“That’s perfect; I haven’t either. What do you want? I can go grab it. I had to get something for my aunt earlier. You know how nervous she gets at things like this.”
Hazel waves her hand dismissively, but I remember a time when she’d been like that too.Apparently not anymore.
47
TOM
Amelia makes a face as she stares at Kat and Hazel talking across the room. Her posture is standoffish, no one else brave enough to join her at the cocktail table she’s commandeered.
She hasn’t taken her eyes off them other than to scan the room every now and then, a nervous energy to her that has me on edge as I join her.
“Must be hard watching Kat continue to be so successful—especially when Hazel was passed over for this award,” I murmur, careful to keep my voice low.
She stiffens, her gaze sliding slowly to me before returning to the girls. “I think it’s only natural to want to see the people you love succeed.”
“Is that why you heckle her on social media?”
She opens her mouth to speak and then closes it, looking down at the amber liquid in her glass. I wouldn’t have guessed her to be a bourbon drinker but looksaredeceiving.
“I let myself feed into that vile underbelly,” she admits, a beat passing before she looks up at me. “Losing my niece was tragic but then watching how it changed Hazel,”—she swallows hard—“it feels like I lost both of them. Kat has the pretty face and the connections and she’ll be fine, but Hazel…she doesn’t have that.”
“Bullying Kat was your solution?” I ask, not bother to hide my disdain.
“People handle grief in different ways. I chose the wrong way.”
“And would you also consider trying to drive Kat off the road thewrong way?”
Amelia’s eyes widen as she stares at me, her mouth forming a perfect O as she searches my face to see if I’m kidding.
I’m not.
“I’m not proud of the way I behaved, Mr. Oakden, but I wouldnevercause physical harm to that girl.”
“Even though she writes thoseotherbooks?” I prod.
“Even then.”
“So, you admit youknewabout Kat’s other writing. Writing romance and children’s books must make you pretty upset.”
She blushes but shakes her head. “I don’t agree with all that explicit talk and behavior, but that’s her business and she can make peace with the good Lord on her own time.”
“And you want me to believe it wasn’t you in that car? Kat could have died, Amelia. The other driver was relentless bumping the front corner of their car into the back corner of Kat’s.”
I watch carefully as the color slowly drains from Amelia’s face, her hand shaking the slightest bit as she picks up her drink and downs it before pushing the empty glass into the center of the table.
“That’s how we lost Portia, Mr. Oakden. Someone forced her right off the road. The girls were on a trip to Vermont to see the leaves. Hazel wanted to write a series about fall and thought it would be fun to go there for some inspiration. Portia died and Hazel came back a shell of herself.” She sucks in a breathand then shakes her head, her eyes darting to Hazel and Kat before returning to mine. “She lost her twin; that would change anyone.” The words are not as confident as before as a chill snakes down my spine. “The accident changed me too. I don’t drive at night and I’m extra cautious because of it. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
I watch as Amelia tries to maintain her composure as she beelines for Hazel at the bar, her steps a little uneven as she goes.
It was a lot of bourbon.
Maybe.
But something she said niggles at the back of my mind.“Portia died and Hazel came back a shell of herself.”
Amelia’s entire demeanor had shifted, a myriad of emotions flitting across her face as she stared at her niece.
“Portia died and Hazel came back a shell of herself.”
