Chapter 10 #2
Her mother shook her head, blond hair slipping out of the elastic in front to hang in her face. “I’m truly sorry. What I did was unforgivable.”
Bailey had a whole lot more to say about that, but what was the point? Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Blah. Blah. Blah. The word didn’t mean much to her. It didn’t change what her mother had done.
Hugging the blanket tighter around her, she nodded toward the car. “Let’s bring in the groceries before Dad gets home.”
She damn well wanted the food.
“Okay.” Her mother followed her along the landscaped pathway they’d put in when they first moved here.
The cobblestone pavers had taken her mother weeks to choose. Was it strange for her to be here, walking on those stones she had picked and knowing she’d never be part of life in this house again? Bailey did not want to care how she felt. But she wondered.
Once they retrieved the bags and carried them to the porch, Bailey stepped back outside with her mom, ready for her to leave. Her mother hadn’t offered any great insights or reasons for what she’d done. And the last thing she wanted was a confrontation between her parents when her father came home.
“Are you still with him?” she asked, even knowing her dad could pull into the driveway any minute. “I mean, if Mr. Covington gets out of jail—”
“No.” Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “I am going to do everything I can to make sure he goes to prison for a long time after—” She shook her head like she wasn’t going to say any more.
“Um.” Bailey tapped her foot and tried to decide how to express herself. “If you think you’re protecting me or something, please spare me after what you’ve already put me through. I’d like to know where you truly stand with him, Mom.”
“Jeremy Covington is a cheating liar who had another girlfriend half the time we were together. And if I can do anything to make sure he goes to jail, I will.”
Bailey’s head spun from her mother’s lack of sense.
If she’d been talking to a girlfriend, she would have pointed out that her mom should have known he was a cheater by the fact that he was married and carrying on an affair.
But her mother had lost her marbles. It was like one of those teen movies where the mom and daughter switch places for the day.
Except Bailey would never pull the childish crap her mom had.
“How about Mr. Covington’s kid?” she asked instead, tracing a path between the pavers with the toe of her shoe. “Can you send J.D. to jail, too?”
“Why?” Her mom stepped closer, all tense like she was poised for action. “Did that boy do something to you?” She put her hands on Bailey’s shoulders. “Did he hurt you?”
“No.” As much as the episodes with J.D. freaked her out to remember, she didn’t want to unload them on her mother now. Not when she already seemed hell-bent on revenge. “I just...hate him for hurting Megan.”
J.D. had helped his father shove both Meg and Mrs. Finley into a van. They’d duct-taped Meg’s wrists and ankles. Gagged her. That was plenty of reason to want J.D. behind bars.
“Are you sure that’s all?” Her mother’s voice lowered to a whisper. She sounded scared. And scary.
Making Bailey feel really, really alone.
Sure, she had a porch full of groceries.
But now more than ever, she felt like her mom had checked out on her and left a flighty substitute behind.
Maybe her mother had always been immature.
Or maybe her affair had brought out the worst in her.
But either way, she didn’t want to confide in this woman.
Hazel might still love her, but Bailey wasn’t so sure.
“I’d just be happy to see justice done. There should be consequences for what he did to Megan. So if you know anything about him, or if you can help Sheriff Reyes in any way—”
“I will.” Her mother straightened, and for a moment, with her expression certain and her voice calm, she seemed like Mom again.
“I promise you, Bailey, I will speak to the sheriff about what I know, and I will find a time to speak to Kate Covington when she’s not in a mood to rip my head off.
Because I guarantee she’s got the goods that can send Jeremy to jail. ”
“Really?” That sounded okay. But Bailey knew darn well that Mrs. Covington wouldn’t do anything that would get J.D. in trouble.
Bailey might be the only one who could testify to what a brute J.D. could be, and that made her stomach hurt. She’d left school today before she could look for other girls he might have pushed around. Or worse.
But she’d start asking questions tomorrow. There had to be someone else.
“Really. Jeremy Covington crossed the wrong woman.” Her mother pressed a kiss to Bailey’s forehead. “You’ll see. I can’t fix everything, but I can do that much.”
She nodded, feeling chilled all of a sudden. “You’d better go before Dad gets home.”
“I know.” Her mom leaned down to hug Hazel. “Will you hold on to Hazel so she’s not as sad when I go?”
“Sure.” Bailey nodded even as the dog whimpered and stamped her paws anxiously.
