Page 65 of Lone Wolf in Lights
“Only doing what any friend would do,” Betty responded. “I cherish having Willow in my life.”
“We’re glad for it,” her father said with a genuine smile. “It’s much easier for us, with having Willow so far away, that she’s here surrounded by wonderful people.”
Betty smiled softly, glancing at Willow. “I’m quite certain we are the lucky ones.”
Willow felt her heart grow three sizes. Her family was here. Her friends were here. But there was someone missing...and with each hour that had gone by, the more her mind cleared, and the more she missed him.
“Let me grab us some drinks,” Willow said, hurrying behind the bar to pour some of her father’s favorite spiced whiskey.
As Willow grabbed the whiskey bottle, her mother joined her at the bar. She leaned across the weathered wood of the counter, her eyes locking onto Willow’s with intensity.
“Sweetheart,” she began, her voice low and laced with concern, “is everything all right?”
Willow hesitated, the weight of unspoken thoughts suddenly heavy on her chest. The festive atmosphere around her faded into the background as she met her mother’s gaze. “I’m okay,” she said with a smile.
“Is it the market?” her mother prodded gently, reaching out to cover Willow’s hand with her own.
“Partly,” Willow admitted. “I’ll tell you about it later, but there’s a guy...”
Her mother’s eyes widened. “A guy?”
“A really, really good guy,” Willow said. “He’s a very close friend of Charly’s boyfriend, Jaxon.”
“Ah,” her mother breathed, nodding as if everything made sense now. “I should have known that look on your face had something to do with love.”
“Love?” Willow gasped, shaking her head. “No, it’s not like that.”
“Hmm,” was her mother’s reply.
“What doeshmmmean?” Willow asked, beginning to pour the drinks.
Her mother gave her a stern look, took one of the half-full glasses and angled it toward Willow. “Sweetie, you know whathmmmeans. It means what it always has.”
“That you don’t believe me?” Willow offered.
With a knowing grin, her mother clanged her glass against the one Willow was holding and stated, “No, sweetheart, I don’t.”
Truth was, even Willow didn’t believe herself.
Betty’s words had stayed on Eli’s mind all day. He knew listening to her was the best thing to do, and the only way for Eli to do that was to face something—someone—he had never wanted to face.
Coldness sank into his bones as he stepped into the stillness of the jail in Red Deer. The corridor stretched before him, dimly lit and narrow, walls closing in with each step he took. There was no turning back now, only forward, into the darkest place he’d gone yet. To stare into the eyes of a killer that shattered his family.
He passed by uniformed officers as he followed the correctional officer leading him toward the room.
And then he sawhim—the bastard who had extinguished the brightest light Eli had known growing up—seated on the other side of a glass partition, his posture rigid, yet indifferent. Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Johnny watched Eli’s approach. His eyes were voids, empty of any semblance of human warmth or regret.
“Sit down,” came the gruff instruction from a guard at Eli’s side.
Eli took the seat across from Johnny, who had taken everything from him, the hard plastic chair offering no comfort. He’d met Johnny a dozen times over the years, whenever he’d come home, and he looked the same—dark eyes, scruffy beard, but seemed to have put on more muscle behind bars. Probably to survive, Eli wondered.
He picked up the phone receiver as did Johnny. Eli leaned forward, palm flat against the cool surface of the table. “Look at you,” Eli said, his voice low. “Sitting there like you don’t have a care in the world.”
Johnny tilted his head slightly, a gesture so devoid of empathy. “Did you come here for closure, Eli?” Johnny asked, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. His tone was casual, as if discussing something as mundane as the weather, not the shattering loss of a life.
“Satisfaction,” Eli corrected sharply. “I came here for satisfaction.”
“Satisfaction?” Johnny snorted a laugh. “And what does that look like to you?”
