Marty snorted. “I hope not.”

  “Hey!”

  He grinned, which lifted her heart. She certainly didn’t want to jinx things, but her life didn’t totally suck anymore. It wasn’t the same, may very well never be the same as it had once been, but she couldn’t deny that it felt good to have purpose and to have some budding friendships.

  “If Lottie hires you and if you want to arrange it so that you work both places for a while, you can continue to use my car for however long you need to.”

  He didn’t immediately respond, instead taking a few moments to swallow a bite of his sandwich then wipe his mouth with a napkin.

  “Why are you so nice to me?” he asked.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  He shrugged.

  She reached over and squeezed his hand until he looked at her. Taking a chance, she said, “I’m sorry if someone hurt you. I know how awful that is.”

  “You do?”

  She nodded. “And it’s worse when it’s family.”

  Jane and Angelica weren’t really her family, but the betrayal had been devastating nonetheless.

  Melody didn’t expect him to spill his entire backstory, and he didn’t. But she’d opened the doorway in case he ever wanted to walk through. They ate the rest of their lunch standing in his kitchen in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. By the time she finished eating, the rain had slackened to a drizzle. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and detached her apartment key from the ring before extending the car keys to Marty.

  “Lottie is over at the store if you want to go talk to her about the job.”

  He hesitated for only a moment before accepting the keys. “Thanks.”

  They both exited his apartment. As she stopped at her door, she glanced to where Marty was at the top of the stairs.

  “Hey,” she said, drawing his attention. “I know you might never want to and I totally understand if you don’t, but if you ever want to talk you know where I am.”

  He stared at her for a long moment before nodding then hurrying down the stairs.

  She might not be able to talk about her past, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t lend an ear if someone else needed to vent about theirs. As she watched Marty run to her car, she smiled. She’d never had siblings of her own, but thought maybe what she was beginning to feel for Marty was how she would have wanted to protect a younger brother.

  Another little part of her heart that had been damaged by her losses lightened. It made her wonder how much her heart might change if she could say yes to exploring something more with Justin.

  Chapter Nine

  Melody had just finished looking over the text and web graphics announcing the Peak View Old-Fashioned Christmas for the resort’s website when Colleen walked into the conference room.

  “Oh, hey,” Colleen said. “I thought Justin was in here.”

  Melody gestured down the hall. “He’s been closed up in his office.”

  She tried not to assume it might be because of some lingering feeling of being uncomfortable around her, but she couldn’t keep the thought from poking at her brain.

  A look of concern came over Colleen’s face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Colleen glanced at Melody, then toward Justin’s closed door, then back at Melody before she walked all the way into the conference room and slipped into the chair across from her.

  “Has he said anything about his dad?”

  “Like what?”

  Colleen sat back in her chair. “I don’t know exactly, but there has been definite tension between them lately. Since Annette died, things just haven’t been the same. Sometimes things seem fine between them. Other times, not so much.”

  “Grief takes a while to navigate.” Had something happened between Justin and his dad? Was that the reason he was holed up in his office?

  “True, but the change is just so drastic. Before, the McQueens were so close, like a family right out of a feel-good movie. But since Annette’s been gone, it’s not just that they’ve been grieving. Sometimes it feels as if they’ve drifted apart so much that they’re not even a family anymore. At least not compared to how close they used to be. It’s so sad.”

  Melody didn’t know how to respond. Honestly, she was surprised Colleen was sharing so much with her.

  “Maybe they just need more time.” Though even as she said it, her gut told her that Justin and his father likely needed more than time to heal the rift between them.

  Justin hadn’t shared any details with her, but she’d picked up enough clues to figure out that something was going on besides normal grief, something that had father and son at odds. After seeing Mr. McQueen’s bloodshot eyes, she had a feeling she knew what that something was. But she couldn’t do anything about it because she wasn’t certain and it definitely wasn’t her place. She’d escaped being fired for rebuffing Justin’s advance, but she didn’t know if she’d be so lucky if she stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.

  “Maybe.” Colleen didn’t sound convinced.

  Discomfort wound its way through Melody. She didn’t like speculating about people’s sorrow behind their backs, no matter how well-meaning. It felt too much like when her days of mourning had to be endured in the public eye, knowing that people she knew and even strangers were speculating about what had really happened within her family.

  “You okay?”

  Melody met Colleen’s gaze. “Um, yeah.”

  “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’ve just known Justin and his family for several years, and I wish I could make things better.”

  Melody suddenly wondered if Colleen actually felt more than friendship toward Justin, even though she’d given no indication of that before—at least not in Melody’s presence. Irrational jealousy welled up within her, and she fought to not let it show.

  “That’s understandable. It’s hard to see people you care about going through tough times.”

  Colleen nodded her agreement.

  “Is there something I could help you with?” Melody asked, wanting to steer the conversation to a less disturbing subject.

  “I was just going to ask Justin if he had any special requests for the appetizers at the holiday ball.”

  Melody felt the area between her eyes scrunch. “Holiday ball? That’s not something on the Christmas events calendar.”

