“I did listen to them, and you’re not wrong. The thing is, if I step back from this, let the police handle it all, or even let you, I’m back where I was a year ago. Just letting it all happen, letting the situation carry me instead of me carrying it. I can’t go back to that. I need to do this for myself, for my family. And in the end, I want him to know that. I need that when I think of Lindsay, my grandmother, this house.”
“You didn’t believe his wife.”
“No.”
“What did I miss?”
He lowered his hand to Barbie’s head when she leaned against him. “You said you had kids. You’re married.”
“That’s right.”
“How many times?”
She let out a laugh. “Just the one. It’s worked out pretty well.”
“That might be it. You haven’t gone through the dark side. Maybe I’m wrong and that’s what’s coloring it. But I don’t think so. The only way to be sure is to box him in. That’s what I’m going to do, here, on my turf. In my place.”
She let out a sigh. “I can help.”
“Yeah, I think you can.”
When he’d finished talking to her, he felt lighter somehow. “You know what?” he said to the dog. “I’m going to work for a couple hours, remind myself what my life’s supposed to be about. You can hang with me.”
He left the past, and what would come behind it, and went down to surround himself with the now.
Twenty-nine
ABRA SWUNG INTO THE MARKET, LIST IN HAND. SHE’D FINISHED back-to-back classes, and a sports massage on a client prepping for a 5K, and polished it off with a last-minute cleaning in a rental cottage. Now she just wanted to grab what she needed and get back to Eli.
Honestly, she thought, that’s what she’d like to do for the rest of her life. Get back to Eli.
But tonight could prove to be the turning point for him. For them. The point where they could begin to leave the questions and the pain of the past in the past, and start working toward tomorrow.
Whatever tomorrow brought, she’d be happy because he’d brought love back into her life. The kind of love that accepted, understood and—even better—enjoyed who and what she was.
Could there be anything more magical and marvelous than that?
She visualized lifting the little hand tote of baggage she still carried, then flinging it into the sea.
Done and gone.
But now wasn’t the time for dreaming, she reminded herself. Now was the time for doing. For righting wrong. And if there was some adventure mixed in, so much the better.
She reached up for her preferred counter spray—biodegradable, no animal testing—dropped it in her basket and turned.
She all but bumped into Justin Suskind.
She couldn’t stop the quick gasp, but tried to turn it quickly into a flustered apology even as her heart kicked like a startled mule.
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” Praying she didn’t tremble, she tried an easy smile she felt quiver at the edges.
He’d cut his hair, short, lightened it to a sun-streaked blond. Unless he’d spent the last two weeks catching rays, he’d made use of a self-tanner.
And she was reasonably sure he’d had his eyebrows waxed.
He gave her one hard stare, started to move on.
On impulse she shifted, used her elbow and knocked a few items from the shelf to the floor.
“God! I’m such a klutz today.” Crouching to retrieve them, she blocked his path. “Isn’t it always the way when you’re running behind schedule? I need to get home. My boyfriend’s taking me into Boston for dinner and a suite at The Charles, and I haven’t even decided what to wear.”
She rose with an armload of cleaning products, sent him an apologetic smile. “And I’m still in your way. Sorry.”
She stepped aside, began to shelve what she’d dropped, and resisted looking after him as she heard him walk away.
Now you know, she thought. Or you think you know. You won’t miss your opportunity any more than I could miss mine.
She ordered herself to complete her list, in case he was watching her. Even stopped to chat with one of her yoga students for a moment. Everything’s normal, she told herself. Just a quick stop at the market before your big night in Boston.
And because she was watching, she caught a glimpse of him sitting in a dark SUV in the lot as she put her market bags in the car. Deliberately she turned the radio up, checked her hair,