Second Time's the Charm

Obviously blinded by her affection for Jon’s son, she’d made Jon into something he was not.

“I’m going to get on with my life, Lil. I’m going to try to patch things up with Leah. And certainly with Ely. But you, Lil, I can’t make right what I did to you. Except to beg you to not let my sins close off that generous heart of yours. Not for my sake but for yours. And for those who need you.”

Whether Jon was guilty of the break-ins or not wasn’t even the issue anymore. He’d deliberately hidden part of himself from her. Something she’d deserved to know before entering into any kind of intimate relationship with him.

“My father told me that you’d been seeing someone and that, yesterday after seeing you, he had a feeling you’d stopped. Please, Lil, don’t stop on my account. I’m not good enough for you and maybe this guy isn’t, either, but please don’t judge him by me.”

Lillie hung up.

She felt like shit.

Like shit, but not shut down. Her heart was raw, aching.

Over another man who’d misled her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THERE WAS STILL a light on in the living room. Sheriff Richards had informed him, as Addy escorted him out of the police station, that Lillie was still at his house with Abraham.

And then warned him not to go anywhere.

They’d sent someone to a lab in Phoenix with the suction-cup print they’d taken from Lillie’s sliding glass doors to compare with prints taken after the break-ins. Richards had already made a visual match.

As soon as they had an official match, they’d be pressing charges.

Jon knew they weren’t going to have a match—if they ran legitimate tests.

But as long as Richards was trying to pin the thefts on him, the real thief was not going to be caught.

Not that he had to concern himself with anything except leaving town.

The lights from Mark’s truck had long since faded away but Jon still stood on the sidewalk leading up to his place, eager to get inside to Abraham, to hear his son breathe and see for himself that he was okay.

But he wasn’t ready to face Lillie.

He had to go in.

To be who he really was, not the man he’d tried so hard to be. The front door opened. “Jon?” Her voice was soft as she called out to him.

By college standards it was still early—just past ten. Lights were on in the units on either side of his. He remembered asking the guys who shared the other side of his duplex to be quiet after eight at night.

“Yeah.” His hands in his pockets, he took a step forward.

“You coming in? It’s cold out there and you don’t have a jacket.”

He hadn’t needed one when the sun had been up, warming the desert.

“Yeah.” He didn’t want to leave the cool night air and sucked in another huge breath as he crossed the threshold into his temporary home.

“I’ll need a ride to the truck,” he said. “You’ve got the keys.”

He’d need them back, too.

She nodded but didn’t move to get them. “I don’t think we should disturb Abraham right now,” she said, sounding as if they were back at the clinic and she knew what she was talking about.

“Because of his tubes?” He’d missed the doctor’s debrief. Was Abe supposed to lie still for a period of time after the procedure to cut down on drainage? Or to keep the tubes from slipping?

“No, I just don’t think it would be good for him to wake up. It’s been a weird day and he’s still coming down from anesthesia. He might cry. Or even have a tantrum and the pressure in his head wouldn’t be good for him.”