The line went silent. “What is it you think I want from you?”
“That’s what I keep asking myself.” I blew out a shaky sigh and slung an arm over my face. “I’m a single mom in my thirties, Julian. I’ve got two kids and a questionable job. You’re a gorgeous, young bachelor with a promising career and your whole life ahead of you. I don’t even have health insurance.” I squeezed my eyes shut against the burn building behind them.
“Is that it?” His quiet voice was rough with emotion. “You don’t think you’re good enough, so you’re just going to write us off?” I couldn’t make myself speak past the lump in my throat. “You’re right. You’ve got a lot you need to sort out, Finlay, but not the things you’re worried about. Maybe I’m not the only one who isn’t being honest with myself.”
After a long pause, the call disconnected. I held the phone to my ear, wishing I could take so many things back.
There was a soft knock as Vero cracked open my door. She poked her head in, her dark ponytail swishing through the opening. “Want some company?”
She didn’t wait for an answer before creeping into my room in her fuzzy slippers and flannel pajama robe and setting a hot mug of cocoa in my hands. It was filled to the brim with marshmallows. She climbed into my bed and pushed herself back against the headrest beside me. I took a sip of my drink and coughed, a trail of liquor burning fire down my throat.
Vero laughed quietly into her mug. “Figured you could use it. Want to talk about it?”
“I think we just broke up. But I’m not sure which one of us did the breaking.” I filled Vero in on everything that had happened after Nick caught me leaving the jail, up through the part where Parker showed up to represent me.
“Well,” she said, wiping marshmallow from her lip, “that explains why Julian was so upset.”
“Because I used him for information so I could do something illegal?”
“No, because he’s jealous.”
“He’s not jealous. He’s pissed.”
“He’s frustrated, Finn, because he couldn’t be the one to rescue you and Nick was. He sent Parker thinking he was going to be your hero, and she probably turned around and told him Nick had you covered. And now you’re not telling Julian what really happened, so he’s feeling helpless to do anything about it.”
“Just because I ask for help doesn’t mean I want to be saved.”
She shrugged. “What can I say? Men are fragile. Give him some time. He’ll come around.” She pulled a half-pint of bourbon from the pocket of her robe and poured another finger of it into my hot chocolate before putting another splash in her own. “You think Feliks is going to hold up his end of the bargain?”
“I didn’t leave him much of a choice.”
“Assuming he takes the website down, what do we do next?”
“We have to find Theresa and Aimee before the police do.”
“You really think Aimee is FedUp?”
“She has to be. She has the means to hire someone like EasyClean, she hates Steven, and the timing of the ad makes sense—Steven had just dumped Theresa. Aimee’s best friend was alone behind bars, and she could more easily pin Carl’s murder on Steven if he wasn’t alive to defend himself.” If I was right and Aimee was FedUp, then finding her was the key to solving all our problems. We could recover my lost phone, get rid of our piece of Carl, and use what we knew about Aimee’s involvement in his murder to persuade her to contact EasyClean and call off the job. The plan would have been perfect, if I only knew where to start.
CHAPTER 34
I woke up early the next morning to find my van parked in my driveway and a message from Nick on my phone, letting me know he’d left the keys under the floor mat. I shuffled outside in my pajamas and slippers to grab them, waving to Officer Roddy’s daytime replacement before pulling the van into the garage and closing it inside.
As I was settling down at the kitchen table with my first cup of coffee, there was a hard knock on my front door. Peeking through the kitchen curtains, I spotted my sister’s car. I closed my eyes and uttered a swear. It had taken less than twenty-four hours for the gossip to find her. With a sigh, I flung open the door.
“Hey, Finn!” Georgia clapped my shoulder as she pushed her way inside. “Get the kids ready to go.”
“They’re already ready to go. Vero’s taking Delia to school.”
“She’s not going to school. I’ve got the next two days off. I’m taking the kids to my place.”