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“Sorry I gave her a job. Sorry I didn’t see through all her bullshit.” He cursed and looked up at the ceiling. Noticed a crack in the plaster and wondered if Hudson knew it was there. “At least she didn’t swindle you guys out of anything.” He shook his head. “At least there’s that.”
The Blackwell patriarch rubbed his forehead. He looked fatigued, and Nash knew he was responsible for some of it. “I thought she was lovely. Quick mind with a knack for humor.”
“I did too,” Darlene said slowly, shaking her head. “I’m so sorry, Nash. I know she was…” The older woman cleared her throat and looked downcast. “I know she meant a lot to you.”
Nash felt the small box in his pocket. Hell, yeah. He’d thought she was the one.
“I think it was wrong to ambush her in front of the town the way you did.” Cam had been quiet up to this point, but his eyes were on Hudson. “I think you could have handled it better. Gave her a chance to—”
“A chance to do what?” Nash asked harshly. “Get her story straight and tell more lies? The woman isn’t who she said she was, Cam. She’s made a living swindling folks out of their hard-earned money. Preying on old men, doing God knows what to convince them to part with their cash. She was arrested for prostitution, for Christ’s sake.”
“She said she was arrested, yes.” Cam looked at Hudson. “Was she actually charged? If so, did the charges stick?”
“They were dropped,” Hudson admitted, though his voice was hard and unforgiving. “Doesn’t mean anything.”
“I don’t know about that,” Cam replied. “I think it might mean there’s more to the story. But I guess we’ll never know since we’ll never hear her side.”
Hudson took a step forward. “What the hell do you care, Cameron? Were you doing her on the side? Did she have you in her pocket? We all know your résumé isn’t exactly clean.”
“That’s enough,” Nash barked. He looked at his brother, and even though he hated to admit it, he wondered the sam
e thing. Honey and Cam had gotten close. “She tell you anything?” he asked, hoping he didn’t sound as desperate for answers as he felt.
Cam nodded slowly. “Yeah. The other day, when we were closing the bar. She told me she never knew her father. That she’d never trusted a man before. That she didn’t believe in fairy tales. Then she met you. She told me that you were her fairy tale. That you were her miracle. I told her that was cheesy as hell. She laughed, but she meant it, Nash. Every word.”
Nash had nothing and remained silent.
“Human beings are complicated sorts.” They all looked toward John Blackwell. He sat ramrod straight in his leather La-Z-Boy, his faded blue eyes alive and piercing. “They hide behind masks, behind actions and their past for a lot of reasons. I never got the feeling Honey was looking for a fortune so much as she was looking for a home.” He looked sheepish, as if he hadn’t meant to share so much. “At least, that’s my hope.” He turned to Nash. “I don’t know what happened tonight, but I do agree with your brother. Everyone should have the opportunity to atone for their sins. To tell their story and explain things. There was something about that girl that was special. I hardly knew her and yet…”
“Dad, she would have found a way to get what she wanted from you.”
“But that’s the question, isn’t it?” John asked, his voice fading as fatigue wore him down. “We don’t know what she wanted. No one asked that question.”
That sentence haunted Nash all night. It was nearly four in the morning when he dragged his ass out of the hot tub. He couldn’t sleep in his bed, not while it still smelled of Honey. Hell, he could close his eyes and it was like she was there. When he finally did manage to fall asleep, the sun was already poking through the inky blackness that surrounded him. And when he woke, it was nearly three in the afternoon and someone was pounding at his door.
His first thought was that it was Honey, but when he opened the door, Hudson stood there, shivering in the cold. Hudson stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
“Get dressed.”
“What the hell?” Nash glowered, his mood still black, his mind still chaotic. “You giving orders to everyone or just me?”
“Let’s go see her.”
Nash studied Hudson carefully. “Why? You feeling the need to go at Honey again? Because Cam’s right. Last night shouldn’t have happened. None of it. There was a better way to let her know the game was over.”
Hudson ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “She told you she was from Louisiana.”
Nash nodded.
“She told my dad she was from Missouri.”
Nash scowled. “Well, according to you, she was from everywhere.”
Hudson was silent for a few moments. “Yeah. Well. I just thought maybe you might want to talk to her before she up and leaves and, uh…I thought I’d tag along for moral support.”
Suddenly, all the chaos in his mind settled a bit, and Nash nodded, on his way to the bedroom so he could pull on some clean clothes.
“Give me five.”
