LITMIR.BIZ

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      Andrea was far from perfect. Very, very far.

      GRANT HURRIED toward the double doors of the Courage Bay E.R., the pavement beneath his feet steaming from the sun’s steady heat. A thousand scenarios ran through his head as he walked, none of them good. They fled his consciousness, however, when a flash of motion off to one side caught his eye. He turned and looked closer, suddenly thinking Holly had been wrong.

      Vicki wasn’t dead. She was right there, twenty feet away.

      A millisecond passed, then he realized his mistake.

      He was looking at Andrea.

      She wore a pair of white shorts and a red T-shirt, her thick hair pulled back haphazardly, her face free of cosmetics. Obviously prepared for nothing more than an average day at home, she looked devastated by what had happened, her slumped posture reflecting her state of mind, her gaze directed toward the ground as if it held some cosmic secret.

      As he continued to stare, she raised her head. Across the grassy slope that separated them, their gazes converged.

      Nothing dramatic or heart-stopping occurred. Grant didn’t feel a jolt of awareness or a tingle down his spine. His heart didn’t leap out of his chest or even jump at all.

      He merely felt empty.

      Vicki Hunt had manipulated him and used him, then she’d sent him on his way. He’d known exactly what she was doing and he’d been a willing victim, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt. He would have thought the old pain might surface upon seeing Andrea, but apparently it’d sliced through him cleanly, albeit all the way to the bone. He felt nothing at all.

      Changing directions, he headed toward her and she stood as he came near. Up close her feelings were even more apparent, but instead of the grief he expected, Grant saw anger on her face. He wasn’t too surprised—people handled death differently.

      Her voice was hoarse and throaty. “You got my message, I see.”

      Grant didn’t waste any time. “How is he? Can I see him?”

      “They’re still checking for internal injuries. Kevin’s in X ray right now. When he finishes there, you can probably see him, but that’s going to be a while longer.”

      “Tell me what happened.”

      She recited the basic facts in a dry and emotionless manner. He could tell she’d already told the story more times than she wanted.

      The minute she stopped speaking, questions flooded his mind but Grant stayed silent, approaching the situation the same way he did everything in his life—as if this was an investigation he was about to undertake. He’d gather the facts, study them, then proceed.

      He realized belatedly she was waiting for him to comment. “I came as quickly as I could,” he said awkwardly.

      Her gaze was steady. “That’s nice. But I only called because I thought you should know what had happened. I can handle the situation.”

      “I’m sure you can handle just about anything, but—”

      “I can,” she reiterated. “You should have phoned first and I would have saved you the trip.”

      “‘Saved me the trip’?” He repeated the words carefully. “I don’t believe I understand.”

      “The way Vicki explained things, I didn’t think you’d care that much, one way or the other.”

      Doubting Vicki had employed the truth in her explanation, Grant cursed under his breath. The real story could take her down as efficiently as it could him.

      “Why don’t you tell me exactly what your sister said?” Grant said. “It might make things easier.”

      “It might,” she conceded. “But I don’t intend to share her confidences. I think it’d be best if you left.”

      “I’m not going anywhere. Kevin is my son.”

      “That’s stretching it a bit, don’t you think?”

      Grant put on a rigid mask, his chest going tight. “What are you implying?”

      “I’m not implying anything. I’m making a point. You left Vicki and Kevin. You abandoned them. That’s not the kind of thing a loving father and husband does to his family.”

      His relief outweighed the sting her words brought with them. Still, a dilemma remained. Should he go along with the assessment and look like an asshole or try to convince her that Vicki had lied? Either way, he’d lose.

      He stalled. “Is that what Vicki told you? That I abandoned them?”

      Andrea stared at him without answering.

      “Well, I guess that answers that,” he finally said. “You’ve made up your mind. I won’t try to confuse you with the facts.”

      IN THE FOUR YEARS Grant Corbin had been married to her sister, Andrea had talked to the man maybe half a dozen times. On the rare occasions when everyone managed to shake free from their busy lives and meet in Courage Bay for a family get-together, something seemed to come up at the last minute that kept Grant from attending. Each time, Vicki had excused him by saying crimes weren’t scheduled, but Andrea had always wondered.

      Now she wondered even more. Accustomed to facing the unknown and dealing with whatever arose, she still felt a nameless anxiety building.

      He was lying to her and she had no idea why.

      “My sister gave me the facts. I know what happened.”

      “I doubt you know it all….” he retorted. “There were things I did that I shouldn’t have, but the same could be said for Vicki. I love Kevin, though. Surely she didn’t say that wasn’t the case.”

      Andrea started to answer, then heard her name. She turned to see her mother standing by the E.R. door.

      “The doctor’s here,” she called out. “He wants to talk to us.” Seeing Grant, Karen Hunt motioned for them both to come.

      They walked in uncomfortable silence to the door. Grant reached out for the handle but instead of opening it, he paused and looked at Andrea. She saw with shock that he had pain in his eyes.

      “Look, before we go in, I have to ask you a question.” His whole body seemed to tense. “Can you put everything else aside for a minute and answer it?”

      “What is it?” she asked stiffly.

      “When you found Vicki…did it look like, well—”

      Surprised he even cared, she instantly understood the question; she’d heard it asked more times than she wanted to remember.

      “She didn’t suffer,” she said quietly. “I have a feeling the whole thing happened very quickly.”

      Sympathy pushed past her anger as he flinched. He then nodded and opened the door and they went into the waiting room together.

      To Andrea’s amazement, her mother and father both greeted Grant warmly, Karen wrapping an arm around his waist and hugging him tightly, Jack extending his hand. Vicki had obviously not told their parents what she’d told Andrea. Infidelity wasn’t a fault either of them would have brushed off.

      Drawing Andrea’s attention away from her thoughts, the orthopedic surgeon began to speak. “The first X rays are back and I think we’re going to be able to avoid operating on Kevin’s foot at this point. He has a malleolar fracture but we can immobilize it with a plaster cast and that might do the trick….” His explanation continued, his words filling Andrea with relief. A broken ankle bone was a far cry from the internal injuries she’d been worried about.

      Andrea’s gaze sought Grant’s. He had dark eyes, so dark they almost seemed black. She couldn’t read the emotions he hid, but she could feel them, their negativity seeking her out. He didn’t like her, she realized with a shock.

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