Page 11 of Penance
Lifting my arm, I rub my hand across my jaw. A headache is forming behind my eyes, and work is the last thing I want to think about, but Hayes is right. Something wasn’t right about the way that fire burned last night.
“I’ll let you know what we find out, but it will take a few days.”
Hayes nods, stepping out onto the porch, but stops again when he’s standing just outside the door.
“Theo,” he says, his voice still serious. “However it happened. Thanks for saving Lily. We aren’t as close as we used to be, and I understand why she distanced herself. But she’s a good person, just alittle hardened.”
It’s irrational, but a streak of jealousy slashes across my chest. Lily and Hayes were friends before Hayes’s fiance, MJ, came back to town. It’s no secret that Lily wanted more. She never had a chance, though. MJ is, and always has been, the love of Hayes’s life. But even though Lily and Hayes were never going to be more than friends, he knows more about her than I do. I would die before letting Hayes know that bothers me, though.
“It’s my job.”
There’s a knowing glint in Hayes’s eyes when he says, “Yeah. Just a job.”
He smacks the back of his hand against my chest, chuckling as he turns and hops off the porch the same way that Campbell did.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I call after him, but he only lifts his hand and waves.
I really dislike that man.
Chapter 3
Lily
My hands shake as I hold today’s newspaper. I’ve been in Benton Falls for almost two years, and one would think I would be used to the town’s antics, but this—this seems like another level.
I should have known. Ethel and Muriel are the go big or go home type of gals.
And they went big.
Sometime last night, they managed to snap a photo of me wrapped around Theo as he carried me down the ladder, and they edited it within an inch of their lives.
There’s a plane flying over us, an American flag attached to the underside, blowing in the breeze. Explosives are flying from the community building’s windows, and it’s all more dramatic than it really was. But it’s the headline that makes it worse. At the top of the paper, in big, bold letters, the words read, “War Hero Saves Beauty Pageant Queen From Fire.”
As I read the title again, a harsh snort scratches my throat.
Embarrassment heats my cheeks, and I look around to see if anyone noticed the unladylike sound that just left me. This newspaper is embarrassing enough without adding fuel to the disaster that is my life.
I’d hoped to avoid the public eye today, but staying home was not an option when I woke up and found I’d run out of coffee. I would face public ridicule a thousand times as long as it meant I could nourish my body with the sweet, sweet nectar of coffee.
As I left my house, I prepared myself to be bombarded with questions about the fire last night, but to my surprise, the morning has been quiet. Aside from the paper, I haven’t heard a peep of gossip. It makes me suspicious.
The chime over the coffee shop door rings, and I look up in time to see a flustered MJ rushing into the shop.
Since her and Hayes’s engagement party, MJ and I have gotten closer. I finally got over the fact that Hayes wanted her, and I think she chose to ignore that I’d once wanted Hayes—that or she was planning on murdering me in my sleep. With MJ, it was sometimes hard to tell.
Before MJ came back to town, Hayes and I had been close friends, and it was evident from the start that he was in love with her.
“Hi. Hey. How’s it going?” MJ asks, pulling out the chair across the table and sliding into it.
“Uh—good?”
I like MJ, but the woman has more energy than I can handle sometimes.
MJ’s gaze drops to the newspaper in my hand, and a giant smile splits her face.
“I see you had an eventful night last night.”
“You could say that,” I mumble, flipping the newspaper over so no one else can see it—not that they won’t be able to get their own. They are everywhere.
