When We Were Friends by Nancy Yeager

Author:Nancy Yeager
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: women's fiction, friendship, amends
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing
Published: 2022-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Two hours later, soaked to the skin, trembling with fear, Frannie stood on Lexi’s front porch and stared at her friend.

“What am I going to do?” she asked Lexi. “I was going to give that money back to Jack Greene to get him out of our lives. But someone took it. Maybe Greene himself. If he already has it, if he found it in that chimney, he must realize you put it there.” Which meant he had proof Lexi was Frannie’s partner in crime. The same panic that had gripped her hours earlier when the walls of the chimney had been closing in on her now returned.

“He has it,” Lexi whispered.

“Maybe.”

Lexi looked terrified, which made Frannie feel like crap. She took her friend’s warm hand in her ice-cold one. “Let’s not panic, Lex. We don’t know for sure who took it.”

“We do. I do.” Lexi met her gaze. “I know Jack Greene has the money because I sent it back to him.”

“You... Are you crazy? Then he knows you’re involved and—”

Lexi shook her head. “I did it anonymously, through someone else.”

Black spots collected at the edge of Frannie’s vision. “Seth?”

“No. Oh, Frannie, no. Seth wasn’t even in the country then. And I didn’t tell Rob about it at first.” Lexi threw her arm around Frannie’s shoulders and pulled her through the front door. “You’re shaking so hard. Let’s get you inside and dried off. You can borrow some of my clothes.”

Frannie’s instinct was to break free and run off into the night. But she was exhausted, numb, and out of ideas. Her best friend—her ex-best friend—had lied to her, had been lying to her since the first time they had talked after Frannie had been released on parole. And she had augmented the lie, used it to lure Frannie to this Podunk town and into her happy little family. And Frannie had fallen for it because she was pathetic. Because somewhere, deep down and buried until this minute, Frannie had wanted a best friend again.

The shock of betrayal wore off, but another one replaced it. Greene already had his money back. Which meant he was only coming for vengeance, this time against the one who hadn’t paid for crossing him. This was all about coming for Lexi. And Frannie had no leverage to use against him.

“Please.” Lexi pulled Frannie’s hand. “Come inside. You’re ice cold.”

Rob was waiting inside the front door. Frannie must have looked worse than she realized because he strode across the living room and pulled a blanket off the sofa then returned and threw it around her shoulders. “I’ll check on Bettina and Max in her room.”

Frannie must look bad enough to scare small children and skittish pets.

He left just as Seth entered from the kitchen. Seth’s wide smile disappeared the second he saw her. “Jesus, Frannie, what happened?”

He held her, and without even thinking about it, she pressed against him. He wasn’t part of it, part of Lexi’s lie, part of this whole mess. She needed so badly to trust someone.

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