The Sinner (Notorious 1)

“No way, Mom.” Katie shook her head.

“Go,” I said, giving her a hard look until Katie sighed dramatically and finally left.

I flew into the bush.

“What the hell are you still doing—”

Sweat ran down his back. His very naked back. Suddenly I felt every degree of the midday heat.

“Here,” I finished, trying to end strong. Trying to keep my eyes off his smooth skin.

He turned, dropping the scythe and wiping an arm across his brow. “Working,” he said, his eyes totally empty. “I’m going to finish what I started.”

“It’s not necessary,” I insisted.

“Trust me, it is,” he answered, and I got the sense he was talking about something else.

“You’ve been fired.”

“Talk to your grandmother.” His dead eyes flared with life. “I am sorry,” he said. “I never meant to hurt anyone. Last night…”

“Won’t happen again.”

“I know,” he said. “But it’s why I wouldn’t have sex with you. I couldn’t. No matter how much I wanted-“

“Yes, yes,” I snapped, hating that he knew he hurt me, “You’re very noble.”

I left quickly, relieved that my battle lay with Margot.

Margot was stretched out across her bed, Matt’s files around her and Katie tucked up beside her.

“Did you know your brother Carter has been promoted to Mayor Pro Tempore of Baton Rouge? He’s the president of city council.” Margot put down the files and beamed, the proud relative. “Isn’t that incredible? So smart, that boy. I always knew—”

“It would be incredible if he picked up the phone and called to tell us himself,” I barked, feeling raw and pissed.

“Well, I imagine he’s busy,” Margot said. “Chief of—”

“Why is he still here?” I demanded, unwilling to be sidetracked.

“I can only assume you are talking about Matt.” Margot put down Carter’s file and took off her reading glasses.

“I want him gone.”

“He’s not leaving.”

I blinked, speechless, stunned by Margot’s insensitivity.

“He lied to us, Margot. He had us investigated.”

“With due cause, I think. He was trying to get justice for his father. It’s pretty noble, once you think about it.”

“His father’s a thief and Matt is a fraud!”

“He was a fraud. And now, we have a very contrite handyman.”

I could only gape.

“Shove over.” Margot gave Katie a jostle and Katie scrambled to make room. “Come sit down,” Margot invited, patting the bed right beside the picture of a laughing me.

“Tell me you’re joking,” I said through numb lips.

Margot shook her head. “We need the work done.”

“We’ll get someone else.”

“We tried that already,” Margot said, stretching out her legs.

“I don’t want him in my home.”

“I’m not dead yet, honey,” Margot said, a hundred percent resolved, and a resolved Margot was an unshakeable one. “So it’s still my house.”

I felt betrayed down to my toes. I finally sat on the corner of the bed, defeated and tired. “What are you doing?”

Margot reached out to touch her hair. “You liked him, honey,” she whispered as if he were a puppy in a window.

I shook off the touch, horrified. “You’re matchmaking?”

Margot shrugged and winked at Katie, who was watching the exchange like a starved dog watched a chicken bone.

Overcome on all sides, I fell backward on the bed.

“Come on, honey,” Margot said. “It’s only a few days and we really do need to get that work finished. And considering his guilt and his profession, I think it’s safe to say we’re going to get far more than we paid for.”

We already did, I thought, feeling the silk around my wrists.

“Mom doesn’t want him here,” Katie said, the little pit bull, and I squeezed her leg.

“It’s fine.” I sighed. “But I’m having nothing to do with him.”

“Sure you are,” Margot said, her voice rich with a feminine knowledge that put my teeth on edge.

“Who’s this?” Katie asked, picking up one of the files. She twisted it so I could see the photo.

My blood momentarily stopped in my veins.

The beauty in the picture was the mother I hadn’t seen in twenty years.

It was Vanessa as I remembered her, getting into a car. Her eyes hidden behind glasses, her hand lifted in a merry wave that seemed to say, “I’ll only be gone a few minutes.”

A lie, that gesture.

“Your grandmother,” Margot said, when I couldn’t seem to find the words.

“How come she’s not here?” Katie asked in the simple way of kids. “And why don’t Uncle Tyler and Uncle Carter come visit?” Katie pulled up pictures of Carter and Tyler.

All of the reasons seemed lame. Stupid. Years seemed to go by so fast.

“I’m going to make sure Carter and Tyler come home for Christmas,” I said. “It’s time.”

“That would be lovely,” Margot said. “But we’d have more luck if we accepted Carter’s invitation to spend the holiday in Baton Rouge. You know he doesn’t like his past getting mixed up with his present.”

“I don’t think coming home for one Christmas is going to kill his professional career,” I snapped.