Page 40 of One Small Spark
“What about that hotdog-eating contest winner?” I ask. “Nobody ever talks about her.”
Tess tucks her feet beneath her on the couch. “I think she moved to Arizona.”
“There’s that guy who came in last on that obstacle course game show a few years ago.”
I thought my week’s been embarrassing—that guy went down a thirty-foot slide and landed in a pool of Spaghetti-Os on national television wearing nothing but a Speedo and goggles. Things can always get worse.
“I don’t know if that counts as famous.”
“Richard Allred’s from here,” Charlie points out. “But I’m sure Lila doesn’t want to associate him with Sunshine with all those scandals going on.”
My entire body goes still. “What scandals?”
“Tax fraud and embezzlement, mainly. But he dabbled in sexual harassment, too.”
Tess shoots me a pointed look. She knows all about what happened with Richard—every last detail.
“Shepherd saw it coming,“ Charlie goes on, unaware of the silent conversation going on next to her. “He told me to steer clear of the guy years ago.”
Callahantold her? I’m breathing so hard, I’m convinced everyone in the room can hear my lungs working.
“Did he say why?” Tess, sweetheart that she is, must sense I’m spiraling.
Charlie’s mouth takes a sour slant. “He said Richard was sniffing around a local businesswoman, and Shep overheard him saying some nasty things about her. Stuff right in line with a guy who has four sexual harassment lawsuits against him in the works.”
An invisible knife twists deep in my chest, pinning me to my chair. I gulp on air, my mouth desperately dry. “Did he say who it was?”
“He didn’t tell me, but I’ve never seen him so angry. He said he was super close to beating the crap out of the guy right then. Probably would have wound up in jail, but it would have been worth it.” She grins like she’s proud of him, but her smiles slips away the longer she looks at me.
I don’t want to know what my face is doing. I’m horrified by her story, but not for the reasons she must think.
“Shep’s not a violent guy, normally,” she rushes to add. “He’s just protective. He wouldn’t hurt anyone who didn’t have it coming.”
I’m smashed flat like that cartoon coyote after a run-in with a boulder. I am paper thin, liable to drift away on a breeze.
I try to pull myself together and behave like a normal person, exhaling a weak imitation of a laugh. “No. He’s not like that.”
I can feel Tess’s gaze on me, but I don’t have the heart to look at her. I need three to five business days to process this. I’ve been dealing with so much new Callahan information, my brain can only take so much before it cracks right down the middle.
“It sounds like Shepherd saved that business a lot of headaches,” Tess says gently. “And that woman a lot of heartache.”
“I thought—” My attempt at total casualness dies when Ican’t make my tongue work. I swallow and try again. “I thought he made some kind of deal with Allred, though. A while back.”
Richard told me he did. It was his parting shot. But now that he’s been labeled a fraud, it’s hard to take that at face value.
“Shepherd never worked with him. His business funds came from the inheritance we got from our grandparents.” Charlie glances around at us. “They didn’t leave us a lot, but you know it doesn’t take much to help a small business.”
I nod like a bobblehead, my world flipping upside down yet again. I thought Callahan turned Allred against Blackbird’s, and me in the process. And ever since, I’ve been…
My stomach clenches. I’ve been horrible. I’ve sniped at him and been rude and generally awful to be around. I thought his terrible behavior justified mine.
But if Callahan’s the hero of the story, then it turns out…I’m the villain.
THIRTEEN
SHEPHERD
Despite what some people think,I am not a hermit. I just like living in the woods.
