“You’re all right, man. I give you my blessing. If you’re brave enough to get in my face, you’re brave enough to take her on.” He turned to Aubrey. “I’m going out. You be good.”
“Be careful,” she said, then surprised them both by grabbing him into a rough hug. They stood that way for a fraction of a second before he broke away. Without a word, he sauntered out of the kitchen, and Aubrey heard the front door close behind him. Just as quickly, it opened again. Tyler tossed a FedEx envelope inside the door, said, “You have a letter, Aubrey,” and closed it behind him.
“Sorry about that,” she said to Chase. “He’s always been overprotective.”
She picked up the envelope, saw the return address for the insurance company, and set it on the table. She knew what it contained. Notification of the pending bank transfer. Tomorrow was Friday. Aubrey was about to become a very wealthy woman.
Chase seemed oblivious to her reaction. “Glad we have his approval.” He reached for her, kissed her deeply. Murmured in her ear, “Let’s go upstairs.”
Aubrey was tempted, so tempted, but she needed to talk to him, to tell him everything. He had to know what was happening, especially if the police were going to get involved.
She’d been so cool and collected before he showed up, but now, with him here, she was conflicted. All of her feelings were jumbled up inside, a massive ball of knotted yarn. For the first time since she was eight, she didn’t know what she wanted.
“We need to talk first.”
She led him to the living room. The plaster on the front wall was cracked from the accident—that was going to cost a mint to fix. But that didn’t matter right now.
They sat, and she kept a small bit of distance between them. It seemed safer that way.
“What’s wrong, Aubrey?”
She met his eyes. “It’s about Josh.”
“Ah.” He sat back on the couch, crossed his legs. “I was worried about that.”
“Worried about what?”
Chase’s face was soft with kindness, gentleness. “Aubrey. You’ve gone through so much. His disappearance, being a suspect in his murder. Now his death declaration. I know you must be grieving. Is it too soon for us? Did Daisy’s accident just bring it all back for you?”
That and the five million dollars about to be sitting in my bank account and Derek Allen and, and, and . . .
“I wish it were that simple, Chase. I met you, and I threw caution to the wind, and now everything has changed. There have been . . . developments this week. We may have an idea what happened to Josh. He was involved in something. Something bad.”
“I know.”
Aubrey sat up straighter on the couch. “Excuse me?”
Chase suddenly looked miserable. He took her hand, but she snatched it back. He sighed. “I need to say something before I tell you the whole story.”
Aubrey’s voice was tight. “What are you talking about?”
“You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever known. I . . . I came to Nashville looking for a story, and instead, I found you. That’s why I want to tell you the truth. The whole truth. But some of what I say is going to upset you.”
“A story?” Aubrey jerked her hand away. “What do you mean, a story?”
Chase took a deep breath. “I was doing a story on Josh for the paper. A missing-person exposé. That’s why I was here last week. To flesh out the story. To hopefully meet you and interview you to find out more about him.”
Aubrey whirled from the sofa. Winston jumped to her side with a woof. She touched his back to stop herself from lashing out at Chase, from scraping her nails down his face. “You knew? You knew Josh was my husband? You knew what happened? What I was put through?”
“Yes, but—”
“You’ve been using me this entire time.” The fury finally lit, and she almost didn’t recognize the hatred in her voice. “I’m just a part of the story, aren’t I? God, how could I have been so stupid as to trust you?”
Chase was shaking his head vehemently. “It’s not like that. Don’t be crazy.”
She must have flinched involuntarily because he reached for her hand immediately. She ripped it out of his grasp.
Calm, Aubrey. Calm yourself. Don’t do anything you’ll regret.
“Oh, babe, I’m sorry, I don’t mean that you’re crazy. Just that the idea of me using you . . . Okay. Please, hear me out. We can’t move forward if I’m anything less than honest with you.”
“We can’t move forward at all. Get out.”