LITMIR.BIZ

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      Rebecca always felt a little bit uneasy when the conversation took this kind of turn. Lane and Alison were currently single, but Alison had been married before, and Rebecca couldn’t imagine Lane was as pathetic as she was. Rebecca had no experience with men. And it wasn’t something she ever felt like discussing.

      That meant a lot of smiling and nodding was required of her at moments like these.

      Right now, she was all out of smile and nod. She just felt depleted. Alison seemed to notice.

      “Okay, Rebecca. What’s really going on? You’re being supernaturally quiet.”

      “I’m contemplative,” Rebecca said.

      “No. You really aren’t,” Lane said.

      She let out a long slow breath, using the opportunity to try and think of a very vague way to disclose what had happened today without giving too much away. “I just had kind of an unexpected brush with the past.”

      Lane snorted. “There’s small towns for you. Your past is basically your present because nobody ever leaves.”

      “Thank God my past left town to keep Sheriff Garrett from breathing down his neck,” Alison said, referencing her hideous ex.

      “Not that kind of past.” Though Rebecca thought as soon as she spoke those words that she probably should have let the group think it was an ex.

      Alison arched a brow. “Intriguing.”

      “No, it isn’t. I... I had an encounter with the man who caused my accident when I was a kid.” There, that wasn’t so bad. She’d said it.

      Then she began to reevaluate her “not so bad” assessment. Her three friends were looking at her with very wide eyes.

      “He came into the store.”

      “You actually know who caused your accident?” Alison asked.

      “Yes,” she responded.

      All her friends knew was that she had been in a bad accident that had left scars. And of course, that was bad enough. But there was more to it. More that she had never really wanted to talk about with anyone else. And, now was no exception.

      “What did you do?” Lane asked.

      “I kicked his ass out,” Rebecca responded.

      “Did you call Jonathan?” Cassie asked.

      “No. And I’m not going to tell him, because the last thing I need is for my older brother to end up in jail because he killed someone. And trust me, if Jonathan had any idea that this guy was back in town, he would get himself locked up for homicide.” Rebecca was only a little bit sure she was exaggerating.

      “Do you want me to call Finn? He can come down and hang out by the store. Look menacing or whatever,” Lane said, referencing her friend Finn Donnelly.

      Though, she wasn’t entirely sure the cranky rancher would refer to Lane as a friend. Actually, Rebecca wasn’t entirely certain what Lane and Finn’s deal was.

      “Thanks for offering the use of Finn without his permission,” Rebecca said. “But I’m fine.”

      “What does he...want?” Alison asked. “Did he just want to check in with you? After all these years?”

      Rebecca lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. And I really don’t care. As far as I’m concerned he can jump off a bridge. I don’t really want his apologies. Or his pity. Or his anything.” And she certainly didn’t want him to seize control of her building. She didn’t want him to give it to her. She didn’t want him to have his hands on anything that she touched.

      “Well, I’m all for holding grudges,” Lane said. “I think it’s healthy. Good for your pores.”

      “And, often keeps you safe. Forgiveness is for chumps,” Alison added.

      “I would be the first to say that some people are just better off out of your life. Or, off the planet.” Rebecca knew that Cassie was thinking of her ex-husband, the total dud she’d been with before meeting Jake, the love of her life.

      “Yes,” Lane said, nodding, taking a sip of wine. “Some people really don’t need forgiveness. And, I imagine the man that left you with permanent physical scars is one of them. He was... He was driving recklessly, wasn’t he?”

      He had been. And the ensuing cover-up had meant that he had never been charged. And that no one ever knew. But even if he had been, it would not have solved what happened next. Because that one event was the breakdown of the rest of her life as she’d known it then.

      “Yes. I just... It wasn’t really something that I wanted to deal with. I’ve dealt with it, really.”

      If dealing with it meant growing yet more bitter by the year, then she most certainly had.

      “Well, if he comes back during the workday, you know you can always call me,” Lane said.

      “Me too,” said Cassie.

      “Obviously, I will also show up with a weapon of some kind,” Alison said.

      “I appreciate that. You have no idea how much your willingness to appear with weaponry means to me. But, I think it will be fine.”

      “It’s just so desperately random that he showed up,” Lane commented.

      It wasn’t quite as random as Lane thought. But, Rebecca didn’t want to get into it. Legally, Rebecca wasn’t allowed to get into it. But then, since none of the payoff money from Nathan West had ever made it into her possession, she wondered if the agreement applied to her. Her mother had taken off with it a long time ago.

      The money had never been for her pain and suffering. It had been her mom’s getaway fund.

      “I guess assholes who are prone to driving recklessly are also prone to random appearances?” she suggested.

      “I guess so,” Alison said, watching her a little bit too closely. Almost as if she sensed there was more to the story. Well, Alison was going to have to keep sensing. Because she was not going to get any more out of her. Alison had a past she didn’t like to talk about. She should understand.

      “I don’t want to talk about the asshole anymore. I just want to eat some pie.”

      “I respect that.” Lane took a piece of pie out of the box and set it on a paper plate. “Eat your feelings. I bet they’re delicious.”

      “Of course her feelings are delicious,” Alison said. “They’re going to be consumed in a vehicle that I baked. And everything I bake is delicious.”

      “Hear, hear,” Cassie agreed.

      Rebecca was just going to try and put Gage out of her mind. With any luck, he would give up. He had disappeared very effectively for the past seventeen years, and she didn’t really see why he would suddenly be persistent with her now. Hopefully, he had done what he needed to do, and that would be the end of it.

      She just wanted to keep sending her checks to the rental company and not dealing directly with Wests.

      Yes, not dealing with all of this was definitely her preferred method.

      Hopefully, Gage would do the very best thing he actually could do to try and make up for what had happened seventeen years ago. Hopefully, he would leave her alone.

      * * *

      “WHAT THE HELL are you doing here?”

      Gage wasn’t terribly surprised to receive that greeting from his younger brother. He was standing on Colton’s porch, his hands stuffed in his pockets, more or less expecting to be punched in the face.

      Surprisingly, Colton made no move to attack him physically. He did not, however, allow him in. That was not surprising.

      “I suppose you wouldn’t believe

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