Page 61 of Mistaken Identity
It was Audric’s chance to flinch.
“As much as I can…” He trailed off and said, “Stand it,” underneath his breath.
He probably couldn’t stand it all that much if I had to take a guess.
I wouldn’t be able to, either.
I’m sure that he looked at her and saw her when she’d first done it.
I’m sure that Audric’s father felt the same.
Audric’s mother got to typing again and said, “Is this your soon-to-be wife?”
Before Audric could answer, I blurted, “Yes. We’re getting married in the fall. Neither one of us is that well off, so we’re going to have to go to a courthouse to get married.”
Sorry we’re not ever going to invite you.
The rest of the visit was about as depressing as the beginning.
Audric didn’t have much to say.
I stayed silent other than my outburst about us getting married.
And Audric’s mom took so long to type and ask questions that the conversation was stilted at best.
Needless to say, after we left thirty minutes after we arrived, Audric was in a terrible mood.
“Let’s go see your dad,” I suggested. “Tell him not to fight it.”
Audric looked at me. “You think he would?”
He actually sounded worried.
“I think that he’s a man, and he feels responsible, and we’re going to have to set him straight so that he doesn’t fight it.” I paused. “Are you in danger of losing the house on North Shore?”
“If he doesn’t go along with this, it’s a distinct possibility,” he admitted. “We were close when Laney offered to get married to me and share her inheritance.”
I remembered that day vividly.
“You know, I was probably four hundred thousand dollars in debt, too,” I murmured. “She saved both of us.”
Despite her selfish actions with Gunner, Laney really was a good person.
She worked hard, volunteered, and donated a lot of her money to charity.
She was like a bottle of sunshine that never ran empty.
Was it horrible of me to be happy that she was gone, though?
If she wasn’t gone, I wouldn’t be pressed up against a man as we drove to a fire station in the middle of Dallas.
When we pulled up, a few men looked over from a distance.
It wasn’t until Audric caught my hand and held onto it like a lifeline that I realized that I recognized a few of the men.
Posy Hicks, one of Audric’s fellow Truth Tellers, was the first one to catch my eye.
He was wearing the regulation blue uniform. Navy blue shirt that said ‘DFD’ on it, short for Dallas Fire Department. And the navy blue tactical pants that had a ton of pockets for all kinds of things. They finished off the outfit with black tactical boots that laced up past the ankle.
