Let Me Love You Again (An Echoes of the Heart Novel Book 2) (14 page)

“’Bout done with that plan?” another deputy asked Brad as Oliver approached Brad’s desk. “After you sell Willis on it, I want first dibs on some of the action.”

The working end of the Chandlerville Sheriff’s Department looked pretty much like it had the last time Oliver had been there. The night he’d been hauled in for DUI by an officer who’d known Joe for years. Oliver had been sober enough by that point, after the single-car wreck that had somehow managed to leave him with only a busted lip, to nearly wet his pants in fear when the guy had dumped him into a cell out back. Since no one else had
been hurt, the officer had sprung Oliver the next morning, into Joe’s custody, without filing formal charges—saying if he ever saw Oliver in the precinct again, he’d throw the book at him.

The deputies’ work area was small. Utilitarian. Dated in an outgrowing-itself way that begged for someone to put it out of its misery. Five desks dominated a space barely big enough for four. A couple of them were two-sided, with chairs and computer monitors facing off across the two halves. Brad was working at a keyboard on a half desk covered in printouts and books and what looked like enough research to feed a college-level term paper. He had a spreadsheet open on his monitor.

“Oliver?” He set aside the notebook he’d been balancing in his lap while he typed. He stood and reached out his hand, making Oliver the asshole if he didn’t reciprocate. “It’s good to see you again. I wasn’t sure, after yesterday . . .” He glanced at the officer beside him. “After Joe’s procedure last night, I wasn’t sure when we’d get another chance to talk.”

Oliver shook Brad’s hand, marginally less inclined to deck the guy this morning.

“You remember Lee Bennett?” Brad asked.

The other officer offered his hand next. “Oliver Bowman?”

“Lee.” Oliver shook. Football. Cornerback. That explained the man’s size. “Sure. You were a year behind us at Chandler.”

The hulk of a man smiled good-naturedly. “Close enough to know exactly who you were when I saw a strange truck in the Dixons’ drive at the butt crack of dawn yesterday and ran the plates.”

Brad slanted Lee a quizzical look. “You’re casing the Dixon house?”

“Keeping an eye on the place. Sheriff’s orders.” Lee hooked his thumbs into the belt loops of his uniform pants. “Now that we know you’ve got someone there round the clock, we’ll leave off.
Unless you two are still plannin’ to slug it out like some folks thought you might at the hospital. The guys are taking bets already. You know . . . who’ll be left standin’ when the dust settles.” Lee laughed. “My money’s on Travis and Marsha Dixon, after the two of them wade in to settle you down.”

“I think Oliver and I can handle things on our own.”

Lee glanced a not-so-subtle warning toward Oliver.

“We’ll keep the bloodshed to a minimum.” Oliver checked his watch.

Dru had Teddy at her place—she’d begged off at the Whip for the entire day, leaving an assistant manager in charge after spending the night at the hospital with Travis and Marsha, waiting for news on Joe’s angio. Then waiting for him to wake up from the anesthesia. She’d shown up at the house several hours ago, dragging ass but ready to show Oliver the basics of getting the kids off to school, so tomorrow he could take over on his own.

His sister needed a break this afternoon, not more trouble. And there Oliver was, about to pretty much make that impossible.

“I come in peace,” he assured Lee. “I need to speak to my future brother-in-law.”

After a nod from Brad, Lee gestured toward the hallway leading to the holding cells. “Gonna grab a soda. Want anything?”

Oliver and Brad shook their heads.

Oliver watched Lee’s retreat, reconciling the guy, one of their high school drinking buddies, with the responsible keeper of the peace he’d become. Finally alone with Brad in the empty squad room, he grappled to meld another night of no sleep with his determination not to
F
this up.

“Where’s everyone else?” he asked.

He’d seen only the female officer at the front desk who’d waved
him back. The squad room was too quiet. Creepy. It smelled the same. God, it
felt
the same. Like it was still seven years ago.

