Helen clapped her hands. “Gentlemen, why don’t you set the table? Ladies, I could use your help in the kitchen. The men can clean up afterward.”
All three men made a great deal of fuss, but Jesse knew better than to seriously complain. After all, he’d seen his mother put Billy over her knee not all that long ago.
Marti followed Caty and Helen into the kitchen, letting the swinging door close behind her. She grabbed for the bags of green beans that Helen pulled out of the refrigerator; she knew how to do those. Caty settled at the cutting board piled with red apples.
“What nice gifts you two got.” Helen’s smile reeked of innuendo.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Caty retorted. “It’s my birthstone.”
“I don’t know,” Marti said. “A ring is, well, pretty serious.”
Caty was positively red-faced. “I don’t see what the big fuss is about. It’s not an engagement ring. And what about you, Marti? A gold heart pendant isn’t exactly a box of candy, especially for someone who’s leaving town in six months. Anything we should know about?”
Marti thought about the words inscribed on the back. “It’s a goodbye gift.”
“Humph. That didn’t look like a ‘goodbye’ look you two were giving each other back there in the living room.”
“Goodness, Caty, you’re acting like a cornered animal. I think you both have a light in your eyes, whether you want it to be there or not,” Helen said.
Caty and Marti glared at each other before turning back to what they were cutting.
Forty-five minutes later, with most of the preparation done, all they had to do was wait for everything to get ready.
As Caty washed her hands, she watched the guys playing horseshoes from the kitchen window. “I’m going to teach those guys how to play. Want to come, Marti?”
“No, that’s okay. Helen and I will sit in here and talk about you.”
Caty made a face before walking outside. Helen set the packages of fabric on the coffee table. Marti sat in the recliner Billy had spent the night in, feeling ready to take a snooze herself.
“I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do with this,” Helen said, looking at the front windows. I love what you did with the baby’s room.”
“I just hope it wasn’t a fluke.”
“No way. You’re very talented. The best part is you’re doing it on a budget. That’s an attractive marketing angle.”
“Marketing? You mean selling my curtains to people? For money?”
“Sure, why not? You go in, measure, ask what they what. They can have something as nice as a decorator could do at, say, half the cost.”
“I’m not even sure I can do it again. But I’ve got some neat ideas for those two windows, if it works the way I’m imagining.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. There’s nothing between Jesse and me. Nothing romantic.”
Helen shrugged. “Maybe I’m seeing what I want to see. For Caty, too.”
“Do you think I’m a terrible person, for wanting to leave when the baby comes?”
“If you’re really someone else, you didn’t make this baby, and you didn’t want it. You can’t help the way you feel. I know you’ll do what you think is best for yourself, the baby, and Jesse.”
Marti blew out a breath. “Believe me, leaving is the best thing I could do for them. As a mother and a wife.”
“Why are you so sure you’ll disappoint them?”
“All my life I’ve disappointed people, especially the ones closest to me. When I… died, I saw all those things I did to screw up my marriage. I can’t do that to anyone, and I wouldn’t want to have a baby involved when I destroyed my second marriage.”
“You’re so sure you’ll destroy it. Jesse’s tough, you know. Sometimes I wonder if he wouldn’t be willing to give it a try.”
“Are you talking about that light again?”
“Mm hm,” she said with a demure smile.
“Okay, I admit there’s a light there. But it’s not what you think.”
“Lust?”
Marti dropped her head, shaking it. “I can’t believe I’m talking to his mother about him like this.”
“Then think of me as a girlfriend, who’s a bit older. I know I’ve got a good-looking son, who’s as stubborn as that river that runs behind the house. So, it’s only lust?”
Marti shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. He wants me to leave, I want to leave, and we’re two totally different people. We have this… current between us sometimes.” She thought of the kiss under the mistletoe. “But it doesn’t mean anything, not really.”
“If you say so. But you’ve got a few months before you leave. Think you can hold out?”
“Yes,” she answered too fast. “Look at me, getting bigger every day. He’s not going to even want to look at me before long.”
Helen smiled in an irritatingly knowing way. “I doubt that, sweetheart. I doubt that.”
Marti sighed, wanting to change the subject. “I wish I had a mother like you. Maybe I wouldn’t have screwed up so much.”
Helen tilted her head. “You do. Now.”
How those words warmed her and thickened her throat. How different would her life have been if she’d had a mother who cared?
“I wish I could believe in myself the way you do, but I can’t. I’m just screwed up. Maybe I am attracted to Jesse. I mean, he is kind of sexy. And, as you pointed out, good-looking.”
Helen smiled. “Yes, he is. More so on the inside.”
Marti blew out a breath. “That’s the point. He’s too good for me. He’s had this perfect mother as a role model. How can any woman compete, much less me?”
“Don’t say that. I’m not perfect.”
“But you wouldn’t do the things I’ve done in my life. You’re too good of a person.”
“Everybody makes mistakes. You’re a different person now, in a new life. You can put those mistakes behind you.”
“No, I can’t. Because deep inside, I have the same soul. That’s been the problem all along.”
