She pulled into Christie’s drive and approached the door with keys in hand. As she opened the storm door she bent to retrieve a folded slip of paper someone had slipped between the
jamb
. Carrie unfolded it and read the message written in Dave’s scrawl.
Carrie-
I only went to Kenton so I could get a good look at the man who is ruining our second chance to be a family. I stayed in this driveway until five A.M. – where the hell did YOU sleep last night?!?
Carrie cursed under her breath then unlocked the door and walked inside. She’d only had time to set her purse down and kick off her shoes, when she heard the unmistakable sound of Dave’s diesel coming down the street. She slammed the door’s deadbolt home and hit the speed dial for the Gardiner PD.
Within two minutes she heard a single siren blast, and caught a flash of light from a side window. Pulling the curtain aside, she saw the police cruiser pull up right behind Dave’s truck. In the time it took Dave to saunter over to the first cruiser, Rob
Ledoux
had pulled up alongside.
Carrie turned from the window to face Christie as she entered the room, yawning and stretching.
“What the hell’s going on in my driveway?”
“Just another of Dave’s dramatic entrances.
He’s a little testy from waiting for me in your driveway until five a.m.”
“How do you know that?” she asked, as Carrie handed her the note. She read the note and rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! You divorced him. Is he insane?”
Carrie turned back to the window to see what was happening. “It’s all about the drama, Chris. You ought to know that by now. I just hate that the whole damn town is going to know even more of my business.” She watched another few seconds before she slipped back into her shoes and hit the door, grabbing her coat and the letter on her way out.
Carrie walked over to Rob and handed him the note, giving him her foulest fed-up-with-the-whole-thing look. “That was in the door when I got home this morning.”
“Where’ve you been all night, Carrie?”
“You ought to know Dave. You followed me to Kenton.”
Rob got in Dave’s face. “Did you follow her all the way to Kenton?”
“Hell yeah, I followed her, but I didn’t go near her. There’s no law against that. I just wanted to get a good look at that
prick
.”
“The divorce has been final for months, idiot,” she said.
“In God’s eyes, we’re still married.”
“Don’t you spout that ‘holier than thou’ crap to me...Not after everything you’ve pulled over the
years.
” Carrie’s eyes narrowed as she remembered the knock on Sam’s wall. “It was
you
outside his window last night, wasn’t it, Dave?” Carrie nodded at his silence, knowing it spoke volumes. Her voice lowered to a tantalizing whisper. “You shouldn’t have run away so fast. Sam was so
anxious
to introduce himself to you.”
“Okay, okay, you two,” Rob interrupted, before telling the other officer to detain Dave while he got the full story.
Carrie watched as T. Hardin “assisted” Dave into the back seat of the patrol car. “Lunatic,” she hissed in anger.
Rob held up the note in front of her as they walked back to Christie’s front porch. “Explain this.”
“Be glad to,” she said, relating the events of the previous night.
Rob nodded. “I would have done the same thing if I were in Sam’s shoes. He must care about you some to go chasing you down like that,” he said, grinning down at her.
“Some,” Carrie countered.
“Good for you, girl,” he chortled, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I hope he makes you happy.”
“A little too soon to tell,” she answered.
“
Hmph
, don’t know about that. I knew I loved Mona a week after we started dating,” he admitted. “My feelings haven’t changed a bit in the twenty years we’ve been married.”
She nodded curtly in his direction. “Good for you, but I’m determined not to make the same mistake twice. I moved too fast when I met
genius
, over there. I’d like to take it slow this time around.”
Rob gave her a smug smile. “Just remember, the older you get, the more ‘taking your time’ can jump up and bite you on the ass. Now, let me see what I can do with
Crazy
Dave
,
as my mother has dubbed him. You can either stay on the porch or go back inside.”
“I’m staying. I want to hear him try to talk his way out of this,” she said.
“This is just how I wanted to spend my Christmas morning,” Rob groaned as he walked over to the cruiser. “You are not making any points with me or my family, Dave. What the hell did you think you were doing?”
Dave lifted his chin stubbornly. “It’s not against the law to drive to Kenton, I never went near her.”
“But you’re sure as hell here now, aren’t you? And what if she’d come back to Gardiner last night? What would you have done then?”
