“What do I have to apologize for?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I could think of a few things,” she said, “like part of what you just told me.”

  “Damn,” he said. “I was hoping to do it well before the wedding, not with the wedding on the immediate horizon.”

  “The rehearsal’s tonight. The wedding’s tomorrow,” she said. “You don’t have a whole lot of time.”

  “He refuses to be my best man, so no way I can get him to the rehearsal dinner. Yet, if we have a big fight about this, Caleb may not even show up at my wedding.”

  “Do you blame him? You didn’t show up at his wedding.”

  “He was marrying my girl.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “The girl who was still in love with you and carrying your baby. Do you want to explain that to him? How do you think he feels, except cheated and betrayed on all levels by both of you.”

  “Ouch,” he said. “Fine. Okay. Okay, I get it. He has reasons to be pissed off and upset, and we’ve cost him years of his life, et cetera, but I still want him to show up at the wedding.”

  “Well, then you need to call him,” she said. “I made it so that he’s here. Now you should probably come over and talk to him.”

  “But he’s not even there now.”

  “No, but I suspect he’ll be home in a little bit,” she said.

  “How about in an hour?”

  “You can try. You could also just call and ask Caleb if he’ll be here then,” she said.

  “I know. It’s a unique idea. Talk to him directly, right?”

  With that, she hung up. She had known the family forever, but Jackson was one who definitely pissed her off the most. Particularly after she realized what he and Sarah had done to Caleb. As far as Laysha was concerned, they could just keep her out of their continuing drama. Jackson had been desperate for Caleb to show up for the wedding, so she had arranged it.

  And she had no problem arranging that because she did feel like the two brothers needed to sort this out, but, at the same time, she was pretty damn sure that the brothers’ feelings were not quite so easily assuaged. As for Sarah, well that was a whole different story. She had really screwed Caleb over. Just to hear that they had cheated on him also would hurt. Again, Caleb had a high level of honor about right and wrong, and his brother and Sarah obviously didn’t.

  No matter how much you cared about somebody, you ended one relationship before starting another. Otherwise, it was exactly that—having an affair behind his brother’s back. Who the hell needed that shit? She felt sorry for Caleb because it was another blow that he didn’t need or deserve.

  She groaned as she thought about it and quickly sent him a text. Heads-up. Your brother’s about to call.

  Instead of responding by text, he called her. “What does he want?” he asked.

  “To talk to you and make up,” she said honestly.

  “Will he apologize though?”

  She winced. “Probably,” she said. “Talk to him. Let’s at least get this all out in the open and cleared up.”

  “I really don’t want to, neither do I want to go to the damn wedding.”

  “I know that,” she said, “but hiding from the family is never a good idea.”

  “Are you sure?” he said. “Sounds like a fine idea to me.” And he hung up.

  She groaned and sent him a text. When’re you coming home?

  I’m ten minutes away.

  She smiled at that, walked downstairs, set up the coffee, then made a big pitcher of lemonade and put it in the fridge. When the truck drove up, she and her four dogs all met him at the front door. “Wow, buddy. You’re off the couch. You really love Caleb, don’t ya?”

  Graynor wagged his tail in response.

  Caleb smiled at her, bent to cuddle each of the dogs, pointing at Graynor coming to see Caleb. He took one look upstairs and asked, “Are you doing the floors?”

  “Yep, got one coat on one bedroom so far.”

  “Good,” he said. Just then his phone rang. He glared at it and said, “It’s Jackson.”

  “Talk to him,” she said, “I’ll be doing the other bedroom floor.” And, with that, she turned and walked upstairs, leaving him alone. She could hear him answer and figured the brothers had to work it out from there, but at least Caleb had answered. You couldn’t heal anything if you didn’t at least open the door.

  Upstairs she focused on getting the next bedroom done, loving how that glossy look came upon the hardwood. It was truly gorgeous. Not for everybody but it made her heart happy. By the time she was done and backed out of the room, she turned and almost yelped because Caleb stood behind her, glaring at her.

  “Now what?” she asked, glaring right back.

  “They were fucking screwing around when I was married to her.”

  “Yeah, so I heard,” she said, “and I’m sorry about that.”

  “The marriage wasn’t over,” he said. “Sure, we were almost to the point of separating, but we hadn’t yet.”

  “Which is what I also explained to Jackson,” she said. “Sarah was still screwing around on you, her husband, with your own brother.”

  “Damn right. How the hell do you trust anybody anymore after something like that?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure you do,” she said quietly. “It’s a gamble. All of it’s a gamble. So I don’t know what the answer is. But, if you don’t trust somebody else again, then you’ll be alone for the rest of your life. And I know that’s not what you want either,” she said.

  He shook his head. “No, of course I don’t.”

  “So I understand that you got in the middle of something that was their problem, and they shouldn’t have involved you, and that’s what they should be apologizing for. She was carrying his baby, and she was pining for him the whole time, but she married you and duped you into thinking that she cared about you. And he duped you into thinking he didn’t give a shit about her.”

  “Great, so I’m just a big dupe, is that it?” He glared at her.

