It took a few minutes to explain the Impala’s reluctance to follow logical driving order and the trip to the ER. And even longer to explain how Bill had wanted to arrest her.
“That boy always had a stick up his butt,” Juliet snorted.
“I know, right?” Coraleen agreed cheerfully.
“I saw Delilah reaming him out on the corner of Market and Main when I drove into town. Was that why?”
Coraleen tried not to giggle. “Probably. She wasn’t all that happy with how he treated me.”
“When I pulled over to talk to her, she said Remy Toussaint came to your rescue. Swooped you up in his big strong arms and carried you to safety. Very Sir Galahad of him.”
Heat rushed through her at the thought, warming Coraleen’s very core. She looked down at her toes and bit the inside of her lip. “Um…it was more like the ambulance was taking too long, and I’d just puked everywhere, and he probably didn’t want me causing even more of a liability for the town than I already had.”
“He carried you in his arms,” Juliet said pointedly. “Literally, in his arms.”
“He’s Remy. You know how he is. Always taking his job way too seriously. Besides, what does it matter?”
Juliet blew out a breath. “You know, Coraleen, I’ve been visiting you almost every weekend since you went to prison. You always—and I mean always—avoid the subject of Remy Toussaint.”
Nerves churned inside Coraleen. This wasn’t where she wanted to go with this discussion. Her head hurt, she still tasted acid in her mouth, and thoughts of Remy were making all that worse.
“You still like him, don’t you?” Juliet demanded.
“No!” she lied. This discussion was coming at her too fast. Why had Juliet waited until she as out of prison to challenge her about Remy? Out of a sense of kindness? Maybe Juliet should keep being kind and stop making Coraleen face her heart. “That was over and done with a long time ago.”
“Total bull. Your face went about ten shades of red just then. Listen, Coraleen—I was nice when you were in AZ/PC. When I came to visit, I only talked about things you wanted to talk about. Dropped subjects you wanted dropped, and that included Remy. I figured it was the least I could do for you—but no more. You’re home, you’re free, and you’re going to discuss topics of my choice. And right now, I choose the topic of Remy Toussaint. Face it: you’re still crazy about the man.”
Coraleen responded by sticking out her tongue. “Does it matter?”
Juliet almost exploded. “Of course it matters! You’re free now. You could totally go for him.”
Coraleen was somewhat surprised and if she were honest with herself, a little bit shocked by her friend’s strong reaction. “I thought you didn’t like the idea of me and him. You used to say Remy was all wrong for me.”
Juliet shrugged. “Not exactly. I said he was too old for you back when we were freshman in high school and you were a drooling fifteen-year-old. You were nuts, by the way. Totally bonkers.” She snorted. “You’d get excited every time you heard a siren go off. I thought it was a really freaky Pavlovian response until I finally realized it meant Remy might drive by. Still a Pavlovian response, but understandable.”
Trying not to laugh, Coraleen said, “Yeah, Remy was all that and a box of crackers until Geoffrey Clauser asked me out.”
“Meh.” Juliet waved a hand in the air. “Geoffrey was a lousy boyfriend. Remember when you caught him feeling up Nectar Peardale’s boobs at the end of our senior year and they tried to say they were practicing CPR? I don’t know why you stuck with him all throughout high school. I was glad when you dumped him right before graduation and started crushing on Remy again.”
“You never really said anything about me and Remy back then. When I brought him up, you’d change the subject.” What did it matter, though? The past was the past, and her future so did not include Remy Toussaint. It couldn’t.
“I didn’t think he liked you back, and I worried you’d get rejected the way he rejected all the other local girls who threw themselves at him. I didn’t want to see you get hurt.”
A wrinkle on the thick cotton hospital sheet suddenly grew quite intriguing. Coraleen traced the line with a fingertip, aware her silence was attracting Juliet’s attention but not knowing what to say. Juliet was right—she was no longer locked up and out of control of her own life. Maybe now she could tell her friend the truth about the past. Maybe if she did, it could help Juliet see how Remy and Coraleen, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G was totally and completely impossible.