Brad leaned back in his chair. “Folks filter through before or after patrol. We have a couple of warrants being served today. There’s an in-school field trip at Chandler Middle School. A
policemen are your friends
community outreach thing. The sheriff is there. I’m covering Travis’s shift, so he’s free to hang with your parents this morning and be at their place later if you need help with the afternoon stuff. Dru’s pretty wiped.”

“She’s been a trouper. I’ll let everyone get back to their lives tomorrow. My brother and sister seem to think the kids are going to scare me away.”

“Hell.” Brad laughed. “They scare me every day I go over there.”

“It’s a little . . . much. But I’ll rally.”

Actually, Oliver hadn’t made a dent in the inbox full of e-mails he needed to deal with. He’d been up and down with Teddy most of the night. The baby was teething, Dru had explained—which evidently meant the kid was suffering 24-7, so everyone around him should be, too. And while Oliver had been trying to console an inconsolable toddler, his mind had refused to latch on to anything but getting his ass over here this morning—and then to the Rosenthal house, once Selena was home from work.

“You got a few minutes to talk?” he asked.

“I have a proposal to finish for Chris,” Brad said, “but it’ll keep.”

“Chris?”

“Chris Willis. The new sheriff. Took over for Ben Higgins five years ago or so. He’s a good guy. You’d like him.”

“Yeah.” Oliver had never been a law-enforcement-liking kind of guy. “Listen, I’m really sorry to be doing this, but . . .”

He crossed his arms, more pissed again than sorry suddenly.

Brad stood and mirrored his stance. “Sorry about me and Dru?”

“Jury’s still out. But I got to talk with her some yesterday. She seems happy. You must be doing something right.”

“Not everything yet, but we’ll work the rest out. It’s only been a few months. It was pretty rough at first.”

“Still, you’re already engaged.”

“Extreme circumstances. But you have to know, man. It’s what I’ve wanted for years. Pretty much since things went to hell and I left and my grandmother took Dru in.”

“After you blew it with Selena, me, and Dru, all in one night?”

Brad inhaled. “Your sister and family are over it. It’ll make things a hell of a lot easier for everyone if you could be, too. Maybe it would be gratifying to lose control and blow off steam like the old days. If that’s what you’re here to do, I’m happy to oblige. By my recollection, I owe you a beat down. But pounding on each other’ll just hurt people we both care about. And it’s not the same thing as dealing with the problem.”

“The problem being Selena?”

“We’re all in one place again. It’s a small town.”

“And she’s living next door to the family you’re signing up to be a part of whenever you and Dru make it legal.”

“This fall. We were thinking later this fall, when the leaves turn. We met again just before Thanksgiving last year. But we might move things up now. Dru wants to be sure . . .”

“That Joe’s there.”

Brad stared at the toes of his polished work shoes. The guy actually polished his shoes. Which meant Travis must, too. And Oliver had a personal tailor for the suits he wore for top-shelf clients.

The Three Musketeers had gone legit.

Brad’s expression oozed regret. “Damn, we were a mess back then. The three of us.”

“Four. Don’t forget my brother. And while we’re on the subject, how exactly did you and Travis end up as cops, working for the Chandlerville sheriff together?”

Brad snorted. “Another long story. But to sum up . . . I was on the force in Savannah. Now I’m trying to re-create a killer job I walked away from in the Low Country. Chandlerville could use a community safety officer.” He motioned to the paper and notebooks strewn across his desk. “And if it happens, it’ll be because of Dru and your brother. Travis kept up with me, same as Dru says he has you. Probably the rest of your siblings. He’s like your folks. He doesn’t have it in him to give up on people.”

“Neither does Dru.”

“She gave me a second chance to love her,” Brad said. “We’ve both moved on.”

“From this business with Selena, too?”

“There is no
business
with Selena.”

“Yeah, about that.”

Jesus, how did Oliver say it?

“My family needs to know the truth,” he said, “and so do I. So do you, Brad. You and Dru. And I need to know you’re on board before I go after Selena, trying to get this done.”

“The truth about what?”

“Camille.”

“The kid?”

“Marsha was already pushing me toward Selena yesterday morning when you walked off the elevator.”

“Like my grandmother did with me and Dru.”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what?”