“Things will get better.” Mom bit her lip. Hesitated. Then walked quickly toward the front of the house and her waiting car.
Bailey watched her leave, arms around Hazel’s neck, her face half-buried in the dog’s soft fur.
Her eyes burned a little, and she reminded herself that her mother had lied to everyone, cheated on her father and hurt Bailey’s best friend—betraying Bailey deeply in the process.
But in spite of everything, she couldn’t escape the unsettling fact that the dog wasn’t the only one sad to see her mom go.
“Come on, Hazel.” She tucked a hand under the setter’s collar, pulling her toward the porch.
Her tail wag slowed. Stopped. Started again as she turned hopeful dark eyes up to Bailey.
It was hard to watch.
“Come on.” She tried again to move Hazel. “I bet there are treats for you in those bags, too.”
A sudden creak of twigs and a rustle in the nearby woods startled her. Hazel pivoted, on high alert. The dog sniffed the wind and barked, her fur standing up on end along her back.
Panic jolted Bailey. Letting go of the dog, she hustled up the steps and into the screened porch.
“Who’s there?” The words came out even though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Her voice sounded like someone else’s.
What if J.D. had come here to hurt her?
“Bailey?” a male voice called.
It didn’t sound like J.D.
She turned toward the voice even as she locked the screen door behind her, leaving Hazel to deal with the intruder.
“Bailey, it’s me.” The guy sounded nervous. He didn’t come any closer with an animal growling at him. “Is your dog going to bite?”
Dawson.
Relief rained over her.
“Hazel, stay,” she commanded, reaching into a nearby grocery bag for dog biscuits. “I’ve got a treat for you, but you have to sit.”
She hoped her pet would hear that she was relaxed. Not threatened. She shook the box of biscuits. Hazel sat down immediately, tail thumping.
Thank goodness. Bailey ditched the blanket that she’d had draped around her, tossing it on a padded wicker chair near the door.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t know who it was.” She edged out the door again, waving Dawson closer as she gave Hazel a treat. “What are you doing out there?”
Now that the fear had faded, her heart beat faster for other reasons all together.
He wore a gray hoodie and cargo shorts and he pushed a bright green bicycle through the damp grass as he came toward her.
“I didn’t get your number, and I wanted to talk to you.” He rested the bike against the back of the outdoor fireplace. “Is it okay if I leave this here?”
“Sure.” She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her pink sweats, wishing she didn’t look like she’d just rolled out of bed. Her long-sleeved T actually was a thermal pajama top, now that she thought about it. “My dad will be home any second, though. Is it okay if I introduce you when he gets here?”
“Of course.” He held his hand out for Hazel to inspect. “Why wouldn’t it be okay?”
“I don’t know. You rode through the woods. I thought maybe you were trying not to be noticed or something.”
“No.” After Hazel showed her approval, Dawson scratched her neck. “The woods are the shortest path between our houses.”
“Right.” Puzzled about his trip, she waited for him to offer some explanation for what he wanted to talk to her about. “You were so quiet when you dropped me off before, I’m surprised you still want to talk to me.”
“Sorry for that. I wasn’t sure what to say to you then.” Straightening from petting the dog, he gave her his full attention.
Her mouth went dry. “Am I that hard to speak to?”
Her voice sounded high and strange. But then, she was nervous.
“I wasn’t sure you’d want to talk about what was bothering you, and I wasn’t sure how to bring it up.” He seemed serious. Not flirting with her. But like he had something on his mind.
She tried not to be disappointed about that.
“No?” She didn’t know what to say. Because, obviously, the last thing she wanted to talk about was the crap storm of problems she’d run from this morning at school.
“But I thought about it more after I got home.” He scraped a hand through his dark hair, and she noticed a scar on his forehead that shone white in the moonlight. “Thought about you. And I just had to come back and talk to you.”
“I don’t understand.” Her heart slugged hard in her chest. Curiosity mingled with worry as her father’s headlights turned into the driveway out front. Hazel barked, and the dog sped off to greet her dad.
Dawson lowered his head along with his voice to speak closer to her ear. “How many people know your last boyfriend hit you?”
HE TRIED NOT to think about her secrets.
Sam didn’t want the pending Covington trial to come between him and Amy yet, so he forced the thoughts out of his head with an effort while they finished their impromptu picnic on a blanket spread over the living room floor.
“I was going to cook for you tonight,” he told her between rounds of peekaboo with his son.