recently.”
“You didn’t tell them—”
“Of course not. He didn’t ask to talk to Cody, but he already knows not to say a word. Especially to a cop.”
“He nearly told Mia.”
Rose rubbed the bony bridge of her nose. “I know. He likes her. And he was scared, real scared, when he heard you’d been arrested. I don’t know what we’d do without you, Raleigh.”
He wasn’t sure what he’d do without them, either. Or Mia. But he had to prepare for the worst while pretending to hope for the best. Because hope was still the same nasty bitch he’d always known.
Chapter 15
Mia watched Raleigh and Rose wander into the distance as she distracted Cody with making a root-beer float.
“Why does Raleigh want you to leave?” the kid asked.
Perceptive. “He wants to protect me.”
“From being arrested, too?”
“No, from what people will think.” She grunted as she dug the scoop into a tub of hard ice cream. “Some people will assume Raleigh is guilty.”
“That’s crazy. He would never kill anyone.”
“We know that, but there are people who only know him from the outside. They don’t know his heart like we do.”
She wanted to ask Cody why he thought he was to blame, why God would punish Hank. But she held back, because that violated their privacy. Because it wasn’t her business. Mostly because Raleigh didn’t want her to know.
And that hurt. It hurt that he was pushing her away when he needed her the most. Maybe for all the right reasons, at least in his mind. Dammit, they couldn’t be there for each other the last time, when she’d been in the hospital and he’d been arrested.
“Miss Mia, why are you crying?”
She blinked, realizing that a tear had slid down her cheek. No point in denying it. “I’m sad, Cody. That Raleigh thinks more of others than he does of himself. That he tries to protect everyone else and won’t accept our protection.”
“Then we’ll protect him, Miss Mia. Whether he likes it or not.”
She smiled as she wiped away her tears. “Yes, we will.”
She finally managed to scoop enough ice cream into the mugs and pour on the root beer. They sat at the table together spooning out the carbonated foam.
“Tell me about your father.”
“He could be fun, when he’d had a couple of beers, but not too many. Then he got mean. Or all sad about his life.”
“Did he ever hit you?”
“A smack every now and then. He’d get nasty, tell me I’d never amount to nothing when I didn’t mind him.”
Mia had to hold back vile sentiments. “He had a lot of room to talk. You know that’s not true, right?”
Cody nodded as he stuck a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. “Raleigh told me he was full of shit. Oops, ‘scuse me. But that’s what he said. He gets mad when I tell him the things Dad said to me. It was good that he warned me—” He clamped his mouth shut.
“About what?”
The kid’s eyes darkened. “Nothing.”
Oh, it was something, all right. “Cody, you can tell me anything. I care about you. And I won’t tell a soul.” She crossed her heart. “And hope to die.”
“Don’t say that!”
“Sorry. You’re right, it’s an awful saying. Not any better than loving someone to death. I cross my heart and hope to live.”
Cody dipped his finger into his float and licked off the foam. Then again. Stalling. She held her breath, telling herself that it was okay if he decided not to reveal anything.
He studied the blob of brown foam that was in the shape of a Hershey’s Kiss. “He said Dad might try to touch me. In a wrong way. And that if he did I was supposed to scream for him to stop and run. To tell him or Mama, no matter what Dad threatened.”
Mia still hadn’t breathed. She had to subtly release it. “Did he? Touch you?”
The boy nodded, his mouth in a tight frown. “That last night I saw him. And I ran, like Raleigh said to.”
“Who did you go to?”
“Raleigh.”
She sensed rather than heard someone at the door. They both turned at the same time to find Raleigh and Rose in the opening.
Everyone grew silent, but she saw fear in their eyes. Raleigh closed the door and gestured for Rose to join them at the table. She watched him compose himself, think about what he wanted to say.
“Cody…”
“I’m sorry, Raleigh. I wanted to tell Mia. I knew she’d never tell anyone else.”
“I know you trust Mia. We all do,