Heart of Gold - B.J. Daniels Page 0,15
leave until she told him, and he proved Lindy was dead and she was seeing things, she realized with a groan. He was bound and determined to pay his debt. That she got. But apparently, he also hadn’t gotten any less stubborn over the years either.
Leaving her feet bare, she padded back into the living room to find him in the kitchen. He’d gotten out plates and napkins, saying the food was on its way. She really was hungry and knew eating would help her not feel so desperate. Also it would delay telling him about Lindy.
At the knock at the door, he told her to have a seat and he’d get dinner. The scent alone made her stomach rumble as he came back with it.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked so I bought a variety,” he said as he put down the sack and began taking out the small white boxes.
“It smells so good,” she said, watching excitedly. Her stomach was growling loudly and she knew he heard it. She was thankful that he hadn’t asked about her so-called date.
“Kung pao shrimp, sweet and sour pork, orange peel beef, fried rice and lo mein, how does that sound?”
“Wonderful.” She could actually work up a smile. “Thank you.”
They ate in a companionable silence, making her remember how easy it had been to be around Shep all those years ago. She wasn’t sure she would have made it through that whole ordeal of the judge’s boot camp if it hadn’t been for him—and not just that day on the obstacle course. She’d been self-destructive back then, wanting to punish herself for what she’d done but still unable to admit it to anyone but herself.
When they finished dinner, she put the leftovers in the refrigerator and dumped the empty containers in the trash. She felt full and content and better than she had all day—until Shep asked, “You’re going to have to tell me about Lindy, you know.”
“Do we have to do it tonight?”
“I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on, Charlie.”
She doubted there was any help for her—let alone from Shep. He said he was a middle school math teacher. How he could help, she couldn’t even imagine.
“Charlie, do you trust me?”
Looking into those familiar eyes, she realized she did. This handsome man had been the sweet boy who’d stolen her heart at the tender age of sixteen.
Now just when she thought she’d finally put the past behind her...
She padded into the living room to plop down on the far end of the couch. He took the other end. Tucking her feet under her, she turned toward him.
“Lindy was my stepsister and I killed her.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“YOU KILLED HER?” Shep said, thinking he’d either heard wrong or Charlie was exaggerating. “You killed her?”
Charlie jumped off the couch and headed for the kitchen. “If I’m going to do this, I’m going to need wine.”
He was still trying to understand as he watched her go into the small kitchen and come back with another bottle of wine and two glasses. Charlie was no killer. He’d stake his life on that.
She made a production of opening the wine until he couldn’t stand to watch her struggle anymore. Taking the bottle, he uncorked it and poured them both a glass. “You’re going to have to be more specific. When you say you killed her...”
He watched her take a gulp of her wine before dropping back onto her spot on the couch. Cupping the glass in her hands, she looked down at the dark red liquid and said, “My mother died when I was thirteen. My father remarried within months of my fourteenth birthday to a woman named Kathryn Parker. Kat had a daughter who was seventeen named Lindy.”
He saw pain in her expression and knew that whatever had happened, it had been haunting her for years. Which made him wonder why she was only now seeing the person she thought was Lindy. Unless this wasn’t something new. He asked as much.
“I’ve never seen Lindy—except in my nightmares—until this week.” Charlie took another swig of her wine before she began again. “Lindy hated me from the beginning. I remember how disappointed I was since I thought the only good thing about my father remarrying was that I’d have a sister.
“I didn’t realize at first just how much she hated me. Our parents were in love and lost in their own world. So it was just Lindy and me a lot of the time. Once, she