Page 4 of Crumbling Truth
Something in his tone caught my attention. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing,” he replied as he smiled and finished his beer. “Only that you might hear some rumors around town about Esther and her late husband.”
“What kind of rumors?”
That jovial smile broadened and he said, “Oh, just that she murdered him.”
Chapter Two
Esther
Imanagedtosliphomewhile my landlord’s son was still out, though I heard his truck pull into the driveway barely half an hour later. It was silly to try to avoid him, but I wasn’t ready yet.
Then again, I’d probably never be ready. Maybe it’d be better to give in to the inevitable and get it over with.
Anita Vasquez-Silver was one of my closest friends, even if she was more a mother figure and mentor than a peer. I owed her a great deal after she’d swooped in to help me when my husband died, but I’d spent weeks rolling my eyes at her little comments about her handsome eldest son. I had encountered the younger one, Alex, several times in the years since I’d moved in, but Anita had never attempted to play matchmaker between the two of us.
Apparently the son who’d moved away was a different story.
He’d left town years before I moved here from Oakville for college. Though Anita spoke of him often and I knew she andLou went down to visit him a couple times in the years since I’d moved into their guest house, he never came here.
Then again, my parents lived one town over in my childhood home and I didn’t visit them, so who was I to throw stones?
The only thing I knew about him was what I’d heard from Anita: he ran a successful business of some kind down in North Carolina, he was handsome and clever, and he was clearly enough of a sucker to let her convince him to come cat-sit over the holidays.
Though I told her I could feed the cat, Anita insisted the feline would be too lonely at home by herself and I couldn’t have Toni around while I was baking, so here we were.
Besides, nothing had been clearer than just how badly Anita wanted her firstborn to return to Spruce Hill, even if she wouldn’t be there to welcome him. It didn’t seem like the best time to butt in and foil her plans.
Once I finished updating my accounting spreadsheet, I rose to start a pot of water for pasta, but a knock at the door froze me in place for a solid minute before the soft sound came again. I forced my limbs to move toward the door, bracing myself as I swung it open to reveal the handsome stranger who’d bought turnovers and cookies the other day.
For a breathless moment, we stared at each other in shocked silence.
He was the perfect combination of his parents: Anita’s rich brown hair and eyes the color of dark caramel, Lou’s chiseled jaw under a close-cropped beard that looked soft and lush. Thick waves fell over his forehead and his broad shoulders filled the doorway.
How the hell did I miss the resemblance when he came to the truck?
No, I knew how. I’d been caught up on the arrival of a new face—a gorgeous one that topped a muscled frame stretchingsomewhere over six feet, with the kind of deep voice I wanted to read me to sleep every night of my life.
While I blinked at him, taking in all that made up this beautiful man, his lips curved up into a sheepish smile, revealing a flash of straight white teeth. “You.”
“And you,” I replied, shaking my head a little to get my thoughts in order.
“You’re Esther?”
Stupidly, I glanced down at myself like I needed to check. “I am.”
“I’m sorry to barge in on you. I just wanted to introduce myself, since our paths haven’t crossed yet. Or, I guess, since I thought they hadn’t. I’m Theo.”
He held out a hand—a big, capable hand—and I ignored the fizzle of sensation that zipped along my veins when I shook it. His palm was rough and warm and I found myself staring down at how it dwarfed my own instead of responding.
“I swear I’m not trying to be a creep, but I pulled out a container from the freezer to make for dinner and found this,” he continued as he released my hand to pull an index card from his pocket.
“Oh,” I replied, wincing inwardly at the inanity of the word as I took it.
This is Esther’s favorite. Invite her to have dinner with you. Assure her I followed all the allergy protocols she’s taught me. Do NOT screw this up.
A strangled noise caught in my throat. For a second, I considered refusing, but I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t turn around and tell Anita that I was an ungrateful wretch. Instead, I sighed and handed the card back to him, meeting his amused gaze as his fingers brushed mine again.
