“Please, it’s not what you think. I swear.”
“I’m pretty sure it is what I think,” she tossed back at him, fury building inside her. Collin had never, ever lied to her before. Not about being late for a date and not when a girl from his study group tried to kiss him after he made sure she got safely to her car when they stayed at the library till two a.m. working on a project. But all that mattered now was that, when push came to shove and Collin had to choose between protecting his brother, who may have tried to kill her sister and her brother-in-law, and being her fiancé and calling the police—he didn’t pick her.
Then an even more disturbing thought hit Ellie. If Caleb had been here recently, if he was still actively bleeding and clearly severely injured, then where was he now? She gasped and backed up, bumping into Collin’s chest. His arms wrapped around her, normally comforting but at this moment feeling like a prison.
“L—I had to help him. He’s my brother. I thought you’d call your ‘friend’ Travis.” She ignored the obvious jealous undertones in his comment and peeled Collin’s arms off her, finding it hard to breathe, swearing she could smell the blood, remembering Amelia’s blood. Collin continued to justify and apologize, but his voice turned into a high-pitched squeal, the old-fashioned fluorescent lights flickering inside their off-colored plastic casing. “I’m sorry . . . but I had no other choice . . . You would’ve done the same thing . . .”
Ellie’s focus fell on the shower curtain. It was bloody, fingerprints up and down one side and a large stain in the corner.
She gave Collin a glare over her shoulder, grasped the edge of the curtain, and yanked hard.
CHAPTER 20
AMELIA
Monday, April 25
Two weeks earlier
“I think you’re a natural,” Randy said as he started the engine with a flick of his wrist.
“Well, I don’t know about that.” Amelia felt a hot blush across her cheekbones. “It was pretty fun, though.”
Her memory flashed back to the five houses they’d looked at with a nice young couple and their new baby. Each time Randy let her type in the code and pull the key out of the lockbox and then open the door for the couple. She liked walking through those houses, dropping into a polished moment in someone else’s life. Some of the houses were beautifully staged, furniture perfectly placed, polished from top to bottom. Others were not so perfect. One house in Fulton had three rooms lined with fish tanks with a green hue to the water and slow, miserable fish floating inside, barely alive.
This new idea of becoming a real estate agent was enticing. She loved working with people and the idea of bringing people into new homes. Then of course there was the money. She and Steve could always use the money.
“Listen, I know that you would be good at this. I really think that you could do very well as an agent. I wish you would consider studying for your license. That class I told you about, there are a few more days for you to enroll. Have you talked to Steve about it yet?”
Amelia had mentioned it to Steve and he’d been completely supportive, but that didn’t leave Amelia without concerns of her own.
She was already struggling to keep her head above water at home with Dad around and helping with the roofing business and driving the girls all over creation. How would she be able to manage ninety hours of coursework on top of it all?
Also, it would take several hundred dollars for the classes, not to mention all the other expenses of starting up with a broker. How, when they hardly had a penny to spare, could she take on an extra expense now, even one that could lead to a steady income in the future?
And then there was Randy. What was his deal? Why would someone she had known for a few weeks be so invested in her future? Steve always accused Amelia of being na?ve, but ever since dealing with Caleb’s increased interest, Amelia had started to wonder about Randy Mraz’s motivations.
Despite all these concerns, the day had been incredibly rewarding, and even though Amelia knew that there were more ups and downs and ins and outs to the business than she could’ve seen in one day, she knew that she’d probably be cool with those.
“Yeah, he’s fine with it, but to be honest, Randy . . .” She hesitated. “I just can’t afford it right now.”
Randy, dressed in his fancy three-piece gray suit and sapphire-blue tie, brown shoes, and belt that looked stylish rather than clashing, pressed on the gas pedal, and the engine revved nearly silently. His dark hair was combed in the intentionally sloppy mess he seemed to prefer, but his expression was different. His smile had been wiped away, and instead his lips thinned against each other like he was trying to keep himself from saying something he would regret.
“Hear me out, okay?” Randy glanced sideways at Amelia and then back at the road. She wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but just the idea of more pressure from another person in her life made Amelia flinch back and wish that she’d never agreed to explore this opportunity. The only thing harder than being pressured to do something you didn’t want to do was being pressured to do something you desperately wanted to do but couldn’t.
“Okay, but unless you have a leprechaun friend with a rainbow somewhere, I don’t think there’s much I can do.”
“Hey, I don’t think talking is a part of hearing me out,” Randy joked. Amelia ran a finger over her lips and pretended to lock them with a key. “That’s better. Okay, I have a deal for you. You clip coupons. You shop the ads. You like deals, right?” Amelia nodded and pointed to her lips like she still couldn’t talk after their previous agreement. “Ha. Right, okay. My deal is this . . . If the Krafts buy one of the houses you helped me show today, then I will give you half of my commission to help you get started as an agent. That should cover at least your tuition and your startup fees. And I’ll extend the deal further . . . If you come with me again and I make a sale, I’ll give you a percentage of that sale until you’ve made enough to get you up and running. I get a commission from the agency for bringing you in, especially if you are as good as I know you will be. What do you think about that?”
Amelia didn’t know what to say. How did someone she’d just met have more faith in her than her own husband? It reminded her of the way her relationship used to be with Caleb. He was her biggest fan and cheerleader. It was odd having that kind of support again but also flattering.
A little tickle at the back of her throat warned her that if she spoke too soon, there would be tears mingled with her words, and she didn’t want that, so instead, she pretended to unlock her lips, cough a few times, and then begin again.