17
Something wasoff.
Slade couldn’t put his finger on it, but something had shifted between them. For a moment Slade thought Mandisa somehow knew about the break-in at her store. He texted Aaron to find out if Kandi had spilled the beans. According to Aaron, he was certain Kandi hadn’t calledMandisa.
It was probably his own guilt making him so jumpy. If she knew, there was no way Mandisa wouldn’t have gone off on him. Now that he’d neutralized Bull, he could tell her everything and give her the opportunity to decide to work with L.I. with no monsters looming in theshadows.
He’d protected her. She’d be mad about it, but Slade was certain she’d see reason in the end about why he’d made the choices hehad.
Slade swallowed the seed of guilt sitting in the back of his throat as he pulled into the gates of his ranch. This place, his land, was his redemption. He could remake himself as many times as he needed to on this land. He could be the man Mandisa believed he was when his boots touched the soil ofHavenheart.
Slade parked the SUV and was about to open his door when Mandisa jumped out of the car and ran up the front steps of the house. Puzzled, he walked in the house behind her, just in time to see her racing up the stairs toward the secondlevel.
“What did you do,Slade?”
Slade turned his head to see Mama Indy sitting at the table sippingcoffee.
“What do you mean? I just walked in.” Slade walked into the kitchen, stopping as he stood next to the table where Mama Indy wasseated.
“I just asked that child if she wanted a cup of coffee. She looked at me like I just asked her to cut off her right arm and ran upstairs. What did you do, Slade?” Mama Indy popped him on the arm to emphasize her desire for an answer to herquestion.
“Ow, Mama. I didn’t do anything. She barely said anything in the car. She’s probably just tired, that’sall.”
The older woman crossed her arms over her chest and squinted. She pressed two fingers to her temple as she gingerly massaged the area. “Good Lord. It cannot be possible that I raised a son thisstupid.”
She fixed her gaze to Slade and stared him down like she used to when he was a child. Whenever she’d caught him in the middle of some trouble he didn’t belong in, whenever she was disappointed in him, she’d glare at him and make him feel like he was two feettall.
He understood her ability to do that when he was a kid. But now that Slade was grown, it baffled him how she still managed to make him slump his shoulders in shame whenever her weighty assessment of him overran him withguilt.
“I like that gal, Slade. Whatever you did, you better undo. Now go fixit.”
Slade eyed his mother carefully. Indira was a sweet and nurturing woman. But if you found yourself on her bad side, there wasn’t a devil in hell that could protect you from herwrath.
His mother’s concern for Mandisa’s welfare grabbed at his heart. His fear of the older woman pushed Slade toward the staircase. Slade walked the stairs carefully as he recounted their morning together. There was nothing there that sent up red flags about Mandisa’s current mood, but he kept searching through his memoryanyway.
He knew something was wrong the entire way home, but he’d chosen to ignore it. Their time together was limited. He didn’t want to focus on anything but the happiness they could steal in these next few days. His mother was right. Slade needed to find out what was goingon.
He walked the few steps to his bedroom and lightly pushed the door open. Alarm bells rang inside his head when his gaze met an opened suitcase he recognized asMandisa’s.
“Mandisa,” he called out into the empty room. “I know you like to get things done early. But don’t you think packing three days before you actually have to leave is a bitmuch?”
The silence in the room was palpable. He was about to leave the room when he saw her walking out of his closet with her hands filled with her clothing. She didn’t acknowledge his presence or the fact that he’d called her name. She just kept pulling things off hangers, folding them neatly, and resting them gently in hersuitcase.
Her motions were eerily calm and calculated. Robotic and measured, her movements lacked any indication of emotion atall.
He stepped toward her, carefully placing his hand on her shoulder to cease her motions. Mandisa took a step away from him, pulling her shoulder from beneath his hand and leveling a cool look that kept him from attempting to touch heragain.
“What’s going on,Mandisa?”
“It’s called packing, Slade. I know someone with as much money as you probably has never packed his own bag, but us regular folks have to fend forourselves.”
Slade’s eyebrow rose. Sassy-sarcastic Mandisa was familiar. She made him laugh and tickled him with her biting wit. Nasty-sarcastic Mandisa wasn’t recognizable to him. This wasn’t Mandisa joking. She wasserious.
The good thing about being six-four was the long arms that came with his endless legs. He reached over Mandisa and closed the suitcase lid, forcing her to stop her folding and look up athim.
“What’s going on,Mandisa?”
He watched her, looking for any resemblance to the fun-loving woman he’d spent time with. But she wasn’t there. Instead, angry lines carved into the angles of her face as she glared back athim.
