I move my focus to my mashed potatoes, so I don’t have to talk about this anymore.I’ve already said too much.
“They have passable blueberry pie,” Leah says, catching on.She’s a smart woman.“But they have fabulous homemade whipped cream to go with it.”
“Count me in,” I say with my mouth full.
I’ll do anything to delay going back to my motel room alone.I miss Declan.I miss home.And thinking of going to the prison tomorrow makes me feel as alone and lost as a person can feel.
I know Declan has seen my note.
I wonder if he’ll hate me forever.
CHAPTER 61
Declan
It’s the ass crack of dawn, and I’m already seated at the large conference table with my coffee when my brothers begin to file in, one by one.Cal’s glowering, but I don’t know if it’s because I made him get up so early or if it’s because he has news I’m not going to like.
Evander glides in, wearing a dress shirt and a tweed vest and trousers, looking dapper but grumpy.
Finn comes in with his hair sticking up and his eyelids half closed.He looks way beyond grumpy—the man’s pissed off.
Special K is last.He’s dressed in ranch jeans and a flannel shirt, and he’s got a repulsively large sandwich in his hand.There’s mustard on the inside of his wrist.He sits down without a word and looks no different than he always does, and immediately starts to eat.
“What we got?”I ask.
“I’ll start,” Evander says.“The annulment agreement isn’t binding.It looks like she printed something off a freebie website and signed it, but she’s left out several required components and didn’t file anything.Maybe she intended it to serve as a placeholder while she hires an attorney and starts the process for real, but at the moment, the document is nothing you need to worry about.”
“Roger that,” I say.
“I’ll go next,” Cal says.“She went in person to First National of Sweetbriar and withdrew ten thousand dollars from her savings in three chunks, staggered over two weeks, to avoid making one large withdrawal that might draw attention.Which means she knows not to use credit cards.It also means that she put a lot of thought into this—it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision.”
It hurts to hear, but Cal is right.
I think about the last two weeks.I noticed Summer was far more subdued than usual, but I assumed it was because of the fertility blow.Clearly, I had no idea what was really going on in her head.
Summer once called herself aguarded person.Jason Bourne might be closer to the truth.
It’s heartbreaking to know that sneaking off was the way she decided to handle this.Maybe she suspected I’d never agree to let her go.And… she’d be right.Because she knows me.
I prop my forehead in one of my hands.
“Her 401K is intact and so is her Roth IRA,” Cal continues.“But she’s paid her mortgage six months in advance.She plans to stay gone for a while.”
“I tossed the cabin,” I say, raising my head.“All her credit cards are still there, along with all her clothes.She took her coat and hat, but I think that’s about it.”
“She’s too smart,” Finn says.“You sure she left early yesterday morning?”
“I’m sure,” I say.“She was asleep when I left for the airpark at about six.Special K said he saw her drive out in the direction of the cabin not long after.Is that right, K?”
He nods, chewing.
“Well, her phone’s deactivated,” Finn says.
“That’s because she threw it into oncoming traffic in Vegas.She didn’t want the family FaceTiming her anymore.”
Evander narrows his eyes.“That’s pretty extreme.”
“Also, she didn’t want anyone to know we were married.”
