“You’re letting them win,” he said, as he pulled his boxers back on.
“Kayden...” she started, and he shot her a look she’d never forget.
Heartbreak. She’d seen it before. It was the night in front of the fireplace all over again. The night when he first dared to let her into his dark thoughts about his brother all those months ago.
“Come back to bed,” she continued.
“I need some air,” he replied as he walked out of the room.
She fell back on the bed, her body shaking, and she cried.What’s happening,she thought as the tears flowed freely.
KAYDEN WANTEDTO screamat the top of his lungs for her not to go, but he didn’t want to bethat guy,either. He walked into her sparse kitchen and leaned against the wall, wiping his face. He had to be unselfish and give this to her if it was what she really needed. Lana had been through a lot; there was no doubt, and many women would’ve left already.
He turned around to go back into the room, but she was standing in the hall. Wearing his shirt, her face crumpled in pain. He reached for her face, cupped her chin in his hand as the tears flowed from his eyes, leaned in, and gave her another sweet, soft kiss on the lips.
“If this is what you need, I’ll be at our home in Hamby when you get back.”
Lana continued to cry, and he held her in the quiet dark space and prayed that they could survive whatever was to come next.
EVERYONE SATINthe library for yet another of Josh’scouncil meetings. Aunt Mae was in the front row using one ofher old menus to fan herself as everyone chattered amongst themselves. The topic of the evening was the fire that nearly burned Paula Capshaw’s house to ash. She wondered how they’d spin this story to blame it on Kayden.
He and the rest of the Capshaw Crew had been out of town for a week, and Kim was locked down on house arrest, so it’d be interesting to watch at the least. Josh approached the podium, tapped the makeshift gavel, and cleared his throat to bring everyone’s attention to the front of the room. When everyone settled down, he tried his best to look serious, but you could tell he was enjoying this far more than he should.
“I hate to say I told you so, but... I told you so,” Josh said, as his lips twitched in enjoyment.
A woman stood up in the crowd. She worked at Fresh Picks Supermarket in town and had lived there just as long as everyone else. Aunt Mae recognized her because she always brought her two sons in for the lunch special whenever she could. She was a sweet woman.
“So, this is another Kayden-bashing meeting, then? Is this why I received emails, calls, and reminders to be here? He’s not even here,” she spat, annoyed.
“This goes to show you that it’s more than just Kayden. It’s the family. His poor sister had nothing to do with any of the things that happened here, but she was still a target,” Josh replied.
“Don’t you actually have to be someplace physically to be a target?” Mr. Spence asked.
“Of course not, you don’t have to be there, and I believe that was the point. This was a warning.”
Everyone in the room was abuzz now, speaking over one another, worried about what exactly, Aunt Mae wasn’t sure. Finally, she stood up, still fanning herself in the too-hot room, and spoke.
“A warning about what, Josh? It seems the only person in town who’s been doing any sort of warning has been you. Did you try to burn down that house?”
Audible gasps rang through from the crowd as everyone looked at Aunt Mae as if she had just accused him of shooting JFK.
“Of course not! I had nothing to do with any of this. I just think it’s time we take our town back and run the Cap-shaws out of here.”
The buzzing quieted down, and she could tell people had started to agree with him by the scowls on some of their faces.
“What is it going to take? When Kayden burns down your diner?” he asked, pointing at Aunt Mae.
“You mean the same diner that he just spent the last few months renovating and fixing? How does that make any sense?” Aunt Mae pressed.
He stood there looking bewildered for a moment, visibly uncomfortable with all the eyes watching him. He inhaled deeply, determined to win the small group of ten over again.
“All I’m saying is, as long as they are around, there’s always going to be something happening here. Before he got back in town, there were no accidents, so there was no need to renovate in the first place. There was no crazy girlfriend here stealing cop cars and trying to commit murder. We need to be vigilant, and if we want this to stop, we need to do something about it now.”
As he gave his long-winded speech, Aunt Mae rolled her eyes at every word. Although some of it was true, it didn’t make it right that he was trying to turn Kayden into some doomsday omen.
“Well, if we go with that sort of logic, then that means we should’ve run you out of town, too,” she started.
His face was instantly maroon-red as she spoke.
