Page 69 of Bittersweet

“Think about how you felt at your apartment the other day and tell me you still want to go there.”

It had been gnawing at her. Even after seeing Brett’s outburst the day they broke up, she didn’t know if he was capable of committing a crime like that, something that went against everything he supposedly fought against in his job. Eight months should have been more than enough time to get to know someone’s true temperament. Could she have been so wrong about him?

“I need to do this, Van.”

“Logan wouldn’t approve.”

“If Brett did it, I want to understand why.”

“Some things are beyond understanding, Harper. Some people just have an evil streak in them, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“I don’t accept that. I never saw a hint of that in all the months we were together, and then all of the sudden he flips?”

“Maybe he has multiple personality disorder.”

“Savannah.” She wrinkled her nose.

“Well.”

Harper ran a brush through her hair and walked out of the room with Savannah on her heels.

“So, say you do this. Say you go on a coffee date with him. How are you going to get him to admit it, Harper? If he did it, he’s not going to give that information up so easily. And if he is responsible for this, that means he’s dangerous.” Savannah crossed her arms again. “Maybe I should wait to leave.”

“What, Savannah, no. Your parents need you.”

“But I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you after I left.”

Harper turned and gripped Savannah’s elbows. “I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t like this. At all.”

“We’ll be in a public place. I’ll make sure of it.”

Savannah disappeared into her kitchen and returned a minute later with a small cylinder in hand. “Here.”

Harper laughed. “Pepper spray. Seriously?”

“Keep it with you wherever you go and use it if you need to. Although, I’m going to hope and pray that you won’t.”

“Me too.”

28

Naya appeared uncomfortable sitting on the floor of Gary and Marsha’s home, having a coffee party with Kayla. Not surprisingly, Kayla was her usual kind, loving self, warming up to her mother quickly, sharing “coffee” with her, letting her hold her stuffed animals.

This was the first time since Naya’s prison release a week ago that she’d come to visit Kayla. When they had showed up as planned for their play date at the park, one of her brothers had said she was out, but he didn’t—or wouldn’t—say where. Logan wasn’t sure what to make of that. If it were him getting out of prison, he’d have moved heaven and earth to get to his little girl. Maybe it was just all she’d been through in prison, not knowing her daughter. Maybe he should have kept bringing Kayla to see her for the past two years.

But when he looked at Kayla, his happy little girl, he couldn’t regret keeping her away from that environment for most of her childhood. He had no way of knowing if it would have changed her, but he loved who she had become.

“Pass me the coffee, please,” Kayla told her mother.

“Sure.” Naya reached for the little tea pot. “I’ll pour you a cup if you want.”

Kayla got a huge smile on her face. “Thanks, Mommy.”

Naya dropped the tea pot and scrambled to pick it up. “Sorry.” She went back to pretending to pour, but Logan could see she was affected by Kayla calling her that.

Logan stood and walked into the kitchen, where Gary was seated at the table with his newspaper and a steaming mug of coffee. He helped himself to a cup and sat down on the opposite side of the table.

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