  “Oh, it’s not part of that. It’s a special invitation-only party the McQueens host every year early in December. Swanky affair for business associates, politicians, a variety of bigwigs.”

  In other words, the kind of holiday party Redmond Pharmaceuticals hosted each year. When her father had run the company, the guest list had been filled with philanthropists from Atlanta’s elite. Now she had no doubt that the attendees were bottom feeders and those who lived lavishly at the expense of others with perhaps a few actual criminals thrown in.

  Melody remembered the feeling of disbelief when she’d been told during the lead-up to Jane’s trial about the Stenovias’ ties to Ukrainian organized crime. It had felt as if every time she blinked her eyes the nightmare just kept replicating itself. The threat grew well beyond two people wanting revenge on her. Investigators had a collective gut feeling a lot more was going on, but the process of finding evidence to prove it seemed to progress at a glacial pace.

  Justin’s door opened across the hallway, startling Melody. When she made momentary eye contact with him, a wave of guilt washed over her. She averted her gaze and noticed it was time for her to switch gears from event planner to housekeeper. As Colleen stood to speak to Justin, Melody quickly closed her laptop and headed for the door.

  “See you tomorrow,” she said without even pausing.

  She half expected Justin to come find her and ask about her abrupt exit, but as her shift wore on she didn’t see him. By the time she made it to the executive wing, all the offices were empty, including Justin’s. As she flicked on the light and rolled in the vacuum cleaner, she couldn’t decide if she was glad he was gone or disappointed. No matter how many times she told herself she’d done the right thing by declining his offer to go out, she couldn’t stop thinking about it, second-guessing her answer. What if the authorities never found enough to bring down Angelica and everyone tied to her, making it safe for Melody to return home?

  By saying no to Justin she was protecting not only herself but also him, but that didn’t erase how much she wished she could have accepted. The more time she spent with him, the more she liked him. The more attraction she felt toward him. If she was being honest, she’d had more than one fantasy involving the two of them and that conference table. Her cheeks heated at the thought.

  After she finished vacuuming the office and emptying the trash, she noticed the framed photo sitting on his desk and picked it up. She’d seen it before, but she’d never examined it closely. In it, Justin, his brothers, their dad and another guy were dressed in fly fishing gear and standing next to a river she recognized as the Yellowstone. She guessed the guy she didn’t recognize was the cousin who was the outfitter. What was most striking about the photo other than how incredibly sexy Justin looked was how everyone was smiling. This must have been before Mrs. McQueen passed, and she could see what Colleen meant about the family being close. That closeness was captured in the moment staring up at her.

  Somewhere nearby she heard a door close, so she placed the photo back on Justin’s desk and hurried out of the office. As she finished up her duties, her thoughts drifted to the holiday ball Colleen had mentioned. She imagined Justin there dressed in a tux as he guided a beautiful woman across the dance floor. There was no denying she wished that woman could be her, but that didn’t seem very realistic.

  As she clocked out for the night and stepped outside, a light mist was falling and she shivered. It was weird to smell winter on the air in October, but subtract a few degrees and the mist could turn to snow. Shoving her hands into her pockets, she hurried for her car, thankful she didn’t have to wait for Marty to pick her up since Lottie had hired him on the spot and for enough hours that he was able to quit his job in Livingston.

  She was happy for him and hoped the change was the beginning of lots of good things coming his way. If she still had access to the kind of money she used to, she’d be tempted to fill his apartment with new furniture while he was at work, replace the gaming system and games he liked so much. She hated that simply getting by had required him giving up the one thing that he really enjoyed.

  Intense anger swamped her. Why did good people have to scrape by while leeches and criminals lived like royalty? Oddly, her thoughts shifted to Jessie’s superheroine-themed birthday party. She decided if she could have any superpower, it would be to ensure that the world was fair.

  When she reached the highway, she waited until a vehicle passed before pulling out. She fiddled with her radio in a vain attempt to find some bearable music to try to take her mind off of her whirling thoughts. Her attention had been on the radio only briefly, but when she looked up it was just in time to see the truck in front of her veer to the side as if trying to avoid hitting an animal. Melody braked, not wanting to crash into a mule deer or something even larger. She gasped as she saw the truck’s driver overcorrect and go off the road, coming to an abrupt stop when the front hit the embankment.

  “Oh, no.” She steered to the side of the road and hurriedly put her car in park with the headlights illuminating the crashed truck. She turned on her hazard lights before rushing toward the truck, hoping the driver wasn’t seriously injured.

  She slid and almost fell down the rain-slicked bank as she made her way to the driver’s door. But it opened before she got there and out climbed Tom McQueen, and she didn’t need a Breathalyzer to tell her he’d been drinking.

  “You’re drunk.” Her words came out angry because, damn it, she was angry. She understood grief and the need to escape from it, but putting himself and others in danger was a selfish, irresponsible way to deal.

  “I’m fine,” he said, but his slurring belied his assertion.

  “You’re not.” She grabbed his arm and tugged him up the embankment, then pointed at her car. “Get in.”

