was starting to sound a lot like Dakota. “I’m not alone.” Allie swallowed through the thickness in her throat. She wasn’t any more alone than she deserved to be. “In fact, the house and base are so crowded, I’m not sure there’d be room if you did come.”
“Sure you’re not just saying that so I don’t get in the way? Sounds like there’s a few sparks with this cute firefighter who saved you. You should work on that.”
Allie couldn’t deny the thought had crossed her mind. But a flood of memories she couldn’t escape, all the reasons she shouldn’t, warred inside.
She must’ve stayed quiet too long.
Belle squealed. “Wait a second. Allie Monroe, are you falling for this guy?”
“Falling? We just met. Well, actually, we met last year. But I’m only staying for Scout.”
A rumble sounded outside. “I gotta go, Belle. Sounds like the crew is here.”
“I’ll let you go, but only if you promise to tell me everything.”
“Goodbyeee.” Allie hung up on the sound of Belle’s laughter. She swept an invisible crumb off the table and tried to ignore the flutter in her stomach. She was just worried about the meal turning out.
Emily’s recipe wasn’t complicated, but she’d never cooked for a crowd this big before. The nerves had nothing to do with seeing Dakota again.
Okay. Maybe they did. Not because of the sparks Belle teased her about. Because she hadn’t given him an answer to his request to keep his past quiet—a desire she knew so well. So well, neither Belle nor her own big, perfect family had a clue why she’d left college and gotten into search and rescue.
She looked around, the ache of missing a furry friend to hold acute. It was too quiet without Dixie. Without Scout. The constant squeeze in her lungs tightened as she pictured his sweet, furry face.
Scout. Please be okay, boy. Please .
Because she couldn’t go through losing another SAR dog.
She’d gotten her second chance through SAR. Obviously she was failing at the moment, but once she found Scout, she would be back in the game. How could she deny Dakota his own chance at redeeming himself?
The sound of trucks rumbling grew louder. Allie stepped outside just as the hotshot crew pulled up in a white van. A couple trucks with Jude County Hotshots emblems on the side followed.
Emily hopped out of the front seat and opened up the rolling garage door. “How’s dinner coming along?”
“Haven’t burned it yet.”
“Good, cuz this is a hungry crew.” Emily walked into the garage and plopped her helmet on a shelf. “Although, I should warn you about Dak?—”
A young guy with dark hair and a goatee came up to them. “Who’s th-this?”
“Allie, meet Mack,” Emily said. “He and his big brother Hammer are from Trouble County. Mack here is the baby of the group.”
Mack shot Emily a look of brotherly annoyance before he shook Allie’s hand. “D-don’t listen to h-her. No one else does.” He smiled shyly before moving toward the building.
Allie watched the others hopping out of the van.
Emily nudged Allie’s arm. “He’ll be in the last truck, with Kane.”
Heat infused Allie’s cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Brace yourself.” Emily suddenly grew somber. “It’s not good. There was an accident on the break line.”
The flutters erupted into a full-on panic. Something had happened to Dakota? She spied the shock of red hair coming from the other side of the van, but instead of walking on his own two feet, Dakota was being carried by three burly guys.
“Oh my gosh! Is he okay?” Without waiting for Emily’s answer, Allie rushed up.
The guy she thought was Kane, the one that had been with Dakota and Emily earlier at the campground, had a grim look on his face. “Not sure if he’ll make it.”
“What?” Allie reached to help them. Dakota’s face was covered in dirt and soot. He grimaced in pain as they jostled him. “What happened?”
“A tree fell on him.” The man holding Dakota’s right side had scarring on his cheek and his neck. His eyes were serious, concerned.
Allie gasped. “Shouldn’t you be taking him to the hospital?”
Kane did a slow shake of the head. “We didn’t think he’d make it that far. And he begged for the last thing he saw on earth to be your beautiful face.”
Allie blinked.
“Knock it off, guys.” Dakota swatted at the big blond with a beard. “Seriously, Ham. Put me down.”
What was going on?
“Are you sure?” Ham asked. “We’re only trying to help.”
“Let. Me. Go,” Dakota growled.
“All right, boys. You heard the man,” Kane said.
All three men dropped him. Dakota hit the ground and groaned. “Gee, thanks.” He got up, albeit slowly, like he might truly be injured. But the others snickered and walked away. So it couldn’t be too bad, right?
Dakota gave her a sheepish grin. “Don’t listen to them. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” She studied his face. That same handsome smile, eyes a startling clear blue. But they did pull a little. He was in pain.
