Page 74 of Christmas Homecoming Secrets
“I came to check on you. I’ve been calling your name for the past few minutes. I guess I know why you didn’t answer.” She let her gaze roam the room. “You’ve been busy.”
“You told me to paint.”
“This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but…”
“It’s a horrible color, isn’t it?” Heather set the paintbrush on the tarp covering the sofa and rubbed her eyes. “I don’t know what I was thinking.” She gave a small laugh. “Frank hated the color.”
“So, why?”
“Because it would have made him mad.” She looked away, then back, fury darkening her eyes. “He was going to call off the wedding.”
“I heard.”
Heather blinked. “You did?”
“Lisa found his journal and read a bit of the entry where he said he was calling it off.”
Her face paled. “Lisa had it? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“So, you knew about the journal?”
Her friend hesitated. “Yes, but he never intended anyone to read it. Those were his private thoughts and feelings.” Heather raked a hand over her hair, pushing a few strands behind her ear. “I can’t believe he left it with her.”
“He didn’t intentionally leave it with her.”
“But he did, and she found it and read it, right?” A short scoff. “What else did he say?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think Lisa read the whole thing, just that part. She gave the journal to Bryce this morning.”
“And has he read it?”
“No, he just picked it up. Forget the journal. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it was embarrassing!” Heather paced to the kitchen and back. She stopped at the bookshelf she’d moved away from the wall and picked up a picture of her and Frank. “I’d already been left at the altar once, and now this? I couldn’t believe it. I thought he was finally—”
“Finally what?”
“Nothing! It doesn’t matter now.” She replaced the picture and looked down at her hands. “Excuse me a minute while I go wash this paint off.”
“Heather—”
“Just give me a minute, Jade, okay?”
Jade raked a hand through her ponytail. “Fine. Sure.” Heather disappeared down the hall, and Jade walked to the couch, then back to the front door, her rubber-soled shoes quiet on the plywood. She returned to the couch and dropped her face into her palms.
When she opened her eyes, she spotted something on the plywood that didn’t look like it belonged there. A large brown stain.
Coldness settled in the pit of her stomach, and she didn’t like where her mind went. But she couldn’t help it. She’d seen stains like that before. Jade walked into the hallway and heard the sink in the hall bathroom still running. She hurried to the kitchen and retrieved a plastic baggie and a pointed knife.
Kneeling at the edge of the stain, she stuck the tip of the knife into it, carved out a small sliver of the wood and slid it into the baggie. Then she pinched the edges shut and stuffed the bag into the inside pocket of her jacket.
“What are you doing?”
Jade spun. Heather stood at the entrance to the den, drying her hands on a towel.
“Nothing.” She stepped forward trying to hide the knife on the floor. “Just trying to figure out your vision for this room.”
Her friend’s gaze dropped to the floor, and her jaw tightened. She tossed the towel onto the covered sofa and shoved her hands into the pockets of her painting smock.
