What if the truth got to him eventually? What if he had a hard time accepting that he’d been accused of his father’s murder because of me? Okay, I was trying not to accept guilt, but it had happened because of me…indirectly.
Cole:I don’t give a shit about the reports. I want to see you. I want to see your healthy, smiling face. If I don’t see it early enough tomorrow, I’ll be at your place. Don’t push me, angel. If you don’t want to be with me, you’ll have to tell me that to my face. This is bullshit. Something is wrong, and my patience is gone.
Tears filled my eyes.
God, did he really think I didn’t want to be with him?
Me:It isn’t that. This is about me, not you. I want to be with you. We need to talk tomorrow.
More than anything, I wanted to be with him. I just wasn’t sure how he was going to feel about me after all of this was over.
I’d been through hell and back in the last week, and the only thing I’d really wanted was to be with Cole.
Cole:If it’s about you, then it’s about me. Whatever it is, we can work it out together, angel. I just want you to talk to me.
Me:I will. I promise. Tomorrow.
Cole:Be here or I’m coming after you.
I sighed at his grumpy response as I heard my doorbell ring.
He’d been patient.
He’d also been kind and understanding.
When I’d told him I needed some alone time, he’d respected that until the silence had become just a little too much and too long for him to believe that I simply needed some time alone.
If I were in his shoes, I’d have to wonder if he was trying to avoid me, too.
I looked at the time as I got off my sofa.
It was after ten.
Who is at my door at this hour?
Luckily, I was still dressed in jeans and a T-shirt instead of my pajamas.
I was extremely surprised to see exactly who was standing on my doorstep.
“Maybe you don’t want it, but I have a word or two of advice,” Asher announced as he stepped inside.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I closed the door behind him.
Asher never came into town, and it was completely out of character for him to seek out anyone.
“I know you’re thinking about going to Ralph Norton. Don’t do it,” he said.
I looked at him in surprise. “How did you know that?”
“Tanner called me. He figured you deserved the chance to give Cole the news yourself, but he also thought I deserved a say in your decision since that asshole was my father. My advice would be to let it go. Keith was the closest thing I had to a friend when we were younger. He helped me get a job as a welding apprentice in the same shop where he worked in Billings. In the beginning, I didn’t have a car, so he picked me up and took mehome from work every day. I don’t want the rumors about him flying around this town. They’ll crucify him. I don’t want that happening to someone I always called a friend.”
“He killed your father,” I said, confused.
Actually, I hadn’t decided whether or not I was going to inform the police.
I’d planned to talk to Cole and then Asher first.
“I’ve actually suspected it for a long time. Cole told me what my father did to you right after it happened. It was too big of a coincidence that my father ended up dead just a few days after it occurred.”