He held his side as they moved toward the building. “I’m banged up a smidge, that’s all. A dead tree fell. One of the branches got me. But I got right back up. No biggie.”
“Oh.” The tight coils around her middle loosened.
They passed one of the other firefighters—probably the oldest in the group, with his salt-and-pepper hair, but he couldn’t be more than in his forties. Not for this job.
The man stuck his hand out. “You must be Allie. Emily said you were making supper for us. I’m Charlie Benning.”
Allie shook his hand.
Dakota nudged her. “And the pretty boy coming up behind him is Orion. But don’t let that baby face fool you; he’s a hard worker.”
Allie smiled at the younger guy behind Charlie as he walked past with a pack. Another couple dragged equipment from the trucks—a petite brunette woman with a serious scowl, and a tall guy with a full beard and dark coloring.
The woman’s scowl softened as she approached Allie. “Heard about your dog. We’re keeping an eye out for him.”
“Thanks.” Allie was about to offer a handshake, but the woman was already on her way inside.
Emily walked over and whispered, “That’s the nicest I’ve ever seen Sanchez. I live with the woman, and she barely talks to me.”
She definitely gave off a tough-chick vibe. “And who’s the guy that went with her?” Allie asked Dakota, since Emily had started unloading her pack.
“That was Sax. Short for Saxon. He’s pretty quiet. But all in all, it’s been a good team so far.”
“Masterson. Heads up!” someone yelled from behind her.
A water bottle came flying through the air. Dakota caught it one-handed. His arm lift revealed a long rip in the side of his shirt and blood on the white T-shirt underneath.
Allie gasped. “Dakota! That’s not fine! You’re hurt.”
“It’s a scratch. No big deal.” He turned to the door. “The guys think I’m trying to get out of work, but I’m really trying to get them to pull their weight.” His smirk revealed a long dimple in each cheek, reminding her of a young Robert Redford. Why did she have to have a thing for handsome gingers?
She gave herself a mental shake. Keep it together, Monroe . “Can I help you?”
He waved off her concern. “I’ll be fine. Just need a bandage.”
“Well, you’re gonna have a hard time reaching it.”
“I need to unload things here fir?—”
Kane wandered past them, cutting him off. “Listen to the woman. We can handle the unloading without you.” Kane hefted a couple of air tanks from the truck. “Seriously, go take care of yourself. You need to clean that cut so it doesn’t get infected.”
Dakota rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mom.”
“At least someone is taking this seriously.” Allie smiled at Kane, then settled her attention back on Dakota. “Let me check on something I have in the oven.”
He nodded and left.
He was fine. She could breathe. A few minutes to gather herself while she checked on her mac and cheese and popped the cookies in the oven, then she’d be fine too. And maybe grab her own water bottle to help her parched throat.
A few minutes later, she found the infirmary room. She took a swig of water and opened the door. Dakota stood in the middle of the tiny room without his shirt on, a well-honed abdomen on full display with impressive shoulders and arms to boot as he tried to clean his wound. She choked on her water and started coughing.
“Whoa, you okay there?” Dakota’s warm hand on her back did not help.
She coughed again and tried another sip of water. “I’m…dandy.”
Dandy? Where had that come from? She sounded like her elderly neighbor Norman.
Her eye caught the gash on his side. “That is not a little scratch. You might need stitches.”
Allie dragged over a chair and sat facing his shoulder. She held his arm away from his body, ignoring the warmth of his skin, and studied the angry, welted skin smeared with black ash. As long as she focused on his wound, not his massive presence that heated the room to tropical temperatures, she’d be great.
Deep purple bruising around the jagged cut said this was no scratch. As it was across the side of his ribcage, he would have difficulty cleaning it out alone. She donned gloves and grabbed the bottle of water he had on the counter next to a stack of paper towels.
“What are you doing?” He lowered his arm and shifted away on the chair, his cheeks pink.
“I’m helping.”
“I don’t need help, Allie. I’m?—”
She nudged his arm back up. “Shush.” She held the towels under the cut and proceeded to pour water on the wound.
“Ow!” He flinched, but after that he stayed still while she washed the grime away.
She tried to ignore the heat radiating from his body as she cleaned his side and the way the unique scent of smoke, hard work, and a distinctly male deodorant filled the room. With the most gentle touch she could, she wiped away the dried blood and dirt.
“It’s not bleeding anymore.” Allie avoided his eyes at all costs.
