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“It’s been a lot.” David patted her arm and offered her an encouraging smile. “I don’t blame you for feeling overwhelmed.”
“I guess I should go home and wait for him. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Why don’t you stay and let us feed you dinner? You can take some time to sort through what you want to say.”
“Are you sure?” An hour or two of wine and good company sounded like exactly what she needed, but she had shown up entirely unannounced. “I don’t want to derail your plans for the evening.”
“We always have time for you.”
“It’s true.” Jackson poured her another glass and lifted his own in toast. “We’re never too busy for our girl.”
* * *
She came home a few hours later with a full stomach and a slightly tipsy head. Not the best circumstances for a serious conversation, so she decided to send Ethan a text and ask him to stay at his own house that night. A little sleep would help clear her head of the alcohol and give her some more time to get control of her runaway emotions.
It was easy to let herself believe in Ethan when she was tucked safely away in her friends’ living room. They had faith in his feelings, and she was able to lean into that as a crutch. It was a lot harder to keep that belief in her own empty kitchen, when there was no one around to bolster her and all she had to go on were her own suspicious thoughts.
She was in a bad mood already when she heard the front door open and his voice calling out softly in the dark for Winston.
“Come on, boy. Let’s take you outside before we head up to bed. I bet Eloise is already upstairs.”
His back was turned when she walked out of the kitchen and found him crouched down with the dog’s leash in his hand. Winston had always been at ease with him and there was no tension in his broad shoulders as he patted the pup. Everything seemed so normal, so much of what she had come to expect from him, and it was hard to imagine that he could be anything other than the man she’d come to trust, maybe even love.
“I asked you to stay at your place tonight.” She sounded gruff and cranky, not a great start to avoiding a confrontation.
“What?” He glanced back at her, surprise turning to confusion as he registered what she’d said. “When did you say that? Is everything okay?”
“I texted you an hour ago.”
He pulled his phone out of pocket and read the message. “Shit. I’m sorry, I didn’t even notice. I can take Winston and head home if you’re not in the mood for company. Are you not feeling well?”
“Yes. No.” She sighed and crossed her arms protectively across her middle. “I don’t know.”
“You know I don’t mind taking care of you when you’re sick.” He stood up, lifting a wiggling Winston in his arms. “I can stay if you need me.”
“It’s not that.” All her doubts and insecurities were bubbling inside her, Jackson and David’s good advice almost forgotten. “I’m not sick, I mean.”
“Did I do something?”
“I don’t know.” The wine was swimming in her head, and he was in the worst place at the worst time. It burst out of her; a bomb dropped at the center of their relationship. “Did you kill her?”
“What?” The color drained from his face. “Kill who? What are you talking about, Eloise?”
“Kim.” In her slightly intoxicated state, that seemed like a sufficient explanation. She waved a hand at him, brushed aside his dumbfounded expression. “I need to know if you hurt her.”
“Why the hell would I have killed her? I didn’t even know her. How could you think that?”
“I don’t know!” His anger was a spark to her own. “Why didn’t you tell me she’d been at the bar?”
“Sweetheart, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can you start from the beginning and explain what the fuck is going on here?”
“I think you know exactly what’s going on here.” She sniffed and wobbled, pointed an accusatory finger at him. “I saw the matches she was carrying when she died, and they had the bar’s logo on the front. Where did she get that, Ethan?”
“I have no idea.”
“It’s a coincidence, then? I meet you and you show up at my house with a bullet hole in you because you and your friends were up to only God knows what, and then my friend ends up dead?”
“Listen, I?—”
