Page 12 of Hold the Line

Knocking my head against the brick, I closed my eyes as my heartbeat settled. I’d get up in a minute. As soon as I was sure it was over.

No idea how long I sat there, waiting. Long enough for the cops to come and go. I climbed to my feet as a woman in a puffy black coat passed by, not believing what I was seeing.

Phoebe was walking herself home after dark. What the hell was she thinking?

I shouldn’t have stuck around, didn’t really know why I had, but since I’d made that choice, I couldn’t stop myself from falling in step behind her. Far enough she wouldn’t know I was there, but close enough to do something if needed.

She took her time, waving at a few people, saying hi to others, everyone enthusiastic about seeing her. It was no surprise Phoebe Kelly was the town’s sweetheart. It served as a good reminder of how deep the divide between us was. No one would have been glad to see me if they’d known who I was.

She turned onto our street, and I picked up my pace, uneasy at losing sight of her. She had a car. It was parked in our shared driveway. There was no reason for her to be walking to and from work in the dark. Especially tonight. Why wasn’t she afraid?

I hurried around the corner, exhaling when I spotted her retreating back. She was hurrying toward home, oblivious to me following her. She needed to pay better attention. Hadn’t she learned her lesson?

Tonight, it was me.

Tomorrow, it could have been someone much worse.

She reached the stairs running along the side of our house. Five steps took her to her front door, but she didn’t climb them. Instead, she stopped and swiveled around, finding me between the pools of light spilling from the streetlamps.

“I made it,” she announced. “You could have walkedwithme, Deacon.”

Not so oblivious after all…

With a defeated sigh, I closed the distance, boots echoing on the quiet sidewalk, hands firmly tucked in my pockets. “Just making sure you made it home safe.”

She didn’t look like a woman who’d been through anything out of the ordinary only an hour ago. Her eyes were lively, and her smile was soft, gently curving, plump, pink lips.

“Safe and sound.”

“You okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine, honestly.” She paused, looking me over in a slow, curious perusal. “Are you okay? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”

I tapped the front of my boot on the ground. “Steel toes. Didn’t feel a thing.”

“I’m glad.” She shifted the canvas bag hooked over her arm and continued her thoughtful examination. It didn’t make me uncomfortable to have her look at me the way she did, but I wondered what she was thinking since it was clear a lot was going on inside her mind. “I told the cops the rolling pin story. They don’t know you were there.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“You helped me whenyoudidn’t have to, Deke. This was my thank-you.” She nodded toward the pink box peeking out the top of her bag. “Ordinarily, I’d thank you with baked goods too, but that won’t work with you, will it?”

I shook my head and chuffed.

“You didn’t have to lie for me.” I bet Phoebe Kelly had never lied once in her life. A short time around me, and I’d tarnished her. “I wish you hadn’t.”

“It’s done. No sense in dwelling on it.” She shrugged like it was nothing. “This won’t come back to bite you. You’re free and clear.”

I wouldn’t be free and clear for a long time. Another year of parole if I walked the straight and narrow, but that was no guarantee. I’d lived a clean life before everything happened, and that hadn’t kept me out of prison.

It was easier if I didn’t think about that. I set my mind on the problem in front of me—the one I could do something about.

“It’d be better if you weren’t alone at your shop. Safer.”

Phoebe’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “You sound like my brother. I’m never going to hear the end of it when I tell him what happened. If I thought I could get away with not mentioning it, I would.”

“But nothing stays quiet around here,” I filled in, noticing she hadn’t agreed with me about not being alone.

“That, it doesn’t. Are you headed upstairs now?”

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