Page 13 of Wood Riddance
Dammit, I’d been so naïve. I’d thought I was the one getting the heat, facing the whispers and the dirty looks. And I could handle that. But my child? That was too much.
Just like when I was a kid, I wanted out of this place. The moment I graduated from high school, I was gone. As far away from my shithead father as I could get. Now, at thirty-five, all I wanted to do was flee. And my reason hadn’t changed a bit.
This was killing me. We’d made the move back home to give Merry safety and stability and a carefree childhood. The poor kid had gotten anything but.
Military life had been hard on Alicia and Merry. They’d suffered through it for my benefit. Now I’d do anything to give them what they wanted. But coming back here had felt like a mistake from day one.
And now we had a miserable, anxious ten-year-old who needed all our support.
“She’s got to keep her chin up and ignore them,” Alicia continued. “There isn’t much else we can do.”
I winced. Of course she’d advocate for taking the high road. She was a good person like that.
My mind wandered to Adele and her fiery personality. If she were on this side of the scandal, she’d probably torch the school down and make every one of those kids wish they had never even looked at Merry. I laughed to myself. I admired her fire. Except, of course, when it was aimed in my direction.
Alicia was right, though. Handling things maturely was usually the best option. But it was one thing to deal with this bullshit as an adult. It was something completely different when a child—my child—was the one being hurt. I couldn’t be rational about this.
I could handle the shame and hurt and the confusion over what my father had done.
But the impact on my baby girl? Unacceptable. I was going to fix this.
Chapter4
Adele
Iwrapped up the day’s project a little earlier than I’d planned to, but once I’d gotten my workstation cleaned up and the tools put back where they belong, I walked straight out the door that led to the small staff parking lot. We had a massive fenced area out back for parking machinery and storing parts and large tools, but this side lot was only for our cars.
Jumping into my Jeep, I forced myself to take in a deep breath, then another. My stomach was in knots, my shoulders were so tense they were bunched practically to my ears, and I was sweating through my tank top. To say this day had knocked me flat on my ass was an understatement.
Thoughts and feelings battled in my brain, making my head spin as I tried to make sense of all of this.
I wanted him dead. All of them. I wanted all of those fuckers in the ground.
They had taken my father away.
They’d tried to kill all three of my brothers.
I closed my eyes and put my head on the steering wheel. He hadn’t been behind any of the attempts, as far as I knew, but that didn’t make him any better than the rest of them. There were reasons our families had despised each other for generations.
And Henri had allowed him in the building? Surely there were other dumbasses out there with pilot’s licenses looking for work. I’d watch a YouTube video and take my chances in the air before trusting a Hebert.
My heart raced as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and shot off a quick text to Parker.
I hadn’t even left the parking lot when she called. Damn, she was a great friend.
“What’s the emergency?”
“Hebert shit.”
“Gym?” The woman didn’t miss a beat.
“Yup.” I turned onto Route 45 and headed toward Forest Fitness, the grungy, no-frills warehouse where Parker and I trained together.
Not only was she my brother Paz’s girlfriend, but in the last several months, she’d become my best friend. She had come to Lovewell last year to help investigate Dad’s death. Somewhere along the way, between stakeouts and undercover information gathering and being kidnapped, she’d fallen in love with my brother. Paz was the last person I expected to settle down, but here he was, smitten and constantly begging Parker to marry him.
It only fueled my belief that there really was a person for everyone. My brother was a grouch with a giant stick shoved up his ass, yet Parker could handle him. It helped that she was former state police with several black belts and could drop him on his ass when he got out of line.
Yet another reason I adored her. In the beginning, I’d resisted the connection. I didn’t have much time for friends, beyond my staff at work, but she refused to take no for an answer. So, slowly, we’d become friends and workout buddies.