He cleared his throat. “Like I told you. No stitches necessary.” He pulled away. “I can take it from here. I’m sure you’ve got better things?—”
“Dakota.”
He faced away from her and put his shirt back on. Apparently she wasn’t the only one avoiding eye contact, because he was suddenly very interested in his boots. Or maybe it was the pattern on the floor.
The stubborn man needed treatment.
“It still needs some antibiotic ointment and a bandage. I’m no expert, but I could at least glue it closed.” She held up the medicine, but he turned to face her, closing the space between them, and she caught the look on his face.
Time stopped.
“Allie.” He cupped her cheek, so lightly she almost wondered if she was caught up in a dream. His touch set off a tingling sensation starting from her head and running down her spine. Her breath caught.
“I know I’m…wounded.” His blue eyes softened. “But it’s not your job to fix it.”
“Maybe not. But I can help the healing process along.”
He swallowed hard, his eyes reflecting some internal struggle going on inside him. Maybe it was his abusive father. Or his mother who’d lost herself in her own addictions. Either way, she got the sense Dakota wasn’t used to someone taking care of him. He tried so hard to prove himself. The man who’d gone out of his way to keep her safe and rescue two little boys—that was the kind of man she should’ve waited for.
But she’d been so drunk with independence, so starved for someone to notice her, that she’d fallen for Christian instead. Christian, who’d convinced her to go against everything her family had instilled in her.
She’d given him so much. And she’d known better. She’d gotten exactly what she deserved. But Dakota had saved her life when he didn’t have to. He’d walked beside her when he could’ve left her behind. He didn’t deserve this kind of injury.
“Let me finish treating that cut, Dakota. I kind of owe you.”
The corner of his lips quirked up in a half smile. “Owe me for what?”
“Did you forget already? You’re my own personal hero today. You helped me find those boys. And survive a forest fire.”
“Oh. That.” His smirk brought back a playful vibe but didn’t completely dispel the electricity in the room. If anything, it made her like him even more.
“So maybe you let me help you this time, hmm?” She had a hard time keeping her thoughts straight as he looked at her that way, a smoldering desire mixed with vulnerability in his gaze. He finally nodded and pulled away so she could get back to treating him.
But goodness the man was pulsing with energy and appeal. She fought to concentrate on disinfecting and bandaging the cut while the magnetism of the last moments buzzed through her. She was holding the last strip of medical tape in her fingers when the smoke alarm went off.
The cookies!
As the whole crew, hotshots and smokejumpers, lounged outside behind the building, Dakota savored his last bite of cookie—even burnt, they were a hundred percent better than an MRE—and glanced at Allie across the picnic table. She laughed at something one of the girls said. Dusky sunlight caught the brunette strands, turning them auburn. Her eyes found him and she grinned.
Their moment in the infirmary blazed through his mind. Dakota standing in there, exposed, his bleeding wounds open for Allie to see. And rather than run away, she’d come close, bandaged him up, and called him a hero. It’d completely unarmed him. When was the last time someone had taken care of him like that?
He could fall fast for a woman like her. He should thank the good Lord above for the interruption.
The smoke alarm had been a nice touch. Very appropriate for the way it’d almost felt like the room was on fire.
I tried, Lord, to take care of the injury myself, to not be drawn in by those gorgeous eyes of hers. So thank You for stopping me before I did something that I would regret .
He was too much like his father to be with someone as good as Allie Monroe. Sure, he’d had his share of girlfriends in the past—the strong, independent ones that didn’t want a lot more than a good time. Temporary pleasures to distract himself.
Until God had got ahold of him, his body and soul battered and bruised, and shown him something more. Something eternal. He’d welcomed him with open arms, and it’d changed him forever. But he still had a lot of growing to do.
But maybe if he could get his act together, prove to her and not just the team that he was good, maybe somewhere down the line there could be chance for a future with someone like Allie. He could help solve this case and protect the boys to start.
She looked down at her phone and jumped up from the table. What was wrong?
He followed her to the side of the building, away from the chatter.
Allie spoke into the phone. “Hello? Jen?”
She looked at the screen, confused. “She didn’t say anything. Just hung up.”
“Maybe she dialed by accident.”
“I thought I heard something in the background. A crashing sound.”
“Try calling her back.”
She did and got no answer. “I think we should go check on her.”
“After what I heard about a murder in the forest, I have questions of my own. Maybe if Ray isn’t around, Jen will let us talk to Ethan again.”
“What did you hear?”
