And ever since Earl had collapsed, visions of her Phillip kept flashing in her mind. She recalled seeing him stumble and fall when he was on a binge, but she’d never seen him stop breathing. Never had to call for Narcan.
She bit her bottom lip to keep the tremble in her chin at bay, then gave Joanie a hug. “I know you mean well, but I can’t do this right now. Not after what happened here tonight.” Squeezing her friend one more time, she stepped away. “Understand?”
Joanie nodded and unlocked the door. “Go on. It’s been a long night for all of us.”
Betsy followed Marcy out the door and heard it lock behind them. Fog from their breath formed in front of the two sisters as they walked side by side toward the car.
“You want me to drive?” Marcy asked as she pulled her jacket tight around her.
“No. I’m fine.” Betsy beeped the unlock on the car, then stopped. Shivering, she quickly realized she was more than a basket case right now. She tossed her keys to her sister. “You know, I think you’re right. I’ll let you drive.”
Marcy gave her sister a tiny hug, then pushed her toward the passenger side of the car. “It’s cold out here. Get in and let me start the heat.”
Once inside the car, it didn’t take long for the seat warmers to beat the dashboard vents in heating up the car.
“What’s this about being too busy to go out with Cain?” Marcy’s tone sounded like the one their mom used when they were growing up. In fact, the same tone she still used with them even now, if the time was right. “Don’t you like him?”
Betsy knew that she might as well answer the question, because once her sister started on a subject, the thread seemed to never end. Marcy had always been tenacious, not just since she’d gotten her counseling degree. In fact, that stubbornness ran in the family.
“I like Cain. I like him a lot. That’s why I can’t afford to let him get too close.” Betsy rubbed her lips together and felt the chapped roughness. Didn’t matter. “And before you ask, I do realize that you and Joanie are right that I need to move forward.”
“So why not with Cain?”
Betsy pulled on her gloves, then reclined the seat a few inches. Closing her eyes, she let herself feel the emotions building inside. The ones so ready to overflow, she could hardly breathe. “Don’t you understand? Cain makes me feel like I want to jump his bones.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“Oh, yeah, there is.” Betsy turned off her seat warmer. “He’s like a cookie sheet full of fresh-baked cookies. Once you’ve had one, you just can’t stop.”
Marcy stared straight ahead as she drove down the road. “You do realize you sound like a crazy woman, right?”
“I am not a crazy woman. A crazy woman would have said…” She threw back her head and laughed. “…Cain makes me want to wrap my legs around him and not let go till we’re both sweaty and exhausted and I’m screaming his name at the top of my lungs.”
“Whoa, baby. What are you waiting for, Betsy?” Marcy fanned herself with her gloved hands. “I think you need to open that big sexy gift called Cain as soon as possible. It’s about time you had some happiness.”
Betsy fidgeted her hands while she put a lid on the steamy emotions churning deep inside. Wouldn’t take much for her to speed-dial the man and ask him over. “What if he turns out to be different than everyone thinks he is? What if when he has a few drinks he turns into a monster?”
“You’re reaching, big time. Can you really tell me you believe for one minute that Cain Connery would ever be like that? Can you?” Marcy pulled out onto the main highway and headed home.
“No.” Betsy focused on the headlight path beaming down the road. “I also never thought Phillip would either. But once he got all jacked up on drugs and booze, he became someone else.”
It had only taken one time, and she’d walked out the door. If she hadn’t paused to grab her coat, he wouldn’t have had time to stumble out behind her and grab her arm. Only took a second and a kick to his knee to put him on the ground. In her mind, she still couldn’t say for sure if her jerking her arm away or his body twisting as he fell was what pushed her down the front porch steps.
She rubbed her thumb across her forearm, feeling the imprint of the pins holding the bones in her wrist together nowadays. The ones she’d broken as she braced for a fall on the concrete sidewalk that summer night. “I won’t ever let that happen again.”
CHAPTER TEN
Cain walked into the police station and headed straight to the sheriff’s office, which for the time being had been transferred over to JB. Had it only been a week since JB had asked him to consult? He’d passed on the request, but lots had happened since that night. Too much for one small town.
“Glad you could get over here so fast.” JB braced his arm on the doorframe. “From the looks of you and Betsy, I figured you might be awhile.”
“Nope. She gave me my walking orders.”
“What do you mean?”
“I said I’d like to see her again. She said she was busy at Peyton’s.” Cain shook his head. He’d been turned down before, but this time it had felt like a gut punch that buckled your knees.
“Don’t give up yet. Betsy’s just a complex woman.”
