Page 157 of Something Tattered
Startled, I whirled around to see him standing within arm's reach. "The hot chocolate?" I tried to smile. "Thanks, but I've got it."
He smiled. "Sorry, but no."
I blinked. "What?"
He reached for my hand. "Come on. The fire's going. You let me worry about this, alright?"
Damn it.
Trying to sound happy about it, I asked, "But how could the fire be going already? It's only been like two minutes."
"I cheated," he said. "There was a starter log already there."
I stifled a curse. That's right. I recalled staging that stupid thing a few months ago. An instant fire with the flick of a match, it sounded oh-so wonderful at the time. Now, it was just an annoyance.
I glanced toward the kettle. "It's almost done," I said. "You go. I'll meet you there."
"That's whatyouthink." He put an arm over my shoulder and guided me out of the kitchen. Short of throwing off his arm and bolting for the stove, I didn't know what to do except follow along.
The only bright spot was that I was still holding the envelope. I carried it with me, even as Joel led me to the family room and practically pushed me into the armchair closest the fire.
He smiled down at me. "I'll be back in a minute, alright?"
One minute?Screw the steam.As soon as he left, I ripped open the envelope and pulled out its contents – a letter and a check for fifty dollars, made out to Joel.
I read the amount again.Fifty dollars?That made no sense. Unless – oh, shit. That was the exact amount of that very first check, the one that Joel had ripped up at his campsite. This had to be Derek's doing.
This wasn't good.
Conscious of the time ticking away, I turned my attention to the letter, printed on the foundation's letterhead. Quickly, I scanned the few short paragraphs.
When I finished, I felt like throwing up.
There was no way on Earth I'd ever let Joel read this thing. It wasn't just inaccurate. It was a travesty. Worst of all, it was signed by Claude, who was supposed to be helping me – not ruining everything.
I lowered my head to study the signature. It couldn’t tell if Claude had actually signed it, or if it was one of those auto-signature graphics that the foundation used for form letters.
Damn it.If only I had more time, I could sort this out. But I didn't, at least not now. I stuffed the letter and check back into the envelope and gave the room a nervous glance. I needed to hide this, but where?
My gaze landed on the fireplace, and I felt my jaw tighten.Screw hiding it.Before I could overthink it, I tossed the whole sorry thing onto the fire and stood to watch it burn.
But it didn't. To my infinite frustration, the stupid thing didn't burst into flames – at least, not soon enough, because a moment later, Joel's voice cut across the room. "What'd you do that for?"
Oh, shit.
I whirled to see him standing in the open doorway, giving me a perplexed look. And then, he was striding forward. Before I could process what was happening, he'd already moved past me and was reaching down into the fireplace.
I blurted out, "Don't!"
But he did.
Chapter 70
I watched in growing horror as he pulled the smoldering packet from the flames and turned to face me. When our eyes met, I didn't know what to say.
Silently, he looked down to the envelope. It was partially blackened and still smoking. He rubbed it against his damp shirt and then returned his gaze to mine.
For some stupid reason, I thought of my uncle and all of his ridiculous excuses. At that instant, I almost admired the guy, because no matter how guilty he looked, he always foundsomethingto say.
