Chapter 13 #2
Without another word, he backed out of the parking spot onto the street and headed in the direction of the cop shop.
She’d have to tell her story all over again to strangers. She would read the letter that Brandon had sent and maybe find out why he’d contacted her. Already the knot in her stomach tightened and grew cold. She needed Lucas here with her.
It didn’t matter to her what he’d done in the past. Didn’t matter that people like Ally thought he’d done something wrong.
Sarah had plenty of experience putting the past behind her.
She just wished she could do this together with Lucas instead of sitting beside her quiet, brooding father who always seemed a moment away from being mad.
She was happy they were staying in Heartache.
She’d have time to seek out Lucas and find out why everyone thought he was trouble.
As for her father? Maybe he could spend more time with Erin Finley.
He might not realize he needed a woman around, and compared to the drooling teacher or the random flirty women he worked with, Erin seemed really cool.
She did compassionate things like organize clothing drives, plus she was kind of artsy.
Sarah liked that. And deep down, she knew her dad must like that, too. He’d been an artist once, before he’d set that aside to be some kind of super-provider for her and her mom.
Besides, Sarah was tired of dishing out all the wise life advice to her dad and having it fall on deaf ears.
She needed help with him. She also needed a distraction for when she wanted to hang out with Lucas.
Maybe if her father was busy dating, he wouldn’t have time to chase her down at every party.
After this police station visit was over, she was going to commence Operation Return to Dating.
The hits just kept coming.
Tipping his chair back on two legs, Remy rested his head on the waiting room wall at the police station while he sat outside a conference room where a female investigator had taken Sarah for a private discussion.
The lady investigator had spoken to him first, assuring Remy that she needed to ask Sarah questions privately about whether or not she felt safe at home.
They were a fairly standard list and Theresa had warned him that the local cops might speak to her without him being present since she was eighteen.
But it was making him nuts to think about her having to undergo some kind of police quiz alone.
Hadn’t the poor kid been through enough in the past two years without her idiot of a biological father bringing this down on her head?
Uninspiring gray walls surrounded him as did a few other people in uncomfortable wooden chairs.
A man and his son had arrived to fill out a report about a stolen bike.
A young woman waited for information about becoming a police officer.
Another woman waited for her husband—the cop at the front desk—to finish his shift so she could take him out to dinner for his birthday.
The birthday couple exchanged looks every other minute.
And the “I want to get you naked” vibe seemed inappropriate at best. Then again, maybe Remy just envied that certainty of going home with someone.
Of celebrating a birthday with someone. He missed the normal ebb and flow of an everyday, average life.
Damn but he wished his daughter would be done soon.
His phone chimed and he almost ignored it in case it was work related. But what if it was Sarah’s counselor?
Are you ok? How is Sarah?
The text from Erin eased some of the tension in his chest. In spite of everything, hearing from her felt good. Maybe even like a slice of normal in an otherwise upside-down day. He lowered his chair back to the floor to key in a reply.
Letter from her dad nonthreatening. Taking all day to document every facet of his stupidity.
Remy hit Send.
The return chime sounded in about two seconds, making him wonder how she could read that fast, let alone type.
Did he break a law in contacting her?
The answer was so convoluted he didn’t know quite where to begin.
The local police believed there was a responsibility on Sarah’s part to file a new form with the Bureau of Prisons once she turned eighteen to stay on Brandon’s “Do Not Contact” list. Remy would be sure the paperwork was filed immediately. He had already contacted his lawyer.
Gray area. I can explain over dinner if you don’t mind surly company.
After he sent the message, he realized it didn’t sound like much of an invitation. He was about to send something more politely worded when she responded.
Will there be cupcakes?
He grinned. That in itself was a miracle considering the day he’d had. Being back in a police station—just that alone—was tough. But thinking about Sarah and how scared she’d been with that letter in her possession for two weeks…that made him mad.
Definitely. I can take you out or bring food to you. Your choice.
The door to the conference room opened and Sarah walked out, the lady police officer behind her. They were both smiling. Relaxed. The woman was asking Sarah about the clothing drive at the store.
Remy’s heart recovered a little more even as his phone chimed with one final message.
You had me at “bring food.”
“Psst.” Bethany gave Erin a gentle poke in the shoulder as she typed another note. “You shouldn’t be texting while being filmed on TV,” she whispered through clenched teeth.
Erin looked up at her empty store. Half the town had filtered through in the morning hours, some of them eager to see what all the fuss was about with a film crew in town and the rest eager to be on film.
But now, things had quieted down so that her only shopper was an elderly woman from the next town over who’d driven in to look for clothes for her kids and grandkids.
Ally had left for her part-time job at the hair salon.
A few of the production guys had taken off for parts unknown so that only two people manned the equipment.
The customer was self-sufficient, picking through the racks with a practiced eye.
“Remy said I should behave naturally.” Erin was excited about his unexpected dinner invitation. Probably far more than she should be.
She’d assumed after the way they’d parted the night before that he was ready to put that time behind him. Now, she wondered. She’d been buzzing inside ever since she got his text. Would he stay for a while…after dinner? Her skin heated as she thought about what that might mean.
Was it foolish to wish for more from him? To hope that his texts were a sign there might be room in his heart for…something? She knew better than that. And yet she was going to meet him anyway.
“Yes, but don’t you want to use the publicity as a chance to show people what a dynamic, exciting store you run?” Bethany lifted the small sign Erin had painted for the sale rack. It showed a picture of a rainbow, unicorn and a pot of gold all around the word “Sale.”
“Show off your stuff. You’ve got so many great visual elements here.”
