Page 35 of Believing in You

“It’s been awhile since I’ve listened to Coltrane. Good choice, he’s one of my favorites,” she said and laid her head on Harrison’s shoulder.

“Mine too,” he said as he rested his head against the cloth headboard. “I need to tell you something. Remember when I said I spent time in prison for a crime I didn’t commit?”

Nyla stiffened next to him but then relaxed, and after a slight hesitation, she said, “Yeah.” Stretching out the word.

“Well, what I didn’t tell you was that my brother framed me for a murder he committed.”

Chapter Eighteen

“What?” Nyla shouted, staring at him as if seeing him for the first time.

Harrison nodded. “Okay, maybe he didn’t technically frame me, but he let me take the fall for the murder. He killed an elderly woman, and intentionally or unintentionally, made it look as if I’d done it. I was convicted of first-degree murder.”

Nyla lifted her hands out in front of her, still looking a bit shell-shocked. “Wait. I—I… What. The. Hell! Are you kidding me?Pleasetell me your own brother didn’t do what you’re saying he did.”

Harrison sighed. “I wish I could. Come here,” he said, reaching for her.

He pulled her to his side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Having her close was as calming as the soft jazz flowing through the speaker.

“I’m not even sure where to start. It’s a long story, baby, but I’ll try to give you the Cliff’s Notes version. I’m not going to lie, but this is hard to talk about.”

She lifted her head and looked at him. “You can trust me,” she said quietly. “Whatever we discuss in here, stays in here.”

“I appreciate that, and by the time I’m done, you’ll have a better understanding of why I struggle with trusting people.” He rubbed his forehead, debating on where to start. “I bought this house for Veronica and me a little over five years ago. She never lived here, mainly because it needed a lot of renovation and, well, because she broke off our engagement.

“At any rate, my plan was to live here throughout the renovations, but it got impossible. There were construction workers in and out every day for weeks. That, along with all the noise and dust, had me going nuts. Between the renovations and wedding plans, that I didn’t agree with, it was a lot.

“Which was why I didn’t want to move in with Veronica. I couldn’t listen to her wedding planning ideas twenty-four-seven. Which should’ve been my first sign that we weren’t meant to be. At any rate, my mother suggested I stay at her house. She has four bedrooms and was always trying to get me and my siblings to visit more. I figured that would be the perfect time. She lives in the suburbs, but I could work from anywhere.

“After a couple of days of being at her place, my brother showed up. He lived in Kenosha with his girlfriend only a couple of hours away. It was also his winter break. So, it wasn’t uncommon for him to visit my mother during that time. Problem was, like I mentioned before, he and I didn’t mesh well. As adults, we tolerated each other, but you wouldn’t find us out together having a beer.”

“Did you know he was coming?”

“No, I didn’t, and I considered leaving, but for the first few days, it was fine. Eventually though, we got into it. Actually, he was even being an ass to my mother. She’d tell him to clean up after himself, and he’d get all upset.”

Harrison rubbed his chest as if that would loosen the unease swirling inside of him. For years, he’d worked hard to bury thememories of that time in his life, but talking about it was stirring it all up again.

He startled when Nyla touched his hand.

“If you need to stop, I—”

“No, I’m all right. I’m not sure if I’m recapping everything in order, but—”

“Just tell me what you want me to know,” she said softly, and he was pretty sure he fell a little harder for her in that moment.

He had once told himself that he was done with women. That he didn’t need one in his life, but in the months of getting to know Nyla, she had changed all that. She had fallen into his life by chance, and though he didn’t believe in fate, he was starting to.

“I thought maybe there was something else going on with Geoffrey that he hadn’t told us,” Harrison continued. “When I tried talking to him, asking a few questions, he told me to mind my own business. Said that with my perfect life I wouldn’t understand, and then he left. He told my mother that he was going home to talk with his girlfriend. But the day after that, my mother came to me and suggested I return home.”

“What?” Nyla glanced at him. “She askedyouto leave?”

Harrison nodded. “She said Geoffrey had come for a visit because he’d had a fight with his woman. Arriving at our mother’s house was supposed to give him some peace and give him a chance to regroup. Even though he had left to return to Kenosha, she told me that he was planning to return to her house, but he might not if I was still there.”

Harrison’s pulse pounded loudly in his ear, and he closed his eyes, willing himself to relax. He sucked in a lung full of air and released it slowly. All the while, Nyla remained quiet.

“I couldn’t…” he started but stopped and rubbed his forehead as sadness suddenly gripped him. No way was he going to breakdown. Not now. Not in front of the woman he was quickly beginning to care about.

“I couldn’t believe she was kicking me out.My own mother. It wasn’t like I couldn’t go home, but it was the principle of it. I didn’t bother reminding her that I was the one who’d gifted her the majority of the money to buy that house. Instead, I packed my shit and got the hell out of there.”

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