CHAPTER 10
Most of the town’s Christmas decorations were gone by the second week of January. The lunch crowd had dispersed at Bad Boys, leaving Marti time to count her tips and wonder how she was ever going to pay that awful department store bill from her two shopping sprees. Still, she was glad she’d spent the money. It was the most peculiar phenomenon, but buying gifts for other people was more fun than buying stuff for herself.
She looked up when the door opened. Carl stepped inside, smoothing his hair back. He settled onto a stool in Marti’s section. It was unusual that he was without Lyle for lunch.
“How are you doing, young lady?” he asked, green eyes sparkling.
“Fine, thank you.”
“I understand you were in the office looking at the photos of yourself.”
“I didn’t think it would be a big deal to look at photos of my body,” she stated, ready to defend her actions.
“Well, it is official property now.” He smiled graciously. “But it’s okay. Lyle seemed to think you and Jesse were onto something. An idea, maybe. Care to let me in on it, considering I’m the investigating officer?”
She shrugged. “It’s only a theory. We’ll let you know if it pans out.”
His smile disappeared. “You think Paul has something to do with it, don’t you?”
Of course, Paul’s father would be aware that they had checked into his son’s whereabouts on the day of the attack. Even as recently as last week, she overheard Jesse discussing it with someone on the phone. “Maybe. It might be, well, hard, to investigate your own son.”
Carl’s eyes narrowed, all traces of friendliness gone. “You think I wouldn’t nail that good-for-nothing son of mine if I thought he’d done that to you?”
She stepped back, the anger in his eyes steaming like the coffee in his untouched cup.
“I—I don’t know.”
Just as suddenly, the anger was gone.
“Marti, my son didn’t attack you. I know he didn’t. Don’t you think a father could tell?”
“Maybe, and maybe not. Your son and his friends attacked Jesse right before Christmas. I bet you didn’t know about that, did you?”
Carl’s fist tightened. “No, he didn’t. Damn kid’s got a rocket up his ass.” He looked up. “He’s reckless, but he doesn’t go around attacking women. People are starting to talk about him, wondering why Jesse keeps hounding him. You two don’t have a thing on him, do you?” She didn’t answer, and he nodded. “That’s what I figured. You know, he and Jesse have always had this feuding blood between them, and Jesse took your attack personally. Now he wants to pin it on his best enemy. You’re a smart girl. Can’t you see that?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. But your son was in the area at the time of my assault. And the scratch on my chest could have matched the kind Paul’s pendant might make. And isn’t it strange how the photos of that scratch are gone?”
Carl stood, jamming his newspaper beneath his arm. “Both your imaginations are running wild. The guy who did that to you is probably long gone, but if he isn’t, I’ll find him. Leave the investigating to the police.” Just as he was about to walk away, he turned around again. “Don’t forget that Jesse is a criminal himself. He doesn’t have a lot of right to be pointing fingers.”
After work that day, Marti drove by Harry’s Garage to ask Jesse if he wanted to go to the mall with her to shop for larger sized pants. Ugh. She was solidly in that awkward not pregnant-looking but heavy phase. Caty couldn’t go, and Marti hated to shop alone.
Marti had distanced herself a bit from Jesse since Christmas, for his own protection as well as hers. She noticed that he had done the same. Those moments under the tree on Christmas Eve still held her in a spell when she allowed herself to daydream about them. That kind of thing couldn’t happen again. Shopping should be safe enough.
When she pulled into the dirt parking lot, her heart sank. Desiree’s black Jeep sat out front. Marti chewed her lip. Well, she certainly wasn’t going to ask Jesse to go shopping for larger clothes when Desiree was there. Pride, yes. And a smidgeon of jealousy, if she were being honest. She backed out of the parking lot and headed for the mall.
It was nearly six when she returned home. Jesse’s truck was out front, and Bumpus was keeping watch from his usual vantage point in the bushes. With tail wagging, he stepped out to greet her.
Her instinct was to back away as he approached, mouth agape in what looked like a smile. She forced herself to stay put and smiled back. Did dogs recognize a smile?
“Hi, Bumpus.” She patted his head. “Do you like me?”
He tilted his head and whined.
“This is just silly.” With her one bag, she had no trouble opening the front door.
Jesse launched off the couch and, instead of any kind of greeting, boomed, “Where the hell have you been?”
She blinked, still paused in the doorway. “Shopping.”
She started to walk by him, but he grabbed her arm and swung her around to face him.
His green eyes flared. “I have been looking all over for you. Do you know what I thought? I thought he got you this time. I hunted down Paul and drove all over this damn town looking for cars pulled off the road.”
She groped for something to say in the face of his anger. “Your baby’s fine, Jesse.”
When she started to walk to her bedroom, he jerked her back, almost slamming her into his chest. His fingers held her chin.
“I wasn’t just worried about the baby. Did it ever occur to you that I might be worried about you?”
“I’m not sure who you really care about,” she said, and annoyingly enough, Desiree popped into her mind.
His voice softened in anger, but not in intensity. “I care about you and the baby, not you because of the baby. Don’t take off without telling me. I about went out of my mind tonight.”
She moved out of his grasp but remained in front of him. “I was going to ask you to come along, but you were busy.”
