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“I won’t. I promise.”

Three men walked through the front door, looking puzzled at the scene in front of them. A man was openly weeping and rocking, and a couple was wrapped in each other’s arms and kissing.

Was this just a typical Wednesday for them? Alli doubted it.

One of the men cleared his throat and stepped forward.

“Um, we’re the movers,” he said. “We may not have the right place.”

“You have the right place,” Sam replied, chuckling slightly. “There’s just been a little bit of drama this morning. But yes, this is the right place.”

Alli was in the right place, too.

With Sam and their love, all things were possible.

Together, they could get through anything.

“Congratulations on your first week of work,” Sam said, lifting his wine glass. They were celebrating at the local Italian place. “May there be many more.”

Was it possible for Alli to look even more beautiful than she usually did? She practically glowed in the soft lighting, her eyes gazing at him with love.

Love.

He’d learned a hell of a lot about it in the last few weeks. Mostly, he’d learned that he didn’t know shit. But he was catching up fast.

“It was a good week,” Alli said, clinking her glass against his. “I forgot how much I love doing this. Even if the story isn’t all that exciting, I’m meeting so many new people.”

“You didn’t have to step aside,” Sam reminded her. “My family would have been okay with you covering my mother’s story.”

After all, somebody had to. It was news in this little town, and they all knew that Alli would be as sensitive to their pain as possible.

“Gabe and I talked about it, and we both thought it would be better if he handled it. I think it was the right decision. For now, anyway. Things can always change later. Besides, I did Henry’s story.”

Sam hadn’t thought his opinion of Henry could be any lower, but he’d had to reevaluate that thinking.

Henry was a spineless worm who had spent the last thirty-plus years never thinking a minute ahead or about any fucking consequences in his life. He, along with Rick, had signed purchase orders he’d never read; he ran a department based on whims; and he had killed Leigh based on some supposed conversation that he’d only partially heard. Even when Leigh had assured him that she wasn’t going to tell the secret, he’d decided that she was lying.

Because he was a liar. He assumed everyone was just like him.

Another of his faults.

He’d asked her to meet him at the gazebo to talk about keeping their secret, but when she denied planning to tell anyone, he’d quickly lost his temper, picked up a rock, and hit Leigh with it. Then, panicking, he’d dragged her body to her car and tried to make it look like a robbery. As the department head of Facilities, Henry knew where all the outside security cameras were located, so he’d easily avoided them.

From what Sam could dig up, Leigh had never intended to tell Hannah the truth. Even in her will, she’d called Hannah her niece, not her daughter, when she left her estate to the young woman. Henry had been scared for nothing. He’d killed for…no reason.

Henry had admitted his crimes to Finn. It hadn’t taken much to get the older man to spill all the beans. He’d admitted the murder, tried to cover the evidence, and even held Alli at knifepoint. He’d seen her walking up the driveway, had panicked, and grabbed a kitchen knife. He hadn’t bargained for her to fight back, and he hadn’t thought about the movers showing up, or that Sam might, too.

In other words, like every day in his life, Henry hadn’t thought about anything other than himself.

Of course, he wasn’t alone in his self-absorption.

Rick, under pressure about the embezzlement, admitted to Sam that he’d known all along that Henry was Hannah’s father. He simply didn’t think it was important because it had happened so long ago.

When Sam asked Rick if it had occurred to him that Henry might have killed Leigh, he said it had, but then decided Henry didn’t have the guts to do it.

In the meantime, Joel was now out of the hospital and back at home with a bevy of round-the-clock nurses. He’d refused to go into any sort of rehabilitation center, of course. Everything had to be his way or no way.

When he’d received the news about Henry, Joel hadn’t spoken a word. He’d just shaken his head and changed the subject.