Falling Fast (Falling Fast #1) - Tina Wainscott Page 0,80

or not.”

“Dammit, Raleigh, you’re still blaming yourself for something that wasn’t your fault!”

“But it was my fault! I should have left you alone. This time I’m getting it right.”

She started the car and drove to the cottage. When they stopped for gas, he recognized an older couple who brought their car to the garage. They quickly averted their attention. So it had already started. He gave Mia a pointed look as he pumped the gas.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” she muttered. “They just don’t know what to say. Like when someone dies.”

“It means everything. They’re all going to convict me before I even go to trial.”

“Not all. Not me. Not Rose.”

“Rose. Mia, I need to talk to her alone.”

“You’re shutting me out?”

“Yes.” He would not involve her. Not in this. “You should go home.”

The glitter in her eyes tore at him. “Fine, I’ll leave. If that’s what you really want.”

“I do.” He couldn’t even look at her when he said the words again. He’d dreamed of saying them someday with a whole other meaning. As in, I want you in my life forever. Now his future was bleaker than ever. Was he destined to taste heaven with Mia, only to have it wrenched away every time?

They pulled up to the cottage, where Rose’s truck sat out front. She and Cody were waiting on the front step. The boy sprang up and raced over as the car came to a stop. His greeting wasn’t any less enthusiastic—or desperate—than Mia’s had been, but Cody wasn’t even trying to stop his tears.

He clung to Raleigh like a child, hiccupping and sobbing so hard that his words were unintelligible. “…lose you…jail…dead!”

Raleigh rubbed his back, meeting Rose’s eyes. “I’m here, buddy. I’m not going anywhere.” He knew they were empty words, though. As empty as his future, at the moment.

“Is Dad dead because of me? Because of what happened?” Cody sobbed.

“No. It has nothing to do with that.” Now he met Mia’s eyes, narrowed as she tried to decipher his meaning. “Shh,” he soothed and ordered at once.

Rose flicked her eyes to Mia like a scared rabbit. “Kids blame themselves, you know,” she said with a hollow laugh.

“Let’s go inside.” Raleigh led the way into the cottage. He didn’t know who could hear them, and he wouldn’t put it past Sullivan to plant a spy.

Mia rubbed Cody’s shoulders. “Why would you ever think you’re to blame, sweetheart? You couldn’t possibly have hurt your father.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “Maybe God did it. To punish him.”

“Cody, it wasn’t your fault,” Rose said in a firm voice that went with the firm look she gave him: Don’t go there. “God doesn’t punish men for being terrible fathers. But they get theirs in the end, and that end was Hank’s fault alone.”

Cody glanced at Raleigh for confirmation, which Raleigh gave him as a nod. “Your mama’s right. Dad was into trouble, always had been. It caught up to him, is all.” He wiped the boy’s cheeks. “We need to be strong while this is being sorted out, okay?” When Cody nodded, Raleigh said, “I want to talk to your mom alone for a few minutes. Can you stay here with Miss Mia? Maybe help her pack her suitcase.”

Cody swung his gaze to her. “You’re leaving? Now?”

Mia smoothed his hair. “No, I’m not. That would be crazy, right? To leave your brother when he needs his friends and family the most?”

“Yeah.”

Mia now gave him a pointed look. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re sticking together.” She waved Raleigh on. “Go, talk to Rose. We’ll be fine here.”

Raleigh wasn’t comfortable leaving them alone. How much would Cody tell her? The kid trusted her, as well as feeling a degree of affection for her.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes.” Raleigh led the way to the door, gesturing for Rose to precede him out to the beach. Where the wind would float their words away.

The moment their feet hit the sand, she blurted out, “One of the deputies found me today.”

“They didn’t take you in to the station?”

“No, he just asked me a bunch of questions at my job.”

“That’s good. They hauled me right in.”

“They arrested you for Hank’s murder.” She gripped his forearm as they walked.

“They don’t have any real evidence.” He outlined what they had. “I hired a good attorney. She’s already working on having the charges dropped.”

“Thank God. Because I could tell they have you in their sights. Asking me about your relationship with Hank, if you’d been fighting