Count on Me (Petal, Georgia) (17 page)

“No one is telling you not to date this chick.”

“Your opinion is important to me.”

“You know my opinion. I think she’s bad news.”

“You’re still the worst liar ever. Oh my God.” He shoved a hand through his hair.

Anne Murphy winced because he could still read her so well. A little embarrassed at how obvious she’d been, she went for a lazy shrug. “Calm down for heaven’s sake. I don’t actually think she’s bad news in general. She’s all right I guess if you like her type.”

He burst out laughing. “Her type, huh? What type do you mean? Successful? Independent? Intelligent? Beautiful? Financially secure?”

Oh. My. God. She was in hell. Why couldn’t Caroline be dumb? Or unattractive? None of the others he’d dated meant anything to him. Oh sure he was a nice guy, and he was friendly and courteous and all that junk. But Caroline had been different since that very first time Anne had laid eyes on her at the Pumphouse.

Royal Watson was truly moving on. No, he’d moved on before Caroline came to town, but before Ms. Perfect Hair blew into town Anne had all of Royal’s attention.

And now he was
falling in love
with someone. That someone wasn’t her.

“Enough already. No, I mean pushy. She’s very…strident. It rubs people the wrong way.”

“If people are rubbed the wrong way when another human being is powerful and doesn’t apologize for wanting to be successful, then they need to find a way to deal with it. The problem isn’t Caroline’s for being intense.”

“All this stuff about her dad is messed up.”

“It is. Which is why she’s trying to clear his name and find the real killer.”

“Oh. So you believe all that now?”

“Do you want me back? Is that it?”

“And if I did?” She couldn’t seem to stop speaking.

He looked at her for a while without speaking. “I told you a year and a half ago what I needed. I’d been telling you for years before that, and you said you didn’t want what I needed. We talked about that shit for days and days and it was awful and I was bummed out for a long time because I missed you and I loved you. I loved you after that too.”

His perceptive gaze took her in as he spoke. “But I have stumbled on this thing with Caroline. I didn’t expect it to be her. In fact I had a hard time imagining it would be anyone but you in the wake of our breakup. But it
is
her. This woman who I really like to be around, and I don’t appreciate that you’d fuck with me and pretend you want me back when you don’t. You just don’t want anyone else to have me. That’s shitty, Anne. I’d never do that to you.”

He gave her a hug. “I’m going to go now before I get any angrier. You need to get your shit straight. I’m with Caroline. That’s how it worked out. Don’t be destructive with my trust. She’s my girlfriend, and if you keep this up and continue to make this a problem, it drives her away. Even though she doesn’t say anything about it, it’s obvious there’s some sort of tension. It’s hard enough for her right now as it is, I’m not going to let her be in a situation where she’s uncomfortable. Which means it’s you making me choose, Anne. It’s not fair.”

She rolled her eyes but let him go because he was totally right and she had to face it. Maybe. Or maybe she needed a grand gesture.

Out in his truck he texted to see if Caroline was up but when he didn’t hear back after five minutes or so, drove away from the curb and headed home.

As he pulled up his driveway, his phone pinged, letting him know he had a text. On the way into his house, he opened the screen to see her text.

But he loved to hear her voice and before he could text, seeing if she was up for a call she typed in:
call me, silly.

Spike came bounding up but wandered away when he ascertained Royal wasn’t carrying any bacon or cheese.

So he called her.

“Hey.”

Her laughter made him grin. “I was sure you were going to make a joke like
hello, silly
.”

“Damn, you’re good at this girlfriend thing.” He toed his boots off and left them in the front room near the door.

“Aw.”

“Aw?”

“I’m your girlfriend?”

“Well yeah. You think I cook waffles and let my cat lay all over just anyone?”

“I was so tired when I got home. I took a long shower and I felt better, but your voice makes me far less tired.”

“Can I tell you how much I love how hardcore you are in your job and what a badass you are over your mission to prove your dad’s innocence? You’re big and bold and beautiful and smart, and it’s sort of overwhelming, the whole you, I mean. But then sometimes you say something to me, and it’s honest and a little vulnerable and it blows me away. I dig that I see a side of you probably not that many people get to see.”

“Well it seems sort of dumb not to just, you know, tell you how I feel.”

“Speaking of that, it’s our one-month anniversary on Monday. I figured I’d just say up front I know this, and so I thought you could come over for dinner after work tomorrow. Sleep over and you can leave for work Friday morning from here. And of course Friday night we’re going out. I was thinking something totally old school like dinner and a movie. More staying over. Because I like you nearby.”

“You’re pretty good at this boyfriend business. I’ll come over after work tomorrow and spend the night. I’ll even sleep over Friday night because hello, I like you at my disposal for all my wicked desires. I do have to work a little though. And I’m expected at Lassiter Central for lunch on Saturday. Ugh.”

“We’ll both go.”

“Oh we already established that I like you. Why would you believe I’d do that to you? I’m just maybe going to take a Benadryl and then drink a glass of wine.”

“No. I mean it. I hate that you line up for this every week. But if you’re going to do it, you don’t have to do it alone. Let me go with you. Let me get your back.”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow night. You sound exhausted. How was everyone?”

“Long day at work, but we finished up a planting and so I can breathe for a day or two without panic. But I ate a lot of sliders. Like, I don’t know how many, but that could just be my conscience kicking in and being ashamed I ate eight of them.”

She laughed. “We’ll pretend it’s the former.”

“Speaking of Saturday, Lily and Nathan invited us over for dinner Saturday night.”

“Um. Okay. Sure.”

“Lily specifically told me she was looking forward to getting to know you. I know it’s hard.”

“Ugh, convo for another time.”

