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“What did you do?”
“I took the shot. Missed it. Blew the game.” He lowered his head, shaking it slowly. “No one spoke to me after that game. The kids who usually flocked around me like groupies scattered. Teammates took off, cheerleaders. Even the coach. When I came out of the locker room, there was no one there. No one but Kara, who managed to overcome her shyness—no small feat—and come up to me and tell me nobody could be perfect all the time.”
“That was sweet of her. ‘Course, you already knew that.”
“Yeah. What I didn’t know was that the kid, the bench-warmer—damn, I wish I could remember his name—he was one of her causes. Poor kid, no confidence, no friends. Coach only put him in the game because the other three replacements had fouled out. Anyway, Kara told me he was standing there under that basket while the clock ticked down, praying I wouldn’t pass to him.”
“No kidding?” Colby asked.
“No kidding. She said he was scared to death. That if he’d taken that shot and missed, he’d have never lived it down. But because I did it, it would be forgiven and forgotten within a few days.”
“Was she right?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I was back to being the most popular guy in school within a couple of days. And Kara faded back into the woodwork.”
“So my gut feeling was right,” Colby said. “She’s too nice for you to play the way you’re thinking of playing her.”
“Playing her, hell. If she’s the same girl she was back then, I’m not gonna play her at all. I’m gonna marry her.”
CHAPTERTHREE
“You know I’d do anything for you, Vinnie.” Angela stood looking down at him, the man who was going to change her life, make it perfect. For so long she’d thought nothing ever could.
He sat in a leather chair in his office, wearing an expensive suit, the jacket unbuttoned. “So you say,” he told her. “I don’t believe anything without proof.”
Sighing, she pushed her hair behind her ears, hiked up her short skirt, dropped to her knees in front of him.
“That’s not what I meant, Angela,” he said. “Just listen.”
She sat back on her heels and listened.
“I told you what I needed you to do. I told you Corona’s testimony could destroy me. But you didn’t convince him to back down, did you?”
“Vinnie, I tried. I swear, I tried. He just wouldn’t listen. I went back this morning, but his neighbor said he’s left town.”
“Then you’re gonna figure out where he is,” he told her. “You’re gonna prove your loyalty to me, because I won’t marry a woman who’s disloyal. You understand?”
Lifting her gaze to his eyes, she nodded. He’d promised her so much. A good life. A big fancy house. Cars. Clothes. Money.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag full of white powder. Angela reached for it, but he snatched it away.
“You’ll do anything for me?”
“You know I will. I have.”
“Then you’re gonna help me track down this ex-husband of yours. And then you get all you want. Okay?”
“Okay, Vinnie. Okay.”
* * *
It broke Kara’s heart when she saw little Tyler making his way across the front porch with metal braces on both his legs, leaning on odd-looking crutches that snapped around his arms for support. He paused as she watched his approach, admiring the Christmas lights she and her sisters and brothers in law had strung from every possible part of the house. They lined the roof, following the peak up and down again. They bordered every window and door. And more trimmed the pine trees along the edge of the driveway. Their house looked like the North Pole. Christmas was huge in their family.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Maya standing beside her, looking at her. “Ohhh, look at him. He’s gorgeous.”
“Yeah,” Edie agreed, shouldering up to the kitchen window. “And his kid’s cute, too.”
Maya tried to scowl at her but wound up laughing. Then Vi shot the three of them a quelling look and opened the front door.
