“What? But I already paid you!”
“So did they, and they were first.” Jessica sounded glum as she spoke, thrusting out a small wad of bills at her. “Here’s the refund for the days you didn’t stay, plus a little extra. It should be more than enough. You need to find somewhere else to stay tonight, okay?”
It wasn’t, but Nadine didn’t know what else to do. It wasn’therhouse, and she’d just come back from a sheriff who’d made it plainly clear that he wasn’t on her side.
Throat tight, she took the bills and went to her bedroom—well, not hers anymore—and started packing. She felt like she was in a daze. It was the same shock she’d had when she had found out that Dottie had complained about her. Unwanted.Despised.
There wasn’t much to pack and in less than fifteen minutes, her suitcase and duffel were zipped and the small room looked just as empty as it had when she first settled in.
“Well, bye, then,” she said hesitantly, pausing in the hall.
There was no response.
And even though it was stupid, she felt the sting of tears in her eyes. Gideon’s phrase, “berating and bothering,” popped into her head again.
Maybe Jessica had complained, too.
When she got to the town square, she felt a deep and overwhelming sense of despair. Why did it matter where she went and who she kissed? Were the people in this town so bored with their lives that they felt the need to judge every stranger?
She plopped down on a bench facing one of the marigold plots as a few of the tears she’d been holding back spilled down her face. Where was she supposed to go now? Rent a room at a cheap roach motel somewhere? Sleep on this bench? Nobody here seemed interested in helping her at all—except Cal. But he’d made it clear that his help only came at a price steeper than she wanted to pay.
“Oh no,” a voice said, dry and amused. “Are they running you out on a rail already?”
Despite the chill in the air, Odessa was wearing a lace corset and another one of those long skirts. Her face was arranged into the very picture of sympathy, but Nadine hadn’t forgotten how she had sadistically goaded Cal into chasing her, like a spectator drunk off the violence of a sport.
“I—yes,” Nadine said, looking away from her. “Maybe.”
“Jessica Mayhew is a bitch,” Odessa said. “I bet you could get Baby Cal to help you sue her for breach of contract, if you wanted.”
(Are you up to performing for a breach?)
“No, I don’t think so.” She shook herself. “Why do you call him Baby Cal?”
Odessa pointed at the statue. “Because there’s another Caledon Abial Cullraven, and Baby Cal lives in his shadow.” With that unsettling statement, she plopped down on the bench beside Nadine. “I know! You could stay with us. You’re practically family.”
She must have looked horrified at the thought because Odessa burst into laughter. “Don’t worry about my brother. He’s all bark and no bite—well, usually. I’m sure he’d bite you if you’d asked.”
Had Odessa heard what he’d said in his office? The thought was so embarrassing that it whited out the refusal that had been taking shape on her tongue. “I don’t want to impose.”
“You wouldn’t be. And I’m sure Noelle wouldn’t want her poor baby sister sleeping on a park bench. Ben mostly keeps to himself these days—I mean, with good reason obviously, but he’s been such adrag. And Mother and Father are barely around. You won’t even feel like you’re sharing the space most of the time. The house really is that big.”
Cal had said the same thing. She’d thought it had sounded rather braggy at the time, another way for him to show off his family’s wealth. But maybe it was true. On the two occasions she had been there herself, it hadn’t taken long for her to feel lost in its vast, maze-like depths.
And you might find something, that little voice in her head whispered.Remember why you came here.
“It’s just . . .” Nadine hesitated. “I’ve been—asking about things around town. About you. About Noelle. It might be . . . awkward?”
“Of course not. We’re hunters, darling.” She squeezed Nadine’s arm and she straightened in surprise at the strength of those small fingers. “That requires a certain tenaciousness. To be honest, I thought you were just a scared little mouse of a girl when I first saw you, but there’s a depth to you, too. I can tell. Cal sees it, too.”
“What do you mean, Cal sees it, too?”
Odessa was hauling her across the grass, firmly gripping Nadine’s wrist. “You’re interesting,” she said. “You ask questions. And underneath all your shrinking, there’s a hard little spine. There’d have to be for you to come all the way outhere.”
“Hey—”
“You’ll love it at Ravensgate, Nadine. Caledon Cullraven—the first one—built it for his first wife. She was beautiful, but weak. Women often were in those days.”
Wow, sexist much?