Erin set down her phone, not sure what to do while the cameras rolled. There were downtimes in retail and it wasn’t as if she spent all day straightening the stacks of clothes or dusting off antiques.
“I’m barely surviving the cameras so far, Bethany. I can’t suddenly start turning cartwheels for attention. It’s just not my style.”
“I know, but when you have an opportunity to really do something well—” Her breath hitched, her eyes filling with tears. “Oh God.”
She clapped her hands over her mouth, staring up at the ceiling without blinking until the tears dried without falling.
“Are you okay?” Erin hoped the cameras wouldn’t notice the drama behind the counter. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Bethany sniffed and lowered her voice. “I can’t talk about it here.”
“Is it Scott?” Erin came around the front of the counter so her back would block the cameras from seeing her sister-in-law.
“I think he’s giving up on us. For good.” She had barely squeaked out the last word when she turned and darted through the break in the heavy plastic divider into the store’s renovated area.
Erin debated what to do. Man the store and be there for the cameras and one self-sufficient shopper or follow Bethany?
The debate was short since the Finley motto had always been Family First.
Edging between the sheets of protective plastic, she found Bethany sobbing against a counter.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted between sniffles.
“I’m so sorry. I just started thinking about how Scott always accuses me of being a perfectionist and trying to make everything better.
I shouldn’t tell you how to run your television spot and I shouldn’t tell him how to run his life.
I don’t know. I just—” She raised her hands in the air, a gesture of helplessness.
“I don’t know what to do anymore. I feel like everything I say is wrong. Every conversation is a land mine.”
Erin felt her sister-in-law’s hurt sharply. She didn’t want this for Bethany.
“First of all, I love your advice and you always have good ideas, so feel free to tell me how to run the store anytime.” Erin dug under a cabinet where she kept building supplies and found a roll of clean paper towels.
She passed it to Bethany. “If Heather was here, she would kiss you for telling me to stop texting on national television.”
Bethany tore off some of the toweling and wiped her nose. “All my advice drives Scott crazy. But I feel like he doesn’t have a plan to save our marriage. He sits in our therapy sessions and waits for them to be over. And if I ask him about it, he clams up.”
“I’m sure it can be intimidating to be married to someone who is so incredibly competent, but he has to know how lucky he is to have you.”
Her watery laugh didn’t sound convinced.
“I mean it.” Erin sat on one of the counters, the scent of lumber and wood stain heavy in the air.
“The whole family earns money on our shares in Finleys’ Building Supplies because you keep the place in the black year after year.
Mack has you to thank for being able to invest in his own bar in Nashville.
I have your business savvy to thank for having enough start-up cash to get Last Chance Vintage off the ground. Heather does, too, for that matter.”
“But I think I chased him away from the business that he planned to make his life.” Bethany swiped her eyes, smearing mascara.
“Remember when I quit teaching, I just planned to help him. I was going to be like a second in command, then I ended up taking it over. Things have never been the same since then.”
“It’s not your fault you had great ideas and really found a niche.” She ripped off another paper towel and stepped closer to Bethany. “Here, let me fix your makeup.”
She wiped away the excess and noticed her sister-in-law was shaking from the stress.
“You should go back out front,” Bethany urged. “I shouldn’t even be here if I can’t hold it together in public anymore.”
“I’m your family.” Erin crumpled the paper and threw it away. “If we can’t shed tears in front of each other, it’s a lonely damn world.”
That forced a crooked smile from her.
“I don’t see you shedding too many tears during the hard times.”
“The last man who upset me this badly didn’t deserve my tears.” Erin didn’t know what she’d do if Patrick called her again. How could he think for a second she would want to hear from him? “I’m saving up mine for someone really worthy.”
She knew there was a good chance she’d be the one crying when Remy left town. Especially since she wasn’t being nearly cautious enough when he extended dinner invitations. But right now, all she could think about was the bright, shining moments that felt happy in the short term.
Didn’t she deserve some of that in her life?
“I wouldn’t wish this hurt on you.” Bethany combed her fingers through her hair and smoothed the front of her blouse.
“I know.” Erin’s phone chimed in her hand and she wondered what Remy wanted. Funny how she knew it was him. “But maybe you can’t have those beautiful highs without the hardship of the lows.”
Bethany shook her head. “I’ll tell you this much. I’d really like to get off the roller coaster either way. And I’d sure feel better if he had a plan—if he offered any inkling of some strategy that might save us.”
Erin hugged her goodbye, hard, and wished she could do more than just go back into the front of the store while her sister-in-law took time to gather her composure.
Their one customer was still working her way through the racks, onto the boys’ clothes now that she’d looked at all the toys and the girls’ stuff.
Only then did she check her incoming text.
Is it okay if a cute, fairly well mannered eighteen-year-old joins us? I will double the number of cupcakes.
They’d be dining as a family.
Erin couldn’t help a wistful smile. No doubt about it, she was enjoying some beautiful highs this week. Typing her reply, she ignored the cameras completely.
Shoes, dresses and boys are some of my favorite conversational topics, actually. Your guest sounds fun.
Remy’s note came right back.
Boy(s)? Plural?
Her heart flip-flopped as if she was the eighteen-year-old.
I will get back to you on these questions in person.
Then waited.
Can’t. Wait.
She felt as though someone had turned a light on inside her. She wondered if she looked in a mirror right then if she’d see herself glowing.
“Ma’am?” she called out to her customer. “Looks like it’s just ten minutes until closing.”
The woman gave a terse nod and kept digging through the racks of clothes.
No doubt Bethany wouldn’t approve of that business practice, either.
But while Remy was in town, Erin planned to squeeze every moment of joy out of her time with him even if it meant putting a piece of her fragile heart on the line again.