Bobby jokes but there’s nothing funny about Rain Rawlins and the extreme emotions her presence just invoked in me so I swig back my shot and head for the alley to spark a joint. There’s no fucking way I’m going to survive sober until she leaves town again.
Rain
Hetter took me home to his and Maggie’s place without saying anything else about Rex or the other Kingston men. Maggie is thrilled to have me over and plies me with better wine than the Broken Spur had while we eat our meals and get caught up on their lives. Hetter has taken over his father’s carpentry business and Mags is working at the front desk at the town’s only dentist. They have been engaged for six months now and are hoping to have the wedding the following spring. Once the food is cleaned up, Hetter disappears out to their garage and Maggie hits me with knowing eyes.
“Alright, spill, girl. Have you talked to any of them?”
I knew exactly who she meant by ‘them’ so I shrugged and played with the stem of my wine glass.
“Does a scorn-filled glare count? That’s all I got from Rex when I realized I had walked into his bar. Chase, briefly. He gave me his card and told me to book an appointment to see about Daddy’s affairs.” I chewed on my lip as sadness swamped me. “I haven’t seen Luke…yet.”
She makes a hum in the back of her throat and reaches for my hand giving it a squeeze.
“Are you going to talk to them? Tell them what made you leave?”
My eyes bounce up to hers and widen as I jerk my head no. Maggie and one other person are the only people that know the real reason I ran all those years ago and I plan on keeping it that way. Her shoulders slump with a sigh.
“Things have changed since you left, Rainy. You don’t have to keep silent about it. There’s no longer a threat. You could tell them.”
I drain the last of the wine to ease my suddenly dry throat and then shake my head.
“It doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done. They all hate me so it’s best to just leave it alone.”
She makes an annoyed noise.
“If they knew…”
“It’s done, Mags. Let it be.”
She slumps back into her chair and rolls her eyes but changes the subject to one almost as bad.
“Fine! Tell me about your man, then? What’s his name, how’d you meet and when’s the wedding.”
A wave of exhaustion sweeps over me and this time I can’t stop the tears that brim in my eyes as I stare down at the stupid ring on my finger. When I lift them to meet hers it’s like all the years fall away and my best friend, the keeper of my secrets, sits in front of me.
I choke out, “Vault!”
Her eyes narrow at hearing that. It’s what we’d say to each other when we need to swear each other to secrecy. I hold my breath until she says what I need to hear in reply.
“Locked and wired to blow if opened.”
The air in my lungs gushes out and I spill all the pain and heartache I’ve been holding in.
“His name is Jason. We’ve been together for three years, engaged for eight months. When I got the call about Daddy, I went to his office to tell him what happened. I found him fucking his assistant over his desk.”
Rage flashes over Maggie’s face as she sits up rigidly in her seat.
“Motherfucker! I’ll get the shovels, you start the car. Hetter will give us our alibis!”
And just like that, my tears turn to laughter. I laugh and laugh until the tears start again.
“Oh God, Mags, I missed you so fucking much!”
Her expression softens and love shines through the wetness in her own eyes.
“We’re fucking idiots. We never should have broken up the band. I’m sorry we lost touch, Rainy. And I’m sorry you’re marrying an asshat, but seriously, I binge-watch murder documentaries. I know ten different ways to disappear a body if you want to go that route.”
She leans back and grabs a bottle of vanilla vodka and two highball glasses from the sideboard next to the table and pours us out a few fingers each then pushes a glass my way.