“A body was found at another fire. A body someone tried to use the forest fire to cover up. And it had two gunshot wounds. One to the back. One to the head.”
Her eyes widened. “You think Ethan was telling the truth? The scary man isn’t Ray?”
“I don’t know. But I think we should find out.”
“I do too.” The determined set to her mouth stirred something in him again. He always had liked a woman with guts. Someone who could stand up to the hard stuff and not cower like his mother had.
They took Allie’s car to a run-down house on the edge of Ember. The white paint had long since turned a dull gray. Rust stained the siding beneath the spigot that poked out of the side of the house. The flower beds were overgrown, but the yard was mowed short and neat. A couple bikes lay in the grass. It was run-down but tidy.
Allie checked the address on her phone again. “This is the place.” Her forehead wrinkled as she took a good look at the house and yard. Was she worried? Upset? Disgusted?
The house didn’t look much different than the one he’d grown up in. And Allie probably had no clue what kind of darkness and filth was in a house like that. Not with all the stories she’d told him on their long ride about her good Christian family with all her brothers and sisters, their sing-alongs, backyard barbecues, and home-grown goodness.
She shouldn’t be anywhere near someone like Ray Haroldson. “When we get up there, you should stay behind me in case Ray gets upset.”
“Or maybe you should wait here in the car. Because there is no if . When Ray sees you, he will get upset. And we don’t want any more trouble for Jen or the boys. I’ll go.”
She might have a point, but—“There’s no way I can sit here and let you face him alone.” She didn’t know what people like his father and Ray were capable of.
“Why don’t you wait by the side of the porch. You’ll be out of sight but close if anything happens.”
He clenched his fist. “I don’t like it. I should be the one?—”
“We’ll have the best chance at talking to Ethan if I go, and you know it.”
Dang it. She was right. He calculated the distance to the steps. “Fine. But the second it gets iffy, you’re out of there.”
She waited until he was in place, his position in the grass obscured by a scraggly bush, before stepping up the porch steps and knocking on the door.
Ray’s voice from inside was loud but muffled. Still, no one answered the door. Allie knocked again, louder this time. Dakota watched through the branches. The front door squeaked when Jen opened it and faced Allie. The woman’s eyes widened slightly, and she quickly looked behind her.
“Who is it?” Ray yelled from somewhere in the depths of the house.
“It’s nothing. I…I’ll take care of it,” Jen answered him in a shaky voice. She stepped onto the porch and almost closed the door behind her. She dropped her voice. “What are you doing here? You should leave.”
“I got your call, Jen. Are you okay?” Allie kept her own voice low.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You called me.”
“I didn’t. It must’ve been the?—”
“Jennifer! Who is it?”
Jen jumped and closed her eyes a second before yelling in the doorway. “I’m taking care of it!”
Movement sounded inside. Jen visibly tensed.
Allie reached for her hand. “Are you in trouble here? Where are the boys?”
Jen pulled away. “Like I said before, the boys are fine. They probably…called you. As a jo?—”
The front door swung open and Ray appeared. His eyes were bloodshot. A blue-violet bruise was already showing around his eye where Dakota had socked him earlier.
“You! What are you doing here?” His voice roared. He shoved Jen aside.
Before Allie could say anything, Dakota came out of hiding. But he would keep his temper in check this time. “Calm down, Ray. We just want to talk to Jen and the boys. I have some questions about something they found in the forest.”
Ray bristled as soon as he saw Dakota. “I told you to stay away from my family. Get out of here. Or else.” His voice wasn’t nearly as loud as before, but no one could miss the dark undertones of his threat.
But Dakota wasn’t going to back down. “Someone called Allie. We want to make sure everyone is okay. And I’d like to talk to the boys.”
“That’s not gonna happen. And if you don’t get?—”
“Ray!” Jen tugged his beefy arm back toward the house. “It’s fine.”
“Is it?” He turned his mean glare on Jen. “And what is this about someone calling her?” He pointed to Allie.
“It must’ve been a prank.”
Ray turned back to them. “There. No one called. And there’s no way I’m letting you talk to the boys, so you best get. You’re trespassing on my property.”
Allie pulled Dakota back before he could react the way everything inside him was screaming to—with a flying right hook.
Again, Allie’s strength took him by surprise. She managed to tug him down the porch steps to the crumbling sidewalk. “Kota, let’s go. We don’t want to cause any more trouble.”
He was dying to show Ray what trouble he could cause, but she was right. Jen and the boys would probably pay for it. He held up hands in surrender and stepped back. “We’re going.”
