Page 72 of Passion in Bloom

I appreciated how quickly she shot that idea down. Of course, I wouldn’t have messed with her laptop. Besides, it wasn’t like I was always here. This sleeping over stuff had only just started after my cabin was flooded.

“Anyone else?”

Heather’s face turned pale. She stared at me, but didn’t seem to see me at all.

I mouthed my concern to her. “What?”

“Nevaeh.” She stated it quietly, coldly, and with fear. Maybe a hint of dismay to match the shocked expression.

“Who?” Fergus asked. “I didn’t hear you.”

“I... I’ll...” She cleared her throat, stammering. “I’ll call you later,” she told Fergus.

She disconnected the call at record speed, tapping the button and dropping her phone to the table with a clatter.

“Nevaeh?” I asked. I’d heard her all right, but that didn’t make sense. “Did she break in here?”

“No.” She pressed her lips together, mad. “She was here. Yesterday. Remember?”

Fuck.I’d forgotten about that. She’d offered for Nevaeh to come over when she looked so ill. Then when I showed up, she was suddenly perky and healthy enough to leave.

“Nevaeh was here. She was unsupervised, supposedly napping on the loveseat while I showered.” She shot to her feet and braced her hands on her head as she paced. “I was cold and wet from your place so when she said she just wanted to lie down, I took a shower. She was out here near my laptop where I couldn’t see.”

I connected the dots. It wasn’t that hard to catch on. As I stood, shaking my head, I tried to let it make sense in my mind.

It didn’t, though.

Why?

“You think Nevaeh wanted to get on your work laptop and somehow screw something up?”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I don’t think it. I know it. She’s the only person who could’ve had unsupervised access like that.”

“But that still doesn’t add up, Heather.” I held my hand up when she scowled, ready to lash out or shout. I had to tread carefully. By saying her claim made no sense, I was implying she was stupid or incompetent, talking nonsense. “Why would she do that? If someone compromised something for your work files, if anyone tried to get onto your work laptop at all, they’d be someone trying to get you.”

She crossed her arms. “Well, your niece hasn’t exactly been Miss Congeniality with me.”

“I won’t argue you about that. Nevaeh is rough around the edges. She’s mad at the world, but she’s not going to target you in something like this just for the hell of it.”

I don’t think...

I would never excuse my niece’s wrongdoings. Wrong was wrong. No gray area. Something was either right or wrong. When she broke into my place, that was wrong. When she stole my things, wrong. When she tried to shoplift or steal a car, wrong and wrong again.

But she’d never done something to deliberately hurt someone or get them in trouble. Nevaeh’s crimes were always to better something for herself. That was it. Interfering with Heather’s work laptop didn’t fit in her MO.

“How do you know?” Heather challenged hotly. “How well can you even claim to know her?”

“I...” I shook my head. “I can’t.” There was no denying how secretive Nevaeh was. “I hate that she’s not more open and direct with me.” Hell, half the time I didn’t know if she’d taken off again or was hanging out nearby.

For a long, tense moment, she stared at the floor. Glowering. Glaring. Seething and fuming. I knew better than to speak up and irritate her any further.

“Roarke, I need you to leave.”

I blinked, feeling like that was a harsh request.

I didn’t break onto her laptop or do anything.

I wasn’t necessarily arguing that my niece hadn’t either, but I couldn’t understand why or how she would.

“What?” I asked, feeling a nasty pit of uncertainty in my gut. She’d just rejected my offer to go and give her privacy as nonsense. And now, she wanted to kick me out and push me away because she believed my niece had messed with her work things?

What the hell?

I wasn’t prepared for this whiplash.

“I need to...” She rubbed the back of her neck. “I need to do damage control and think about how to handle this.”

“Janelle just said to wait until the morning...” She didn’t even have her laptop here to do any damage control.

“No.” She shook her head. “I need to be alone and deal with this. I don’t have time for you or your niece right now.”