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All the way home, she’d continually rewound the evening back to the dark yard with the police lights strobing, people everywhere, and a dead body at her feet. The instant she’d stared at a stranger with fear and need only to see that same person turn and stroll into the darkness returned over and over.
How could he walk away? Just leave her there… suffering.
She remembered those seconds her heart had spiked with gladness when she’d thought she’d recognized him. The sudden overwhelming relief to think he’d help her. And the desolation when she’d realized she’d been wrong.
Reliving those earlier moments at his place, when she’d been the one to leave him, justification built and gave her strength. Rage followed, and her mind began constructing a wall filled with purpose to get over him… forget the prick.
He’s not the man she thought he was. Her idol would never have strolled off. Not like Luke… a liar and - and a-a coward. Hardening herself against coming up with excuses, she killed the dreams she’d begun weaving.
Recalling earlier how she’d skipped around the fancy kitchen to make her sweetheart some coffee only made her angrier.
Instead, she’d concentrate on how it had felt when she’d found his hoodie rolled in a ball and tossed carelessly into a corner. The hoodie of the man who’d rejected her in a moment when she’d needed him so much.
Reliving her reaction… how her stomach had hurt so bad, she’d doubled over with the truth screaming in her head, pounding at her awareness.
Honey, you’ve been played for a fool. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about you.
And so she’d left with a tiny shred of her dignity intact.
Christ, was there ever a more gullible fucking idiot than a woman who thought she’d found true love?
***
“I don’t understand.” Mel stared at Honey as if she’d lost her mind. “Why are you here, in your mom’s house? I recall a dear friend once saying it would be her last option before homelessness.”
“Granted, but I couldn’t stay where I was. I don’t want anything to do with that man ever again.”
Mel’s glistening blue eyes widened, giving her overly long eyelashes a slightly comic appearance. “What happened? Seriously, girl. I mean it. That man! What has he done to you? Do I need to buy a gun?”
Unintentionally, Honey chuckled. Mel could always sweeten her mood. “No. I don’t want either of us to get that close. He’s out of my life and good riddance.”
“Hold on there, cowboy. You can’t shut that door without telling me why I need to hate him too.”
In a few words, Honey explained how she’d seen a man who she thought was Luke the night before at the crime scene. And how he’d lied when she’d brought it up. “Mel, I believed him… took it for granted I’d been mistaken because that person had just walked away. Then, this morning, I’d decided to make Luke coffee and a snack and found the actual hoodie in Luke’s kitchen. The one I recognized the man wearing. It had been him.”
“What did he say when you accused him?”
“He didn’t deny it. How could he?”
“Okay, that’s nasty.”
Honey scoffed and added, “He’s nasty. I don’t ever want to see him again.”
“Easy, sugar, maybe you just need some time.”
“Don’t you sugar me. And I won’t change my mind. He’s my past and from now on I don’t want to hear his name.”
Mel put a few steps between them and used her hands as if to ward off an assailant. “Got it. No more about that Lucifer sneak. He’s the devil’s bastard. Let’s make a stuffed effigy, stick pins in it, and throw it in the river.”
Shaking her head at Mel’s silliness, she flopped onto a kitchen stool. “Don’t joke. What am I going to do with the rest of my summer?”
“I know you won’t go back to work at the restaurant with me but they’d sure be willing to have you occasionally for the catering gigs. We get a lot of those big weddings and house parties during the summer months.”
“You figure my old boss would have me back?”
“You know he would.”
“Okay, I’ll call him.”
