Web of Smoke by Erin Quinn

Author:Erin Quinn [Erin Quinn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Books We Love Ltd.
Published: 2012-01-23T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Once Sam got an idea in his head, Christie knew nothing short of surgery would remove it. As soon as they’d arrived back at his house, he’d raced through a quick inspection of the rooms before going straight to the telephone to call his friend about running the title search on the La Jolla house.

“He says he can start right away,” Sam told Christie after he hung up. “I’m going to meet him at his office right now. Are you sure you want to stay here?”

“I need some time alone anyway. Go. I’ll see you when you get back.”

After the familiar hum of the Jeep’s engine faded, Christie wandered upstairs into Sam’s room. The bed beckoned to her but she shied away from it. Trailing her fingers across the top of Sam’s dresser, she lifted his cologne bottle and sniffed the fragrance. For a long time, she stood there with the bottle in her hand, thinking of Sam and her brief marriage to him.

She still loved him. No amount of hiding behind her anger or pretending her emotions were safely guarded by a protective wall could change that fact.

She loved Sam. But she didn’t trust him.

How could she? The real question though, was did she love him enough to take him on faith? The answer eluded her. The hopelessness of not knowing brought tears to her eyes. She blinked them back, but more took their place. Soon they raced down her cheeks unheeded. Good grief, she was a mess.

Setting his cologne back on the dresser, she peeled off her clothes and took the shower Sam had recommended, hoping to lather some judgment into her life, to wash away the pointlessness. Under the cool spray, she cried some more, thinking of her mother. Her marriage. DC.

Now that she’d started to cry, she feared she’d never be able to stop. It was all too much, happening too fast.

No wonder Sam had been so ready to escape to his friend’s office. He’d never been good at dealing with the feelings that drove her emotions.

Once, she’d heard that amnesia victims blanked their minds and retreated behind forgetfulness until they were equipped to deal with the traumas they’d chosen not to remember. Apparently, the same was not true for victims of denial. The problems and hurts that Christie had suppressed four months ago were all still as painful today as they had been then. She’d only managed to store them, and she was as unprepared now as ever to handle her mother’s death or Sam’s infidelity.

How could she contend with all the memories and DC Porter, too?

Wiping the moisture from the mirror, she stared at herself, dismayed by the image that stared back. Her eyes seemed to have lost their sparkle and her cheeks appeared sunken. Turning her back on her reflection, she dressed in shorts and a tank top and went downstairs to wait for Sam to return.

Bear and Snort followed her like sympathetic shadows, reminding her of their missing companion, Barney, and that brought a fresh wave of tears.

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