Suspects & Sorting by Nancy McGovern

Author:Nancy McGovern [McGovern, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: McGovern Books
Published: 2020-11-29T23:00:00+00:00

11

Joy gazed over the river and let her thoughts drift with the current. She absently snapped a twig into tiny pieces, tossed the crumbs on the ripple and watched them spread out and disappear.

What was her life coming to? She just landed in the biggest money pot of her life and she couldn’t be happy about it. This must be one of those double-bind situations told about in stories like The Monkey’s Paw where someone wins a huge inheritance but winds up losing everything they value in the process.

She lost her beloved Uncle Beppe. That was bad enough and now she lost the most promising romantic connection she’d found in years. The future looked pretty bleak from where she sat if it was going to continue on like this. She didn’t want Beppe’s money. She didn’t want a multimillion-dollar business raising valuable birds.

She wanted Beppe back. She wanted Roy back, too. That was the worst part. She wanted to go back in time to three days ago when the future looked bright and promising.

Just then, a crunch of footsteps startled her. She stiffened and someone sat down next to her. She caught a whiff of a scent: paint. Roy.

He propped his elbows on his knees and scanned the river. “I thought I’d find you out here.”

“What gave it away?” She shouldn’t talk to him. She should pretend he wasn’t here. That would be the smart, tough thing to do.

“You told me once that you used to come out here when you were a kid. You said this was the place where you did your best thinking. You said your family never knew about this place so you didn’t have to worry about them finding you here.”

Her heart clenched. He remembered. She didn’t remember telling him that until right now. She just threw it out for something to say and he remembered. He committed it to memory and now he pulled it out of the dusty attic of his mind. Now…when she really needed someone to come and find her.

No! She didn’t need someone and she definitely didn’t need him. She needed to be left alone, especially by guys like him who hid their pasts and their presents from the women they were supposed to care about.

“I owe you an explanation,” he went on. “I kept telling myself I would tell you the truth when we got into a more stable relationship. I told myself I would tell you everything once I was certain we were going to go the distance, but that was a mistake. I should have told you the truth from day one. I’m sorry about that. You’re upset right now and you suspect me of…well, I’m sure you suspect me of a lot of things and that’s my fault. I’m sorry. If you decide I don’t deserve your trust after this, I’ll accept that.”

“If I find out you had anything to do with Beppe’s death—”

“Of course, I didn’t,” he interrupted. “I give you my word of honor that I had nothing to do with it.

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