  He opened his mouth as if he was about to argue.

  “Do it,” she said in her most authoritative voice, and to her surprise he did as she commanded.

  She didn’t immediately follow. Instead, she stood in the cold mist and considered her options. Common sense said she should call the sheriff’s department and report him, but she thought of how a DUI arrest would hurt the McQueens even more. Hurt Justin when it was obvious he’d been concerned about his father. Maybe there was another way to handle this. Hoping she wasn’t making a huge mistake, she walked back to the car and got in.

  “Are you calling the sheriff?” Mr. McQueen asked as soon as she shut her door.

  She didn’t answer at first, letting him sweat it a bit. “I should. I still might. You could have killed someone, including yourself.”

  He didn’t respond, whether because his brain was too fogged or he was embarrassed she couldn’t tell.

  Without saying anything else, she put the car in gear and pulled onto the highway. Mr. McQueen didn’t even seem to notice when she passed the turn that would go to his house. He needed his own bed and several hours to sober up, but she thought she’d pour a pot of coffee down him instead despite that whole drinking coffee to get sober thing being a myth. But it felt proactive, and maybe it would at least get the sobering process started. And to be honest she could use some herself to warm up. The combination of standing in the rain, witnessing an accident and her anger that he’d done something so foolish had her feeling all jittery inside.

  She forced herself to take slow, calming breaths for the duration of the drive to her apartment. Whether it was because of his level of inebriation or just that he didn’t care, he didn’t object when she parked in front of her building, nor when she came around to his side to open the door and escort him inside. She was halfway up the stairs when it occurred to her that this situation could look bad, her escorting Mr. McQueen into her apartment. Hopefully the weather would obscure his identity, perhaps even keep people from looking outside in the first place.

  But the thought of gossipy whispers urged her to pick up their pace. Once inside, she guided him to the couch and made sure he was settled there before she walked straight to her coffeemaker and set a pot to brewing. She didn’t speak to him, didn’t even look at him, until she had a steaming cup of black coffee to put into his hands.

  “Drink this,” she said as she sat on her coffee table facing him, wishing coffee really did sober people up quickly. She hated the idea of Justin seeing him like this.

  He didn’t argue, but she noticed he looked sad and several years older than normal as he brought the cup slowly to his lips.

  She didn’t know what the best tactic was to get through to him, so she chose to jump in feet first.

  “You know it’s illegal to drive drunk, right? Not to mention how much danger you put yourself and other people in.”

  For a couple of long seconds, he simply stared into the dark liquid in his cup as if it would provide not only the answer to her question but the answers to the mysteries of the universe as well.

  “I know,” he finally said, his response slightly slurred.

  “Yet you did it anyway. And I’m guessing it wasn’t the first time.”

  Instead of responding, he took another long drink of his coffee.

  “It was stupid,” she said, her anger at his carelessness building instead of lessening.

  “You don’t have to tell me that.” The irritation in his voice turned up the fire under her anger.

  “Are you sure about that? Because you did it despite knowing it was stupid. And dangerous. And irresponsible.”

  He held up a work-roughened hand, wincing as if the sound of her voice was causing him physical pain. Maybe it was, and she was okay with that.

  “Just stop,” he said.

  She pressed her lips together and waited to see if he’d say anything else. When he didn’t, she decided to push a bit more. Sometimes it took an outsider, a virtual stranger to make people see the truth, really see it.

  “If this is your way of dealing with your grief, ask yourself this—what would your wife say if she could see you now?”

  That got a reaction. He lifted his gaze to hers and it was not friendly. In fact, she was glad firing lightning bolts from one’s eyes wasn’t within the realm of possibility.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Your specific situation, no. But you’re not the first person to lose someone.”

  “You can’t understand.” His words came out like the snap of a whip, accusatory. Which pissed her off.

  “I’ve lost my entire family. Everyone.” The lump in her throat formed with a sudden, painful jaggedness. “No, I didn’t lose a spouse, but I have no one with whom to share my grief. You do. And it’s mighty damn selfish of you to put yourself at risk. You have three sons who love you, who are worried about you, and I can tell you it’s a horrible, dark, empty feeling to lose both parents, to be an orphan even if you are an adult.”

  The anger in his eyes softened, and his tense posture relaxed back into her couch. Whether it was the coffee or her words or simply the time elapsed since he’d last consumed alcohol making him see a bit more clearly, she didn’t care. The truth of what he’d risked by climbing behind the wheel of a vehicle seemed to be seeping through the cracks into his brain.

  “I’m sorry about your parents.” It might be wishful thinking, but she thought his response held less of a slur.

  “And I’m sorry about your wife. I’ve heard nothing but good things about her.”

  A slight smile tinged with sadness tugged at the corners of his mouth. “She was the best woman to ever walk this earth.”

  Melody didn’t think she’d ever heard a more romantic, love-filled sentence in her life, and her heart broke that a woman loved so much had been taken too soon. That her loss had caused this man to fall apart.

 

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