“She wants to know whether or not she and Joe have been grandparents all this time.”

Panic did a slow, greasy glide across Brad’s features. He held up a hand. “Are you telling me Marsha thinks . . .”

Oliver nodded.

He still couldn’t get the words out himself.

“Joe, too,” he added. “Travis might have the beginnings of a clue. Who knows? He keeps everyone’s secrets. Most of them,” Oliver qualified. “Mom doesn’t think Dru’s there yet, but . . .”

“Dru . . . ?” Brad sputtered.

“If I can talk Selena into it, I want to sit her down with you and my sister and get to the bottom of things.”

“Her daughter could be yours?”

“Or yours, buddy, if your hookup was as unplanned as you’ve said.”

“Selena and Camille could have belonged in one of our lives all this time?”

“And if she knew she was pregnant and ran anyway, stayed away all this time, that means she doesn’t want Camille to be part of our lives. Which would explain the way Marsha’s said she’s been avoiding everyone since she came back.”

“God . . .” Brad slumped into his chair. “She must have really hated us, or thought we hated her, if she figured she had to have a baby all on her own.”

“I don’t know anything for sure. And the hell of it is, if we handle this wrong we may never know, unless we force the issue legally. The person we need answers from ran from both of us yesterday.”

“Damn it, man, it never occurred to me . . . It was just once. But yeah, we were stupid drunk and not thinking about protection. Of course she could have gotten pregnant. And then I was too busy dealing with the fallout of you leaving and then Selena, and my
grandmother telling me to get out on my own and learn how to stop being such a selfish ass. My life was a mess after that.”

“Mine, too.”

But Oliver wasn’t a mess now. He was a responsible, respected businessman. He could fix anything. Even this. Somehow he’d get Selena to see that
not
dealing with him wasn’t an option.

They’d once promised each other forever. She shouldn’t have had to face raising her daughter on her own.
If
that’s what had happened.

Oliver and Brad sized each other up.

“We both dropped her,” Brad said. “But shit, man. She had family here. Belinda, your parents, Vivian. She’d have been taken care of if she’d just told someone.”

“She found someone else to take care of her.” Maybe marrying another man to give Oliver’s baby a home.

“We’ve got to talk with her.” Brad sounded ready to hunt Selena down now to talk it out. “We’ve got to know for sure, before we . . . Jesus, how am I going to break this to Dru?”

“Don’t. Not yet.” It was the main reason Oliver had come here. “She’s holding it together for Mom, but she’s as wrecked as the rest of us about Dad’s surgery. My gut says not to drop this on her until we know more. But you . . . You know my sister better than I do now. I wanted your take before I did anything else.”

Brad winced. “She can’t sleep. She’s running herself into the ground. Visiting the hospital, taking care of things at the Whip, spelling you and Travis whenever she’s needed at the house.”

“Then let me try talking with Selena first. Yesterday at the hospital I wasn’t . . .”

Ready?

To what—forgive
her
?

He’d hurt her so much more than he’d known, if she could have kept Camille from him. Or from Brad. Oliver should be pissed, but all he could think about was going back to that horrible night everything had begun to unravel and holding Selena until she’d let herself truly trust him.

He’d finally worked it through in rehab. How he’d pushed Selena too hard to clean herself up, to be like him, to move on from how lost they’d both felt. She hadn’t been ready. She’d needed someone she trusted to stay lost like her. He hadn’t been able to anymore, not and stay with his family. So at least to her mind, he’d abandoned her. While she’d still been hurting and self-medicating, and convincing herself that he no longer cared.

Now you’re going to leave me, just like my father!

“I’ll try to get her to open up about Camille.” And not to push her even farther away. “I’ll let you know what she says.”

“Then we’ll all do what’s best,” Brad agreed, “for Selena and her little girl and Dru and the rest of your family.”

“
Our
family.” Oliver reached out his hand to his soon-to-be brother-in-law. His friend. And possibly the father of his first niece. “Instead of taking care of ourselves this time, we’ll protect the people we care about.”

Brad shook. “One for all?”

“And all for one.”