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Chapter 20
Melissa’s call was like a floodgate opening where Everleigh seemed concerned. After his sister had disconnected, Everleigh had thanked him profusely, multiple times, for the chat he’d had with her grandmother.
She’d talked about groceries, about staying with her grandmother that night...
“It sounds like your father is planning to come get her,” he butted in, not wanting to put a damper on her joy, but wanting her prepared. “She’ll be under house arrest until sentencing. Most likely with a tether...an ankle bracelet.”
She nodded, still fidgeting, as though she couldn’t keep herself contained.
This woman is almost killed, and she maintains a seemingly perfect calm, he thought. She gets good news about her grandparent and she can hardly sit still.
Yet another thing he found fascinating about her. She was an enigma, to be sure. One he was never going to forget.
She’d talked to him earlier that morning about her research into opening her own salon. He hadn’t said much, but still intended to see that, if she did open, every Colton in the city would visit her. At least once. He might not be in her life long-term, but he could still help her have a good one. Then, and into the future.
The thought felt good. Right.
“I can’t believe Larissa was sleeping with Fritz,” she said then, sobering. And he figured the shock from the morning was wearing off. Probably eased on its way by the rush of good news.
“I can’t believe I didn’t suspect anything...” Her tone dropped. No. Oh no. No, no. He didn’t want her to lose her joy again so quickly...
“How about that bit there at the end?” he blurted awkwardly. “When Larissa said that he’d broken off with her, saying he wanted to try again with you?”
He’d been trying to show her that she’d been the better woman. She’d won.
But as he said the words, more occurred to him.
Everleigh sat wrapped in her winter coat, staring out the front windshield, her expression placid. And he needed to know—for no rational, good or discernible reason—“Would you have been willing to try again?”
Did she love that man still? Think of him all the time? Mourn him and wish he was still alive? If he hadn’t been killed, would she still be with him?
Not one of the questions was case related. Or any of his business. And he sat there, on edge, driving, making a turn, as he awaited an answer to the only query he’d voiced.
“No.” The answer was slow in coming, but nonnegotiable. “I admit, I feel a bit...vindicated...that, in the end, he always seemed to want me, for the long haul. There was that part of him, that when he was truly feeling a lack of confidence, he’d come to me and I could always make him feel better. I think maybe that’s what kept me believing that our relationship was real, even when all the signs were showing me it wasn’t. Knowing that I wasn’t completely wrong about that, that I meant something, that kind of helps as I process all of this...but no.” She shook her head. “I have not one single doubt on that matter. It’s exactly like I told Larissa at the house. I was done the second he accused me of cheating. I can accept a lot, overlook a lot, but I can’t live with anyone I can’t trust. Nor will I ever be okay in a relationship that contained the possibility of infidelity. Ever. That’s just not me.”
So, there you had it.
She didn’t mourn the creep who’d been perennially unfaithful to her.
And she wouldn’t even consider any kind of relationship with a man who wasn’t programmed to settle down with one woman for the rest of his life.
* * *
She didn’t make it in time for the hearing. But Everleigh was standing there when her grandmother walked out of the secured section of the prison and into the hallway. Her parents were on their way, but for the moment, it was just the prison officials—one guard—and her and Clarke.
It wasn’t until Everleigh saw Hannah, in ill-fitting pants and a sweatshirt that had been given to her so she could leave right away, that she took a truly easy breath.
Finally believed that she was going to get her life back.
Rushing forward, she threw her arms around her grandmother, hugging her slim, athletic form tightly. And started to cry a little when she felt those surprisingly strong arms wrap around her middle for the first time in too many months.
Everleigh was strong. Because Gram was her rock.
Always had been.
“Come on now, girlie. It wasn’t as bad as all that,” Hannah said, grinning, her own eyes moist as she pulled back enough to look Everleigh in the eye. “It’s going to take a helluva lot more than prison to put a dent in the fight of McPherson women, right?”
Gram had been repeating the phrase her entire life. And her whole life, Everleigh had believed her. She believed her still. Which was why both of them were still standing.