They got back in the car and left.
“We’ve got to get them away from him.” Allie squeezed the steering wheel, eyes fixed on the road, determination in every line of her face. “They can’t stay there.”
“You don’t have to convince me.” He watched the house grow smaller in the side mirror. “I know exactly what those boys are going through.”
She glanced at him for a moment. “Is that what your father was like?”
He tried to shrug it off but couldn’t. “Not exactly.” In some ways, it’d been worse. “My dad was the sheriff in our county. People actually respected him. They didn’t know any better. Because on the outside, everything looked fine. He was a stickler for keeping the yard neat, even though the porch was sagging and the house needed painting. There was never enough money for that kind of stuff, but he always made sure the grass was cut and the leaves were raked. That was my job. But it didn’t matter how hard I tried, he would find fault with something. And he’d make sure I paid for it.”
“I still can’t believe your mom didn’t do anything.”
“She said I had to keep trying harder. That he was just trying to toughen me up.”
Allie reached over and held his hand. Somehow, the touch loosened the need to hold it all inside.
“Once, I was about nine or ten years old, and I thought, ‘Fine. Then I’ll do it perfectly.’ I went over the yard twice with the mower. I borrowed the neighbor’s weed whip and everything. Spent the whole day pruning trees, trimming bushes, pulling weeds. There wasn’t a blade of grass out of place or one stray twig on the lawn. Mom and I even scrounged up enough money to buy some flowers for the sad-looking flower bed we had by the porch. And I waited for him to get home. Waited to hear him say, finally, that he was proud of me, that I’d done a good job.”
“What did he say?”
Dakota could still see his mom on the porch. She’d changed out of the muddy jeans into a nice dress and done her hair just for his father.
Look, Buck. Dakota spent his whole day tidying up the yard .
“He said, ‘You cut the grass too short, boy. You just killed our lawn.’ And he emptied his coffee mug on the flowers we’d just planted. Said they looked like?—well, I’m sure you can guess.”
“He didn’t.”
“That was Buck Masterson.”
“Oh, Dakota.” Her gentle voice reached deep inside, soothing the aches that’d never quite healed.
“It was my mom’s flowers that got me. For once, she’d tried to help me get on Buck’s good side. To see him desecrate them like that, I”—Dakota clenched a fist—“I got so mad I kicked the trash can. It tipped over and made a huge mess. And then Buck dragged me inside and let me have it.” His mother had been next.
But Allie didn’t need to know the particulars. The scars were mostly internal at this point.
“What did your mother do?”
Oh, that. “After Buck left, I went to check on her in her room.” He could still remember the sour smell of sweat and alcohol. His mother curled up in a tight ball on the bed, wrapped up in her ratty bathrobe, her dress discarded in a heap on the floor. He’d approached quietly, hoping to find comfort together, come up with a plan to go, anything.
Mom, are you okay?
“She rolled over, looked me in the eye, and said…I was just like him. That if I hadn’t lost it and kicked over the trash, he wouldn’t have gotten so upset.”
“Are you serious? She blamed you?”
Dakota looked out at peaks in the distance, clenching his molars tight. He loved the indignation in Allie’s voice. But still, crazily enough, he didn’t want to completely disparage his mother’s name, like he needed to defend her. “She finally took me and left about a year later. But she was never the same.”
“And she never told anyone?”
“Who would believe us? All the deputies worked under him. He had complete control over the paperwork and reports. And once we moved, there was no reason. She never talked about it again.”
“I’m so sorry, Kota.”
“It’s in the past.” He looked back at her. “But it was a great motivator when I went into law enforcement. I wanted to show everyone that I was nothing like my father. Not that I did a great job of it today.”
Which was maybe why he was floundering so much after losing his job. It had been his whole identity. His way of undoing his past.
He might not be Benson PD anymore, but he could still help solve whatever was going on here in the wilderness around Ember and show his brother, Dani, and his nephews that he wasn’t some washed-up addict. Maybe he didn’t have to fight fires in the wilderness to do that. Maybe it meant working this case on the side, protecting two little boys in an all-too-familiar situation. Helping Allie find Scout.
“Dakota, you’re one of the bravest, most honorable men I know. You asked me this morning for a chance to show me that you’re one of the good guys. But I’ve always known that. And we all have things we’re ashamed of. You have no idea of the things I’ve done.”
She pulled over by the river that ran through the town.
“Oh, really? What horrible thing have you done?”