He appeared to wait for more explanation. “Busy? With what?”
“Actually, the question should be, with whom.”
He gave it some thought before the light dawned. “Don’t tell me you saw Desiree’s Jeep and took off.” He waited for her denial, which didn’t come. “You thought she was at the garage and went off without telling me?” His expression was one of disbelief.
“Thought she was there? She wasn’t?”
“No, her car was making clanking noises, and she dropped it off this afternoon so I could look at it first thing in the morning.”
He leaned against the back of the sofa, his arms crossed over his chest. She realized she’d admitted in so many words that she’d been jealous.
“I figured you were busy, whether she was there or not, so I left. That’s all. It was a stupid thing to do, and I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Marti, I can’t figure you out.”
“Don’t try.”
“You were jealous, weren’t you?”
She moved away, desperate to put some distance between them. “I was not jealous. I have no right to be jealous. I thought you were busy, that’s all.”
“Then why did you mention Desiree’s car? ‘With whom?’” he imitated in her haughty tone. “I’ll be darned.”
“Well, then I guess you’ll have to be darned, because I wasn’t jealous.” Damn him and his arrogant attitude. And her heated cheeks. “Why would I be jealous over a… convict?”
His amusement disappeared. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re a car thief, convicted even.”
“Who told you about that?”
So, it was true. Her admiration for him fell into a heap, where it felt much more comfortable. “Paul told me, that day at the gas station.”
Instead of getting defensive, he shrugged. “I was nineteen. Big deal.”
“Big deal? I’m living with a common criminal! You’re pointing at Paul, and you’ve probably got more of a police record than he does.”
Jesse’s expression became rigid. “You know why I do? Because Paul’s daddy got him off. I’ll bet Paul didn’t tell you he was the one driving the car, did he? The car was his aunt’s, up in Sarasota. He got pissed because we didn’t want to joyride it down to the Keys, so he ran away. Alan, Mark, and I got busted because we were the ones returning the car. Marti, I already stood before the judge on this one. You gonna try me again?”
Every ounce of fight drained from her. Before she could say anything resembling an apology, he scooped up his keys from the end table.
“I need some fresh air. See if you can keep yourself from wandering off while I’m gone.”
He didn’t quite slam the door, but she felt its firm impact all the same. She walked to her room and dropped down on the bed, feeling as small as a bug.
See, I let myself have a few interesting thoughts about Jesse, then I screw it up with my insecurity. By the time I have this baby, he’ll be glad to see me go.
The quiet of the house lulled her into a light daydream before dropping her into the abyss of sleep. She didn’t remember dreaming about anything when the noise woke her. In the dark, her eyes adjusted to the familiar shadows of her closet and dresser. At first she listened for the sound of Jesse’s keys, of any sign that he was home. The house was still, except for the peeping of a frog outside her window. She let out a long, soft breath and started to let her eyes drift closed again.
A shadow moved. Her eyes flew open, wide and scanning.
A distinct shape evolved from the blankness in front of her, moving closer to her bed. Her lungs were frozen—she couldn’t scream, couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t Jesse, somehow she knew that. A dead weight pressed down on her.
Fingers slid around her throat. Her arms couldn’t move to push them away. Panic seized her. She was going to die, right here in her bed! The fingers tightened. Her breath came in jagged gasps. Then she could scream, an
d the terror frozen inside her let loose like a wail from beyond the grave. She blinked as she realized the lights were on, had been on. Her bedroom door flew open, and a rumpled Jesse barged in.
All she could do was breathe, finally, pulling in one deep breath after another.
He took a quick inventory of the room and her before visibly relaxing. “What happened?”
She found a laugh in a tiny place the fear had not filled. “You look as scared as I feel.”
“When I hear a blood-curdling scream like that, you better believe I’m scared. Are you all right?”
She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. The laugh was gone. “I had a nightmare. He was back.”
“He? The man who killed Marti?”
She nodded. “I saw him standing right there in the shadows. He started strangling me. I felt his fingers around my throat, and I couldn’t move.” She buried her face in her hands, afraid of the images she was dredging up.
The bed dipped when Jesse sat down beside her. “You want to sleep in my room? I mean, we’ve done it before.”
She looked around the room, weighing the sanity of that move. “No, I’ll be all right. I’m going to leave the light on, though.”
He ran his fingers through his wild waves of brown hair. “If you change your mind, don’t be afraid to slip in.”
“Thanks.”
“Well, good night then. Sweet dreams this time, okay?”
She smiled. “You better believe it.”
The man stepped out of the shadows again, standing just outside the glow of light from Marti’s window. That scream sounded like the one she’d uttered when he’d wrapped his fingers around her neck. Her eyes bulged with fear and then her scream became a gurgle. She’d forced him to do it, by resisting, by kicking him.
Now she was forcing him to linger in the shadows, wondering when her nightmares would show her that he was the one who had pinned her down. How long could he go on like this, a coward hiding in the dark, once again letting a woman rule his fate? If she and Jesse got the slightest bit closer to him, he would have to ensure her silence.
Stranger in the Mirror [Shades of Heaven] (Soul Change Novel) Page 14