Page 31 of Love At Peace

Without me, Eric would have to lean on neighbors and coworkers, and I couldn’t lie and admit that it didn’t feel good to have this sense of belonging. Or this worthiness to help.

He was still agitated, though. “But who—”

I patted his arm. “Relax.”

David. That’s who. He was the common denominator to all that was going wrong in my life, and I just knew he had to be connected to Eric’s injuries.

I stayed a while yet, until he fell asleep. Twice more, I spoke with the doctor and nurses, but they couldn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. Todd texted to explain that he and Gavin were working together to bring me my car. It seemed like a minor detail, how I’d get home, but I appreciated that they could team up like that. It was becoming harder and harder to automatically view Burton as the enemy, that the whole town despised me. They were proof that not everyone loathed me.

Once they confirmed that my car was here, Gavin had a nurse bring me my keys.

“We’ll monitor him overnight,” she said. “And get some more fluids in him.”

“I’ll go then,” I said. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Have a good night,” she replied.

Too late for that.

As I left the hospital, texting Janelle that I’d need to take tomorrow off to help Eric settle in at home, I sighed and wondered if when this hell would end. If it would end.

Chapter 12

Roarke

“Did you get on Heather’s laptop?”

Of all the questions I wanted answered, that was the one at the top of the list.

I had been looking for Nevaeh to know if Heather was accurate in accusing her. I had been worrying if my niece had fucked up my chances with the first woman I wanted to love since my divorce.

The news about this pregnancy, about her being with David... Both of those things warranted more conversation, but before either of us walked off, I had to ask that one burning question.

Nevaeh scoffed, shaking her head and turning to leave. She stomped up the stairs so loudly that I bet the other residents in the building would complain about the noise, but she paused to shout back at me. “Fuck off, uncle.”

Then she opened the door to the apartment that David had recently rented and slammed it shut.

I stared at the closed door panel, seething.

If her attitude could be an answer, she’d just told me that she had gone on Heather’s work laptop. Because if she hadn’t, she would’ve been sassy and said so, right?

“What a fucking mess,” I muttered as I walked off.

I didn’t know what to think anymore. What to do. What to say. It seemed that all I could do was make the wrong decisions about both of the women in my life. I couldn’t be the firm guidance that my niece needed. And I failed to be the supportive friend Heather likely wanted.

It seemed that all I did was say the wrong thing. So, while I waited for Gavin to come back and pick me up, I walked over to the bar and got a drink. Not to drown my worries in it, but to zone out and not think at all.

The spaciness didn’t help, but it gave me the freedom of not dwelling on it for at least twenty minutes. I texted Gavin where to find me, but before he arrived and before I finished my drink, someone walked in and piqued my curiosity.

Jerry strode in, talking a mile a minute on his phone, and I narrowed my eyes at him. He had to have some damn answers. If he could explain when David was actively living in that apartment, that could help pinpoint if the fucker was there to hurt Eric like that. If he wouldn’t tell me that, then I’d put pressure on him to tell me if he had been renting anything to Nevaeh.

“Hey.”

He looked up at me directly calling him out.

“Got a minute?”

He smirked. “Not really—”