“What in the world would he be hidin’?” she asked in surprise.
“I don’t know, but it just seems odd that he’d suddenly hate you. What if he has ties to the criminal world?”
“Mike?” she asked in disbelief, then vigorously shook her head. “No way. He’s as straight as they come.”
Only there was a thread of doubt in her voice, and I knew why. “Not so straight a few years ago when he bribed an inspector.”
“What are you sayin’?”
“What if it wasn’t a one-time thing? What if someone else besides J.R. Simmons knows?”
She stared at me with wide eyes, but my phone rang before she could talk, and a surge of adrenaline blocked out her words. I checked the screen, not sure whether to be relieved when I saw Jed’s name.
“I have to get this,” I murmured, trying to catch my breath.
Rose had noticed my reaction and was watching me with concern. “Of course.”
“Hey, Jed,” I said as I answered. “I’m at lunch with Rose.”
“Call me when you get free.”
I lowered my gaze to my plate, worried Rose had already picked up on my fear. “That bad, huh?”
“It’s gonna be okay, NK.”
I wished I could believe that.
Chapter 4
“Is everything all right?” Rose asked when I hung up.
“Yeah.” My heart ached, but I wasn’t ready. Not yet. “I’ll tell you everything soon,” I said. “I promise.”
She held my gaze, her eyes full of love and understanding. “You tell me when you’re ready. I just hate not bein’ able to help. I know that was Jed. He’s still there for you?”
“Yeah.” But for how much longer?
“As long as you have someone there supportin’ you, I’m good, but just know I won’t judge you, Neely Kate. I’ll love you no matter what you’re hidin’.”
“I know. And that’s why I’m closer to tellin’ you.”
She nodded.
We finished our lunch and then walked outside, stopping in front of her truck.
“Is your car still doin’ okay?” she asked.
“So far. Knock on wood,” I said, rapping on the siding of the building.
Before I knew what she was doing, she pulled me into a tight hug. “I don’t know if I tell you enough how much I love and appreciate you.”
I squeezed her back. “I could say the same.”
She leaned back, staring into my eyes. “I miss you.”
“I’m right here.”
“You’re here, but there’s still something between us. Hurry up and fix what you need to fix so you can come back to me.”
I bit my lower lip to keep myself from blurting out everything. This wasn’t the time. And it certainly wasn’t the place.
“Do you want to ride to the etiquette class together?” I asked.
Her face flushed. “Since we don’t know how long it’s gonna last, would you mind if we go in separate cars?” Then she quickly added, “Are you sure your car’s doin’ okay?”
“My car is fine, and I don’t mind.”
“But I’ll need to leave Muffy with you again,” she said, sounding guilty. “I left her with you last night.”
“I was alone last night, so I loved havin’ her with me. And I’ll be alone tonight too, so no worries.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Jed hasn’t been stayin’ with you?”
“Like I said, he’s been keepin’ busy.”
She looked even more concerned. “You’re sure everything is okay?”
“Of course,” I lied. “I’ll meet you at home later.”
I got back in my car and waved as I turned over the engine. Somehow I managed to fake a smile, but the look on Rose’s face told me she wasn’t buying it. As soon as I pulled out, I quickly called Jed.
“What did you find out?”
“The number belongs to a private detective agency in Dallas.”
I forced myself to take a deep breath. “They got my name from Kate.”
“Not necessarily,” he said calmly. “I think he’s just fishin’.”
“Should I call him back?”
“No. I want to go to Little Rock. Can you get away this afternoon?”
I glanced at the clock on my dashboard, which surprisingly still worked. It was barely past twelve thirty. I had a two o’clock appointment, but the homeowner had been flexible. I was sure I could reschedule. With a four-hour round trip, it was possible. “I have to be back in Henryetta by seven for my class.”
“We can be back by then. Where do you want me to pick you up?”
“The farmhouse.”
“See you there.”
I hung up and then decided to call Rose. Maybe I could ease my way into the truth, acclimating myself to it like it was ice-cold water, rather than jumping in.
“Miss me already?” she teased.
“Yeah,” I said with a nervous laugh. “I just wanted you to know that Jed and I are makin’ a quick run to Little Rock.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back in time for the etiquette class,” I said. “We won’t be up there more than an hour.”
“You’re gonna see Kate, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said softly.
“Does Joe know?”
“No.”
“Maybe you should tell him.”
I dreaded that more than I dreaded telling Rose, but the way things seemed to be spiraling out of control, I suspected I would have to come clean sooner rather than later. I needed to tell him before I ended up arrested or dead. What would my sheriff deputy brother think about what I’d done? “I will, just not yet.”
“I’m gonna trust you on this, Neely Kate.”
“Thanks. I mean it, Rose. I’m close to tellin’ both y’all. Just not yet.”
“I hope you get the answers you need,” Rose said. “Be safe.”
Jed pulled into the hospital parking lot shortly before three. As he shifted the car into park, my stomach tightened into a painful ball. Jed had seemed distracted the whole drive and took a couple of phone calls that he tried hard to hide from me by using one-word answers—yes, no, uh-huh. Part of me wanted to tell him if he was planning to break up with me, to do it now instead of waiting for tomorrow night, but I was too chicken to do it. I’d fallen in love with Jed Carlisle and I didn’t want to face the idea of cutting him out of my life. I needed time to come to terms with the possibility.
“I know these appointments keep getting harder and harder,” Jed said, leaving the car running.
Appointments. That was a funny way of putting it, but he was right about them getting harder. Kate had lured me into our visits by saying she knew the secrets of my past and that she had information about my mother, who’d abandoned me at my granny’s house when I was twelve. At each appointment, she dangled vague information, but she spent most of the time messing with my head or trying to seduce Jed.
Jed took my hand. “You can do this.”
I gave a quick nod and snatched my hand from his warm grasp. Not looking at him, I opened the car door. We were wasting time.
I was already halfway across the parking lot when he caught up to me, but he didn’t say a word as he opened the door to the hospital. Just watched me walk inside, then followed me to the elevator.
The silence sat between us as we rode up to the psych inpatient floor, and it followed us to the back entrance to the ward. The reason we were able to visit like this, off the books, was because Skeeter Malcolm had been keeping an eye on Kate too. I wasn’t the only one who thought she might know something. My first visit here had been at Skeeter’s bidding. Kate had started sending me letters alluding to my secrets and, swallowing my pride, I’d asked him what he knew about her. He’d insisted I visit her and bring Jed with me. Something to do with his own interests. And so our “appointments” had begun. Skeeter had a nurse on his payroll who let us in the backdoor and kept us off the log books. I’d been grateful for that, thinking I could keep the visits from Joe, only he’d found out anyway a couple of weeks ago. I suspected Kate had told him just to mess with me.
Jed sent a text, and less than thirty seconds later, the nurse, Candice, let us in.
“You were just here on Sunday,” she said. “This is unusual.”
Jed usually made small talk with her, presumably to keep on her good side, but today he remained silent. She quickly picked up that he wasn’t going to answer.