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When she pulled into his driveway the garage door opened and she parked and got out to go in that way.
“Hi,” she said when he was standing there holding the door for her.
“Hey,” he said. He wasn’t smiling and she wasn’t sure why.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes. Is it for you?”
She frowned. “Yes. Why do you ask? I was thrilled you were willing to make the time for us to see each other.”
“I figured you’d want to talk to me,” he said.
This was odd. “I do like talking to you. But I thought maybe it had to do with something more.”
He walked toward the kitchen and she followed along. It seemed he was at peace there more than anywhere else and it made complete sense.
She was finding she felt that way in the kitchen too.
“Have you spoken to your father lately?” he asked.
“Actually, no,” she said. “Why?”
“Really?” he asked. He was pulling ingredients out and she let him. He knew she had no food allergies and wasn’t fussy with food. She’d eat anything he put down in front of her at that point and she’d told him that.
“Yes,” she said. “Again, why?”
Duke let out a sigh. “Figures. He and I met on Friday morning at Duke’s.”
“Oh,” she said. “He wouldn’t tell me that. Not if it has to do with business.”
“It wasn’t business,” he said.
She felt her face start to fill with heat. “Did he go there to talk about me? Us?”
“Yes. He said he knew we went on a date.”
“I don’t run back and tell my parents everything I do in my life. Matter of fact, I tell them very little or haven’t in years. But living so close now it’s hard to do anything without them seeing me. They did. They saw me come home the night of our date and I had a dress on. My mother was excited I’d gone out.”
It probably made her sound like a complete loser to him that her parents were so thrilled that she went on a date or maybe had a friend.
“Your father told me that. He also told me a few more things and I’ve got to wonder why you didn’t.”
She wasn’t sure where this was going and didn’t think she was going to like it either. “About what?”
“Eddie,” he said.
After the heat was in her face, she was pretty sure it drained white now. “He had no right to bring my ex up. What did he tell you about him?”
“That he’s not an ex, as I thought. That he passed away and that you took care of him and helped with expenses. You came home a few months after because of the debt.”
There was the heat again to her face. She just hoped she didn’t pass out with the constant fluctuations. “I don’t want you to think I’m a liar. I’m not. But my parents don’t know the whole story. So, wipe out what my father said to you.”
“Why did you lie to your parents?” he asked. “And did Eddie not die?”
Hadley let out a sigh. “He did die. I didn’t lie as much as omit the truth. I’m thirty years old and can take care of myself. I’m embarrassed over everything that happened and what I let myself get pulled into. I feel like a sucker, and I’ve got no one to blame but myself.”
“I’m confused,” he said.