She cleared her throat. “I…uh…I have something to tell you.”
Juliet nudged her with a shoulder. “What is it? You look super serious.” She frowned. “You’ve got me a little worried. Is it about the embezzlement that I still don’t and never will believe you had anything to do with? Oh, wait—there isn’t any problem with your release, right? Or is it about your accident? You’re not, like, totally bleeding out as we sit here yacking about old times and not telling me this is the last time I’ll ever, ever, ever speak to my friend again, right?”
Coraleen grinned. “Stop with the melodrama. My head hurts too much to laugh. No, it’s not about the theft. Or the accident. It’s about…it’s about Remy.”
Juliet giggled. “You totally made out in his Jeep on the way to the ER,” she joked.
Coraleen couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing. Blast, that hurt. “No! There was no make-out session!” She sobered. “This is about the past. I never told you, but he…uh…actually, he asked me out. Years ago.”
Juliet gasped and placed a hand on her chest. “Wow. I was just joking with the making out comment, but maybe I was on to something. Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me. Remy Toussaint wanted to go out with you? Like, on just a casual date, or was he totally into you? When the heck was this?”
The memory sent a surge of emotion through her veins. Her chest squeezed tight and her head felt as light and woozy as it did after she’d hit it on the steering wheel. “It was a few days before I…uh…before I went away. He came to Pop’s place. Talked to me.”
“What did he say?”
“Pretty clear he more than just liked me. He told me he’d been crazy about me for quite a while.”
Juliet sputtered. “He was insane for you and waited to tell you? Was the man an idiot?”
“No! He was being romantic. Heroic. He waited because he thought it wouldn’t be all that appropriate to date someone so recently out of high school. But by then I’d just turned twenty, and there were only six years between us, so he figured it was okay to ask me out. He asked me to go to the Maidu River with him on a real date and he had a picnic basket and a wool blanket and everything. And his eyes—” She fought against the pressure in her chest.
“What about his eyes?” Juliet asked, her tone suddenly low and soothing.
Coraleen hitched a breath. She couldn’t tell her friend the truth. How Remy’s eyes were sparkling and gleaming and so big and warm and like he knew for sure her answer would be yes. How it seemed as though hope for a beautiful future was right there, too. His eyes were literally radiating hope. Actually, his eyes were figuratively radiating hope, she mentally clarified. But it was a hope she couldn’t give him.
“Never mind,” she said, dropping her gaze back down to the by now quite wrinkled sheet. “Long story short, I didn’t accept the date. He did try to kiss me, though.”
“What? Oh my god, tell me!”
She let her eyes drift shut and the memory wash over her. She’d been on the way out the door to find Remy. He was the one person she felt comfortable falsely confessing that she’d been the one who embezzled the money.
Instead, she’d found him on the front porch, come to visit her. He’d told her how he felt, and for how long, and then he came closer, even closer, until he stood right in front of her, and then he put his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. Their hips were touching, and his hands were on her back, and he was rubbing her bac
k along her bra strap line.
Then he lowered his head and his face came closer and she could see his mouth and his teeth and his tongue and she knew he was going to kiss her. She’d closed her eyes and parted her lips and couldn’t believe she was going to kiss Remy Toussaint, but then it had all came back to her.
Pop.
The embezzlement.
Prison.
She swallowed hard, and opened her eyes to see Juliet staring intently at her. “I…uh…I didn’t kiss him. I pulled back. And then I confessed to him that I was the embezzler.”
“Wait. Hold up.” Juliet held a hand up, fingers rigidly pressed together. “You have got to be kidding me. You so did not do that.”
“I so did.”
“Why on earth did you pick that moment? You could have been kissing that man!”
“Pop’s trial was almost over. He’d collapsed the day before and went into ICU. In another week, a day or two, maybe, he most likely would have received the guilty verdict.”
Juliet shook her head, hard, sending long black hair swaying, the movement sharp and staccato. “You don’t know for sure that’s what the jury would have decided.”
“His lawyers thought so. The prosecutors offered a deal, and Pop’s lawyers were pressuring me like crazy to get him to take it.”