“Fine. I’m counting on it. Now, I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow night. Just text me to let me know what you think your schedule will look like.”

“How about I bring something?”

“Like takeout? That works.”

“No, silly. I’ll make dinner. In your kitchen obviously. I’ll bring the fixings over tomorrow.”

“Yes, that would be very good. I like you cooking in my kitchen.”

“Sleep well, Royal. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

The problem was, she thought the next day as she looked at herself in the mirror, she needed a haircut. Caroline dialed Melissa. “Do you have any recommendations for hair?”

“I assume you mean in a non-Murphy-run shop?”

“After yet another negative encounter with Anne, I’m not trusting her anywhere near my hair. I don’t
think
she’d do anything. She doesn’t seem cruel, just unhappy that I’m around. But I don’t have a horrible haircut death wish, so I’ll be taking care of my hair-coloring-and-cutting needs elsewhere.”

“Good point. There’s a place in Riverton. Hang on a second.” She heard some rustling, and then Melissa was back with a few names and numbers.

“Thank you. It’s my one-month anniversary. As Royal reminded me last night. We’re hanging out pretty much from tonight through the weekend. Or through to Sunday at least.”

“Well then Sunday come over for a barbecue. You and Royal, I mean. Clint should be back in town. It’ll be good. We’ll sit on the back deck and eat too much.” Clint was Melissa’s rebound after whatever went down with her fiancé. Clint was a menswear buyer for a large department store chain. He lived outside Atlanta but spent a lot of time traveling.

Caroline wasn’t sure if Clint would be around for long, but he was fun and he made Melissa happy and that was sort of all either of them seemed to want just then. “Sounds good. I’ll talk to Royal about it. He’s so social, I’m sure he’ll be up for it if he’s free.”

Caroline paused and finally the words burst from her, “Okay so I have to vent. I think if Anne wasn’t such a bitch over Royal—
who is not hers anymore
and she doesn’t really want him, for God’s sake—anyway, I think if she was a normal person around me, I’d actually like her. My patience at letting her work through her shit is dwindling. I get it, they’re her friends and so they all hold back, but that feels like shit. Maybe this dinner over at Lily and Nathan’s on Saturday will be a step in the right direction. They’re his friends! I want to be part of that. They don’t all have to be my best friend, but at this point every time I end up in any group situation, even when I have a good time, it’s never totally comfortable, you know?”

“I do and I’m sorry. I hope this thing Saturday is good too. Maybe you need to take Anne aside and talk to her. Clear the air.”

“I’ve thought about it. I’ve wanted to give her the space and time to get past this thing and then we could just sort of act like we were okay to be around one another. But she’s trying so hard not to like me. It’s exhausting, I tell you. If there weren’t all these other people around who Royal loved so much, I’d give her a reason to hate me. But I can’t lie, if I lost Royal I’d be totally bummed out too.”

“Do you think…he’d go back?”

“I thought about it. For the first few weeks, I told myself if he was going to go back it wasn’t my concern because it had only been a short time. And then I started to tell myself that if he’d wanted to go back, he would have. And that’s where I am now. Royal just isn’t the game-playing type. If he wanted Anne, he’d have gone back to her. And it’s clear she’s fishing in those waters. But he’s not biting. Which okay now, knock it off. He’s not interested, you’re truly over and fuck you, he’s mine.”

Melissa laughed and laughed. “Girl, you are gone for Royal. Also, your sense of confidence here is off-the-charts awesome. My God. I’m in awe.”

“There may be a lot of things in my life I’m unsure about, but I just…I’m falling for him. And it’s awesome, and if his ex could just really let him go, things would be so much easier. For him way more than me. These are his friends, he obviously wants to be around them.”

“I say the next time she pulls some sort of shenanigans you need to have a little heart-to-heart with her and lay it all out. Sister Murphy needs a little truth in her life. You might have to be the one to give it to her.”

“Maybe. Which is lame. But whatever. Okay, I need to get back to work. Thanks for the info. I’ll text you about Sunday.”

“Got it. Have fun tonight.”

“I will! Talk to you soon.” Caroline ended the call, tucking her phone into her front jacket pocket. She had another meeting and some work to finish up, and then she was out of there.

After that meeting and wrapping up all her loose ends, she headed out, at long last. But she was brought up short when she rolled into the reception area and ran into her grandmother, and then Royal came in as well, pausing when he caught sight of Abigail.

Her grandmother had a look, a tightness around her eyes and spine. Caroline had seen it enough in the past that she knew a blow up and lecture was coming. Also enough to not want to introduce Royal right that moment. “Grandma, I wasn’t expecting you. Is everything all right?”

“I just got a call from my friend Susan. Her nephew is a police officer in Millersburg, and she told me you were going to do a presentation about
his
innocence.”

Good Lord, right there in her workplace? Holly had gone home an hour before so it was empty, but anyone could walk in at any time.

With a sigh, Caroline waved her hand in the direction of her office. “Why don’t you come back? We can continue this in private.”

“Private? Girl, you have no idea what it means to be quiet or private. I forbid you to go over to that police station and shame this family once again by defending your mother’s murderer.”

Anger began to simmer in her belly. The words used and they way they’d been delivered only made it worse.

“I think we started off wrong here. I understand your feelings on this issue. I respect your right to believe whatever you believe. But I expect the same. I won’t be called to heel like a dog on a leash. My investigator was invited by the police in Millersburg, and he will speak to them. They’re law enforcement, and of course as such should care about a murderer on the loose.”

“The real murderer died in prison like the garbage he was.”

Royal took a step forward but Caroline shook her head. Her grandmother knew he was there. She was playing to an audience.