  “There’s no sugarcoating it,” she said. “It sucks all the way around. But you also weren’t happily married, and you’re better off away from it all.”

  “Yeah, you’re not kidding,” he said with feeling. “In the end, I could hardly even stand to be in the same room with her.”

  “Exactly,” she said, “whereas they finally get a chance to heal whatever’s going on between them, and maybe your brother will have a decent life now.”

  “Maybe,” he said grudgingly. “Don’t see how that’s possible with her.” He shook his head. “It still hurts.”

  “Yes,” she said, “but not for the real reason. It’s not so much that your wife cheated on you but that your brother did.”

  He winced at that. “No, you’re right there,” he said. “And yet, once I realized it wasn’t even my child, I wondered if it was his, but she would never tell me the truth about the father. When she got angry, then she happily told me that the baby wasn’t mine. By then, I figured it was a complete waste of time to work on the marriage because she was still seeing someone else.”

  “And, as you know now, it was your brother, and she went back to him,” she said quietly. “And I’m not in any way condoning their behavior. I’m just saying you’re in a good position to stay a long way away from them.”

  He looked at her, and he started to laugh. “Isn’t that the truth?” he said, shaking his head. “Damn. You know what? You just have to think about it that way, and it looks so much easier.”

  “It’s not easy though,” she said. “But you know now and can move on …” And then she grinned up at him. “So why don’t you go make lemonade, while I get started on this other room.”

  “Make lemonade? Pretty sure I saw a jug in the fridge.”

  “Right. Well, I figured that was your kind of lemonade, premade.” She laughed at him. “Go and pour some.”

  “Oh, you can’t be done that fast,” he said.

  “Maybe not, but I’ll try. So get lost. Let me finish this second bedroom.” She walked into the remaining guest bedroom and immediately started painting on the finish.

  “It looks phenomenal,” he said. “You’ve done so much great work here.”

  “And it’s just a drop in the hat of my list of things to do here,” she said.

  “Are you doing anything else for the next five years?”

  She looked up at him in surprise. “No. Not really.”

  “So then you’re spending it doing something that will create cherished memories and will renovate this huge beautiful heritage home,” he said. “So you can’t really argue with that.”

  “I hear you.” And, with a smile on her face, she got to work. By the time he came back upstairs again, she was almost done. “I figured you had to make another batch from scratch because you took so long.”

  “Ha,” he said, but he held a plate of sandwiches.

  She looked at him with longing. “That’s not fair. I’m not quite done yet.”

  “You got five minutes,” he said. He looked at the room she was finishing off and came closer to the doorway, and said, “It’s pretty good timing, huh?”

  “Very good timing,” she said, as she sat back. “But I do want to do the hallway too.”

  “That makes sense. It’s all ready to go, so you might as well,” he said. “But you can’t walk on it until the tackiness is gone.”

  “Which I’m hoping will be enough to let me in tonight,” she said, “so I can get to my bedroom.”

  “If not, you’ll have to climb the outer wall, using the trellises,” he teased.

  “You know how that’ll end up,” she said with a laugh.

  “Yep, in a bad way.” He headed back downstairs and said, “Hurry up.”

  And, with a smile, she got to work. It didn’t take very long, as the hallway, although it was long, was a steady stroke back and forth, no turns, just those edges close to the wall. The rest went down very quickly. She got to the top of the stairs, cleaned up the edge, wishing she could do the stairs. Yet that would be that much more work, and they weren’t stripped properly yet. So she slowly backed down the stairs. There she quickly washed up, smiled at him, and said, “Done.”

  “Okay, good. So tomorrow sand and then another coat?”

  “Yep, something like that depending on the schedule.” She stood and gathered the animals into the guest bedroom downstairs. “I don’t want them bothering us while we eat. I’ll let them outside after we’re done.” Caleb nodded as they headed out to the veranda. As soon as she got out there and sat down, she remembered. “Shit, I forgot the lemonade.”

  She got up, and a pop rang out. She gasped as something blasted across the side of her head, lifting her hair, and slammed into the doorframe right in front of her. She was immediately dropped to the floor, then the back door opened, and she was dragged inside. “What the hell?” she asked Caleb. “What was that?”

  “Somebody just shot at us,” he snapped, looking out the window from the side.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked. Then it hit her. “Oh, my God. Somebody actually shot at me.” Her hand went to her head. “Did they miss me?” she asked. “I don’t feel anything.”

  “They missed,” he said. “Don’t worry. You’d notice if they hadn’t.”

  “No,” she said, “not really. I could be dead.”

  He looked at her, his face grim, and he nodded. “You could be right,” he said. “That was too damn close for comfort.”

  Caleb couldn’t believe what he had just seen. With her safely inside, he went from window to window, looking for whoever the shooter was. A lot of shrubs were in the back. She had five acres, and those five acres held a lot of trees, hills, vegetation of all kinds. An abundance of hiding places. He studied the area where the shot had come from. He wanted to get out and track him, but he didn’t dare leave Laysha, was too damn worried that the shooter was still here.