“I can’t believe anyone would think you stole that money, but I can’t believe your grandfather stole it, either. I thought the prosecution had everything wrong. I still don’t understand why you confessed, though. I guess you had your reasons.”
God, she hated lying, Coraleen thought, especially to her friend, but there was one lie she’d given herself permission to tell, and she was sticking with it.
Because there was no way to prove her grandfather was innocent of the charges.
No way to find the actual embezzler.
If there had been, the investigation would have unearthed the real thief. And then none of the last five years would’ve happened. She would have been able to go off to college, be with her grandfather when he died. Have the life she’d deserved. She could have even had a shot at a life with Remy.
“Grandpa didn’t steal the money, and that’s all I have to say.”
For a little while, Juliet was quiet, as if assessing Coraleen’s statement. Whether to push or let it go. Finally, she spoke, her voice quiet and gentle and without recrimination. “And now you’re back in Meadowview. You’ve served your time, and you have every right for a fresh start. Why don’t you go out with Remy now?”
“You are aware I’m not moving back to Meadowview, right? I have a job and a place to stay in Placer County. I told you all this before I got released.”
Juliet scoffed. “And I kept telling you I didn’t believe you. This is your home. Now ask out Remy. We both know you want to go out with him.”
“I do,” she admitted. “That man does absolutely delicious and wonderful things to my body, and to my heart. He’s everything I could ever wish for in a man. And if things were different, I would so totally hook up with him, but the chance for that is zero. There’s no future for me in Meadowview, and that includes Remy Toussaint.”
Juliet started to argue, but the door to the examination room swung open again, and suddenly Remy’s silhouette appeared in the doorway. Coraleen surreptitiously (she hoped) kicked Juliet, who snapped her mouth shut, plastered a big smile on her face, and gave him a friendly wave.
“Didn’t realize you were back in town already, Juliet,” he said with a tight smile. “How was the Grand Prix? That’s what they call that horse jumping competition, right?”
She laughed. “Something like that. One of the three horses I trained earned a bronze.”
“Good deal.” For a moment, awkward silence filled the space between the three of them, then he cleared his throat and added, “Coraleen tell you she needs a place to stay for a couple of days until her car is fixed?”
“I haven’t asked yet, but I’m sure Juliet will be my babysitter,” Coraleen said confidently. She turned to Juliet. “With this concussion, I need someone to wake me up every couple of hours tonight. I thought I could get Delilah to do it but she’s staying in Sacramento. There’s no one else available. But now you’re back in town early, it’s no problem for me to stay with you, right?”
“We’ve been trying to come up with someone to watch her tonight, But no luck so far,” Remy confirmed. “Glad you’re back in town, Juliet—we were flat-out of options.”
“There’s seriously no one?” Juliet asked, shock radiating through her tone.
Embarrassed, Coraleen ducked her head and hid behind a curtain of hair. Did Juliet have to make such a big deal about the fact that she was apparently not only homeless but close to friendless, too? Sheesh.
“Guess not,” Remy said. “Good thing you showed up back in town.”
“Uh…actually, unfortunately, Remy, she can’t stay at my place,” Juliet said suddenly.
“What?” Coraleen squeaked out, glancing back up and shooting her friend a look of what she figured was utter consternation. Of course she was staying at Juliet’s place. Why wouldn’t she stay Juliet’s place? What on earth was Juliet saying?
A sudden and unwanted thought whapped her upside the head. It wasn’t that Juliet didn’t want her around any more, right? Or could that actually be it? Her friend had come to see her in prison on a near-constant basis, so Coraleen had figured they’d remain just as close once she’d been released. But had that changed with her release?
The urge to cry flashed over her and she swallowed. God! Did no one in this godforsaken town want her around anymore? Confusion morphed into anger and the desire to run hit her, hard.
“I’m…um…” Juliet stumbled in her words. “I’m getting my place fumigated. I’m not even staying there. I’m going to rent a hotel room in Sacramento for the next few days.” Juliet finished talking, but wouldn’t look at Coraleen. Or at Remy, for that matter.
