Beyond the front screen door, the sun finally set, and velvety black darkness is overtaking the sky.
Keith’s gaze goes to the bottle of wine on the counter. “That’s not the same bottle from last night.”
“No. I shared this bottle with Liv.” I lift the bottle. “Unfortunately, we finished the whole thing.” I see my unfinished iced tea. “I have tea if you’d like some?”
He shakes his head. Keith’s boots clip on the tile floor as he walks to the front screen door and looks out at the lake. “After the sheriff’s, I went to Serena’s house.” His tone is so soft, I strain to hear.
“I thought you two didn’t get along.”
Keith pushes his hands down into the pockets of his blue jeans, still facing away. “I took an oath.”
“To serve and protect,” I say, recalling the words from a hundred different scripts.
He nods before turning toward me. His expression is unreadable as if too many emotions are vying for top billing. “Sometimes the answers are right in front of us, but we don’t want to see them.”
“Did the two of you go to the bonfire together?”
My question seems to register. “I met her there. I didn’t think she should have gone. She doesn’t care what I think. I left.”
“What’s right in front of us? Are you talking about Craig or the girls?”
“My brother was a manipulating piece of shit.”
“It’s clear you didn’t see eye to eye.”
Pulling his hand from his pocket, Keith runs his fingers through his dark blond hair. “I don’t think Blue Gil understands the depth to his depravity or the lingering effects it caused.”
“Maybe they don’t want to know. They want to remember him as the coach who took Blue Gil to greatness.”
Keith’s jaw clenches as the tendons in his neck pull tight. “He got off on fooling people. He’s done it his whole life. You should have seen him as a kid. He’d lie straight-faced to our mom or dad. They never saw it.”
“Some people are born pathological liars.” I minored in psychology. It’s given me knowledge, helpful with what I do.
“A person can only take so much.”
“Who?” I ask.
“You weren’t the first or last person Craig cheated with after he and Serena married.”
“Keith, I don’t want to rehash that.”
He scoffs. “I never wanted to fuck his leftovers, but you’re special.”
Leftovers.
Special.
I clenched my jaw. “I don’t want to be special.” With the turkey sandwich churning in my stomach, I reach for the partial glass of tea. The ice is gone and the contents are warm. Still, I hope it will soothe my nerves. Before I can take a drink, Keith’s voice garners my attention.
“Oh, but you are. You changed everything,” he says.
Without drinking, I put down the glass. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He tilts his head toward the front of the cottage. “Out there the other day, as soon as I realized who you were, I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Craig called me for legal advice. I suppose he thought a cop could give him that.”