Dave shook his head smoothly. “Not a damn thing. I just wanted to see him. But then this tramp didn’t come home.”
Carrie bristled visibly at his words. She walked up as far as Rob would let her go and stared Dave down. “You know, I was on my way back to Gardiner, but thanks to you, I did end up spending the night at his place. Turned out to be the best Christmas gift you’ve ever given me. Thanks ever so much, David,” she crooned.
Dave’s glare was filled with contempt. “You bitch.”
She sauntered dangerously close and lifted her chin as she addressed him. “Did you get a good look at him, Dave? Did you see the man who appreciates what you never did?”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Rob said, as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the porch. “
Dammit
, Carrie,” he whispered harshly. “Don’t goad him! You know how crazy he is.”
“Goad him?” she sneered then pointed to the man in question. “I go on one date with a man three months after I divorce Mr. Man Whore over there, and he’s got the nerve to call
me
names? I’m lucky I never got a disease from that cheating son of a bitch!” She glared in Dave’s direction.
Rob nodded. “I know, but go on into the house or at least stay on the porch so I can finish talking to him. I mean it, Carrie.”
Carrie stood there on the porch, mad enough to kick someone, preferably Dave, where it really hurt. Sam had asked her to call when she got home so she went inside to do so. He answered on the first ring. “It’s me.”
“Hey, pretty girl. You made it home okay?”
“The cops are here talking to Dave.” She told him about finding the note and what it said. “When I heard his truck, I locked the door and called the police.”
“You did the right thing. So, are they pressing charges?”
“I’m not sure what they can do. He called me a tramp for spending the night in Kenton.”
“I made you stay because of him
,
” Sam said.
“I know, and Rob told me I goaded him afterwards but I swear he had it coming.”
“I have a feeling I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear but tell me anyway,” Sam pleaded. Afterward he let loose with a low groan. “Look, I know it must have felt good to throw that in his face, but Rob was right. Would it have been so difficult to just walk away from him? Is that too much to ask?”
Carrie was quiet for several seconds. To anyone else, her non-comment might have been an indication that she’d given up the fight.
Sam had no way of knowing that her icy silence was the calm before the storm.
She spoke slowly through jaws clenched tight enough to crush glass—the ominous undercurrent in her tone coming through loud and clear. “Excuse me, but I thought I did that, Sam. He...followed me...to Kenton...then back to Gardiner...where he sat in the driveway
waiting
for
me
until five a.m.”
“You listen to me! I played that role for too damn long,” she said, icily. “I was the good wife who sat by for years while he screwed his way through the phone book, then accused me of things I never did to justify his actions.”
“I refuse to hide from him, and I damn sure refuse to stand here quietly while he calls me a bitch.”
“He’s gotten as much slack from me as he’s going to get in this lifetime. And you know what, Sam? If you can’t handle this side of me, then maybe you shouldn’t handle me at all.”
Carrie slammed the phone down a final time and stormed into the kitchen for a just-brewed cup of coffee.
“What is it with men?” she asked Christie, who stared at her in silence. “I swear, when God creates them he must say to himself, ‘
This
one will grow to be a man someday...I better not forget to add that insufferable jerk gene...he’ll make good use of that in the future.”
She paced the kitchen, mumbling to herself. “Maybe it’s time to back off of this thing.”
“Which man are you so pissed at?
Dave, Sam, or the mystery man caller?”
Christie asked.
“Is there a choice for all of the above?” She turned to her sister. “Did you get any phone calls last night?” she asked, suddenly concerned.
“Nope.
I slept like a full-bellied, dry-diapered baby.”
“Great, Mr. Man must have seen my car wasn’t here. I wonder if
that
lunatic followed me to Kenton too,” she said, before storming out through the front door again.
Rob turned at the sound of the door opening and watched Carrie’s angry approach. “Oh crap, here comes trouble,” he growled. “She looks like she could spit nails.”
“Hey, jerk, did you tell your caller to follow me to Kenton too?”
“Look Carrie, I’ve told Rob over and over that I didn’t have a damn thing to do with that. I swear I didn’t...I don’t!”
“And you wouldn’t
lie
about something like that, now would you, especially with him ready to throw your butt in jail.” She spun around to face Rob. “What are you going to do about him?”