Oh, yeah, like that was totally believable. So much for good friends. Coraleen wanted to cry. Or break something. She couldn’t help it—she glanced at Remy.
Remy furrowed his brow. “But Deloro Pest and Fumigation closed last month.”
Juliet stuttered. “Uh…well…uh…I’m using a Sacramento company.”
The channel in his brow went even deeper. “I didn’t know any came up all this way to Meadowview. Which company is it?”
Instead of answering, Juliet said to Remy, her words spilling over one another in rapid succession, “Maybe Coraleen could stay with you, Remy.”
Crickets. Coraleen could swear she heard crickets.
Lots and lots of crickets.
“Um…” Remy finally said, drawing out the word like it pained him. He glanced at Coraleen with a question on his face. “Uh…”
Did the man not know any polysyllabic words? Or actual words, for that matter? Heat spread up Coraleen’s neck and cheeks, and she was pretty sure her face looked like it was on fire. Or like someone had tried to paint it Hellboy Red.
He cleared his throat and continued. “I’m, um, still on the hunt for someone you can stay with tonight. But I’m sure I’ll find a place. I don’t want you to worry.”
The incredibly awkward silence was suddenly broken by Doc Witting poking her head through the doorway. “Remy, Gail with Dispatch says to tell you something’s wrong with your radio. She heard you were back here to check on Coraleen and called us to get a message to you—something about Jimmy Loftus. I put her on Line Six. You can take it at the nurse’s station.” She swept her gaze across Coraleen and Juliet, gave Juliet a brief nod, and backed out of the room.
Remy did the same. Without another word. Leaving Coraleen with a royal flush: Embarrassment, Mortification, Chagrin, Humiliation, and Shame.
As soon as his sexy, tight butt left the room, Coraleen leaned forward and hissed at Juliet. “Say what? Why’d you tell him such a cock and bull story about fumigation? Why don’t you want me to stay at your place? He doesn’t want me to
stay with him—can’t you see that?” She huffed. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but some friend you are.”
“You should be thanking me.” Juliet arched a brow. “The two of you totally have something going on. He kept fighting to keep from looking at you. And the entire time he stood there, he leaned in your direction. He even closed his eyes and sniffed, and I swear to god he was smelling your hair.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Coraleen grumbled.
“Yes, he was,” Juliet argued. “You need to follow this and see where it goes. You owe it to yourself. And from the sounds of things, given you confessed to a crime you did not commit after Remy told you how he felt about you and tried to kiss you, well…you owe it to, Remy, too.”
A spring breeze ruffled the pink flowers on the plum trees that flanked the ER entrance. Remy leaned against the brick exterior wall and hitched up the heavy weight of his duty belt, waiting for his friend Mac Johns, who stood next to him, to finish a call that had interrupted their conversation.
Earlier, Remy had texted Mac, asking if he and his fiancée Trudy could take in Coraleen for the night, but Mac had texted back, saying he was close to the hospital and could meet Remy there to talk. Mentioned something about Remy’s campaign. Mac Johns had been one of his best friends for years, and Remy was glad for the help Mac had given him with his campaign, but so far he didn’t seem able to help him with his current dilemma.
A dilemma he needed to get solved, and fairly quick. Coraleen needed a babysitter for the night.
Edgy, Remy kicked the brick wall behind him with the heel of his boot. Mac needed to hurry up the call, because Remy should get back in to see Coraleen. Although maybe that wasn’t the best idea. After all, he’d ducked out a few minutes earlier, like a total chicken, after Juliet had planted her bomb.
He had to admit that Gail from Dispatch’s call had come at the perfect moment—because he’d been completely gob-smacked by Juliet’s suggestion. Him? Take in Coraleen for the night? Not that he didn’t want her in his house. Nope, that wasn’t it, because he did. He’d love to watch over her. Tend to her. Watch her sleep. Even though he told himself he shouldn’t. Because wow—his body sure had responded to hers, even as he’d fought his mind from going places he so did not need it to go.
Always the One: (Meadowview Heroes # 2) (The Meadowview Series Book 6) (Meadowview Heat) Page 5