Mrs. Chase cleared her throat. “I don’t…”
She’d never known this woman to be lost for words before. “But that’s the thing—you do.”
“It was a mistake.”
Was she serious? “No. The only mistake was made by me, thinking I could trust himoryou. Now get out.”
“He loves you.”
That was almost laughable. She crossed her arms. “No, he doesn’t, or he wouldn’t have done what he did.”
For a moment, Mrs. Chase just stared at her like she was assessing how serious Sadie might be. She obviously realized she was solid on her stance, because she left without another word.
Good.
For a moment she just stood there, looking out the glass door as the woman got into her car and drove away. God! She felt angry, and betrayed, and a million other things. Yes, she understood that Scott was the woman’s son, but he’d screwed up, dammit, and even a mother should be reprimanding her son for what he’d done to his bride on their wedding day.
Argh.
She finished tidying up, hating that her hands shook, but it was more out of anger than anything else. Anger at herself for trusting Scott and liking his mother. Anger at the situation.
She’d thought she was at the stage of accepting it all, but after seeing Mrs. Chase and having the woman try to deny what Sadie had seen with her own eyes…the sense of betrayal was still as fresh as ever.
Grabbing the bag of trash, she headed through the kitchen and out the back door to the dumpster. She heard it the second she stepped into the alley—Mr. Anderson. He spoke in a hushed voice on the phone, standing outside the back door of his shop.
“I don’t fucking care. You said you’d get it done, so get it done!”
When his gaze cut across to Sadie, she lowered her eyes and moved to the dumpster. The man did not look in the mood for small talk. But, hell, was heeverin the mood for small talk?
She’d just heaved the trash in and turned—only to almost walk straight into him. What the hell? How had he gotten to her so quickly and without making a sound?
“Mr. Anderson—”
“Why are youalwayslistening to my conversations?”
What was he talking about? “I was taking the trash out.” This was, after all, the only trash receptacle…theshareddumpster.
He stepped closer, glaring down at her like she was a bug he wanted to squash. “You need to mind your own business, missy.”
Missy?On a better day, she might have let that slide and tried to defuse the situation, but after the altercation with Mrs. Chase, she wasnotfeeling calm enough for that. “Excuse me, but I haven’t done anything wrong.Youchose to speak in a public alley. If I heard anything, that’s on you.”
The red in his cheeks deepened, and he inched that bit closer so there was no space between them. “I don’t appreciate nosy neighbors.”
“Well, lucky for you, you don’t have any. Now, please move.”
He didn’t. And she was almost at the stage where she was ready to shove him aside—either that or stomp on his foot—when a new voice sounded.
“Everything okay out here?”
Eastern’s eyesnarrowed on Mr. Anderson. On the way he’d backed Sadie into the dumpster so he could tower over her, making himself appear bigger, probably so she felt small.
What the hell was going on here?
Mr. Anderson cleared his throat as he stepped back. “Eastern. What are you doing here?”
Eastern scanned Sadie from head to toe. She didn’t look scared—more angry.
He turned his attention to the liquor store owner. “I came to talk to Sadie. When I stepped in, I heard voices back here.” Wasn’t hard, when the back door had been left open. “What’s going on?”
