She better not have moved onwith another man already.
She told me she was taking a break from men. She’d never lied to me before.
He didn’t like liars. That was right up there with being messy and losing control.
When he noticed the footprints in his carpet from his pacing, he stopped and sat.
His fists clenched and released. He thought he was winning her back. That she was ready for him to provehislove.
But two days ago a man showing up out of the blue like that didn’t sit well with him. He still couldn’t calm down from it.
And if it was a friend, he needed to know that too. He knew all her friends and always had.
How else was he able to figure out what Meredith liked or the things she enjoyed if he didn’t watch what she did or who she was with?
After several deep breaths, Karl pushed himself up from the couch and tiptoed to the laundry room to get his vacuum. He must keep the place clean in case his mother ever stopped to visit. Just because he hadn’t seen her in five years didn’t mean she wouldn’t want to see his place now. Always be prepared, she’d told him.
Which was why he had to get back to his plan for Meredith.
18
HIDE EVERYTHING
The next morning, Clay was walking out of his front door when the headlights of his brother’s SUV drove by, then turned and came back.
He wasn’t getting a break from anyone.
He hadn’t seen Ford in a few days. Though Reenie lived in the cabin next door, she didn’t stay there all the time, she and Ford splitting their time between his brother’s house and the cabin.
He was positive they weren’t alone more than one or two nights a week, not that he was keeping track.
“You’re out early,” he said.
“Reenie left for work twenty minutes ago. No reason for me to stay here,” Ford said. “How are you doing?”
Clay looked at his brother sitting in his driveway in his SUV with the window down. “Fine. Why?”
“I haven’t seen you since Saturday?”
Since their talk that night. “Your point?”
“I noticed you had a visitor on Sunday for a bit.”
He let out a sigh. “You saw or Dad told you?”
“Saw first, then Dad mentioned it. It’s not like it was only five minutes for Meredith to pick up her things.”
“What is it you want to know?” he asked.
“What’s going on with you two?” Ford asked.
“We are really going to have this conversation in the driveway?”
“Nope,” Ford said, turning off his vehicle. “We can have it over coffee. It’s early.”
It wasn’t even six thirty. Staff started at seven. He was always there before everyone else. It wouldn’t hurt to be late and his brother knew that.
“Didn’t your girlfriend give you breakfast this morning?”