  She crawled along the floor to the guest bedroom, staying below the long windows, and confirmed that the dogs were all okay. Yes, all four lying on the floor, ears up, staring toward the back door. They knew something was up, just not what. Then neither did she. Worried, she said, “Stay safe in here, guys, please.” She crouched and returned to Caleb. “Do you think he’s still out there?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Just think about it. It’s all too possible. Either he doesn’t know if he took you out and thus bolted or he’s just sitting there, waiting for another opportunity to take you out.”

  She stared at him and gulped. “I didn’t do anything. Who did I piss off?”

  He looked at her and frowned. “Unfortunately I don’t know.” He said, “You tell me.”

  “I don’t know of anybody that I’ve pissed off.”

  “What about the lawyers you work for?”

  “But they’re not criminal lawyers,” she said. “We do more big corporation stuff, contracts, that kind of a thing.”

  “Maybe. Anything that pissed off somebody?”

  “I don’t think so,” she said quietly, slumping back onto the floor.

  He looked at her. “Are you okay? Did it graze your head?”

  She reached up to her hair and checked her scalp and said, “No, I don’t think so. I think it’s just shock.”

  “With damn good reason,” he said. “I’m not terribly steady at the moment myself.”

  “That was on the scary side,” she whispered. “A little too close for comfort, as they say.”

  “Any bullet is always too close for comfort,” he whispered. “But, in this case, it’s the truth.”

  “I don’t even know what happened,” she said. “I just stood up to get the lemonade. Then turned and walked toward the back door. And then the shot rang out. Only I didn’t realize it was a gunshot at the time.”

  “So,” Caleb said, “he saw us out there, and he either waited while you stood up or wasn’t expecting you to stand up, and he sent off a warning shot.”

  “For what though? I didn’t do anything.”

  “Maybe it was a warning to me.”

  “Related to the body we found,” she said quietly.

  “And we have to consider that too,” he said.

  “It’s still bullshit though,” she snapped.

  “That it is, but it’s the cards we have to deal with.”

  “Don’t like these cards much,” she grumbled.

  He grinned at her. “Keep that temper up,” he said. “As always, it’s way better to be angry in a situation like this than to be afraid.”

  “I do remember some of the lessons you shared about things like that.”

  “Hell, I didn’t even know what I was telling you back then,” he said. “I sure as hell do now, after serving all those years in the navy as I did,” he said. “But, until you’re into these situations, it doesn’t matter how much you tell people to behave or to do something, it’s not the same as being under fire and experiencing that event on your own.”

  “It wasn’t fun,” she whispered. She shifted backward and said, “Even worse, our sandwiches are out there,” she complained.

  He let out a bark of laughter. “Well, I’ll make sure that he doesn’t come after them. How’s that?”

  “He damn well better not,” she said. “I’m hungry.”

  “Well, just hold that thought,” he said. “I want to see if he does anything.”

  “But you can’t go out there,” she warned. “It’s obvious he’s waiting.”

  “No, he might have been waiting for a bit,” he said, “but I think he’s gone now.”

  “We can’t take the chance,” she said, crying out urgently as he headed for the door. But he pushed the door open, and no shot was fired.

  “Dammit, Caleb,” she said. “You can’t go out there. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Well, I’ll hardly sit here,” he said, “being a prisoner.”

  She thought about it and then shrugged. “I can. I don’t really need to go anywhere. I’ve got lots of work to do on this old farmhouse.”

  “I get that,” he said gently, “but you still need food and water, and the dogs still have to go out to the bathroom.”

  She frowned at that. “How long do you think somebody would keep an eye on the place?”

  “If they’re trying to kill us?” he said. “Until the job’s done.”

  She winced. “Nothing like mincing your words, is there?”

  “I’ve never been about lying or making things less than they are,” he said. “It’s obvious we’re in a spot.”

  “And obvious that we should call the cops,” she said.

  “I’ve already sent a message to the detective,” he said.

  She stared at him in surprise. “I didn’t even see that.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you did or not,” he said with a gentle smile, “because it’s already done.”

  “In that case, we might as well just sit inside and wait till they get here.”

  He began to chuckle. “Now if only we had the sandwiches.”

  She looked at the door. “What if I snuck out there and grabbed them?” she said. “We could at least sit in here and eat them.”

  “Hell no,” he said, “if I’m not allowed to go out there, neither are you.”

  “Ah,” she said, “but my life is less valuable than yours. So it can be forfeit.” She said it in a joking manner, but, when he grabbed her and turned her around, so she faced him, he didn’t see it as a joking matter at all.

  “No way,” he said. “Do you hear me? You’re too important. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She looked up, smiled, and gently stroked his cheek. “Ditto,” she said. “There’s a reason that we keep coming back together again,” she said.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I wondered if you’d figured that out.”

  “Oh, I figured it out,” she said, chuckling, “but I didn’t want to be the one to bring it up. You’re the one still dealing with your divorce.”

  “Hell no, I’m not.”

  “Hell yes, you are,” she snapped, noting his glittering eyes. “Until you’re ready to face that ex-wife of yours and your brother—and make peace or at least confront the two of them, wish them well, but call a truce on interacting with them for the next year or so—you’re still dealing with shit. I’m done with people who need to deal with shit. So get your act together, and then there’s time for us.”