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She barely recognized the glassy-eyed woman in the mirror with running mascara and trembling lips.
Get a hold of yourself, Eden.
Good advice. Whatever the condition of her heart, she still had a job to do. Pressing her hands to her forehead, she took stock. Think like Swain. How do you make this work in your favor?
The answers came to her, reassuringly fast. Then again, why shouldn’t they? She’d learned from a master manipulator—perhaps even a man who could lie convincingly to a woman’s face about wanting a future while already planning his next hookup. Or maybe an ongoing hookup?
A text message. His early departure.
He’d arrived in Bluelick a whole week before her, after all. He’d spent her first night at the house somewhere else. True, he’d claimed to have spent it in the back of the Bronco, but he’d also told her not to trust him. Why was she working so hard, right now, to do what he’d warned her not to do?
With brisk movements, she brushed her teeth, fixed her hair and makeup, then assessed her efforts. So what if she looked like a woman whose world had spun away from her? She didn’t have to worry about putting on an act for Dobie. It was all painfully authentic, and she’d use it.
A ping from her phone signaled an incoming text. She tapped the screen before the words disappeared and scanned the message.
Hey, hotshot. Too busy nowadays to talk to your dad? Call me.
That would have to wait. On unsteady legs, she returned to the front room and found Dobie sitting on the sectional. “Oh, God, Dobie. What am I going to do?” With the question hanging in the air, she plopped down beside him and rested her pounding head on his skinny shoulder.
“Kick him out?”
Her heart clenched, but she nodded. “Yes. I…I love him.” True words, but they cut like razors in her throat. “Still, I can’t forgive this. Even if I could, I can’t trust him. Without trust, there’s no point.” She should have faced that fact earlier.
“You want me to come back after my shift and hang out, in case he doesn’t wanna hear what you’re saying?”
Her heart clenched again but for a different reason. The idea of wiry Dobie standing between her and bigger, stronger, far more battle-ready Swain just about choked her with guilt. “You are such a good friend to me I hardly know what to say. But no. I’ll deal with him.”
But would she? The man could think on his feet, and she knew a weak part of her wanted to believe whatever excuse he tossed out, but if his explanation failed the logic test, she would call Alvarez in Lexington and beg to stay the night. Alvarez had been through worse. Her old roomie would offer a bed, a shoulder to cry on, and as many tequila shots as it took to dull the pain.
“You’re not going to take him back, are you?”
Maybe.
“No. But when I boot his ass, I have to leave, too.”
“Why?” Dobie’s voice shook. “Everybody here loves you, Eden. You’re a hero. Don’t leave.”
“Honey, I don’t have a job. I don’t have any money, and I’m not going to take a penny from that two-timing bastard who can’t keep his dick in his pants. I can’t afford
this house on my own. To be brutally honest, I can’t afford anything on my own.” She buried her face in her hands. “What else can I do?”
Dobie hesitated. “Would you be willing to, you know, do the thing Swain was going to do to earn extra cash?”
She raised her head, looked at him, and very nearly willed him to take back the question, because she couldn’t possibly go through with it. Not like this. Then training kicked in. She could and would do her job. “Could I, do you think? On my own?”
“I’ll set up a meeting. I’m pretty sure our guy was more interested in talking to you, anyway.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “Does he…know me?”
Dobie offered up a hollow laugh. “He knows everybody.”
“Who is it?” She counted her own heartbeats while she waited for his reply.
“I—um—I should let him lay out everything, all at once. Does this afternoon work for you?”
This was moving fast. Very fast. Fine. Swain wasn’t the only one who could move. “Anytime.” She straightened and brushed her hair away from her face. “I need the income. I’ll make it work.”
“I’ll set it up and text you with the details.” With that, he stood. “I’m sorry, Eden. I hate to drop a bomb on you and leave, but I better get back to work before Roscoe docks me.”
