Kele Moon: Crossing the line

Between pain and regret, the sweetness still lingers, and in that ray of light I cry out to you—Why.

The car door opened, and Tabitha looked up guiltily. Wyatt paused for a moment, staring at the book on her lap before he climbed into the car and handed over her purse. “I didn’t find any luggage.”

“I dropped it off already. Terry’s renting me that cabin of his on Winding Ridge.”

Wyatt stared at her, his gaze intense. “I heard.”

“Oh.”

Tabitha felt her cheeks heat as she absorbed that information, having the brief thought to kick Terry very hard in an uncomfortable place for meddling. Was it built into the genetic makeup of every Garnet resident to stick their nose in everyone else’s business?

“That one’s my favorite.”

Tabitha looked up at him curiously. “What?”

“That book.” Wyatt pointed to the book still in her lap, open to the dedication page that was as well-worn as every other page in the book. “It’s my favorite of the series.”

Tabitha set her purse next to her and then closed the book self-consciously. Her hands were less than clean, and she was worried she’d gotten it dirty, which was bizarre for her. Coveting something she had boxes and boxes of back home.

“I think it’s my favorite too,” she agreed, giving him a wan smile as she leaned down and tucked his book back where she’d found it. “It has, uh…a special place in my heart. I hope I didn’t get it dirty.”

Wyatt shrugged. “If you did, you could probably replace it.”

“I could,” she said quickly. “I will if you want me to. Replace it, I mean. Get you a better copy. An autographed copy.”

Tabitha winced at that last part, knowing it probably sounded uppity and presumptuous.

“I sort of like my old copy.” Wyatt pulled the car door closed and sat there with his hands on the steering wheel, staring ahead as rain splashed against the windshield. The silence was deafening, the tension pulsing off him nearly choking the air out of the car before he finally asked, “Why’d you come back?”

Tabitha wished she had a different answer for him, one he wanted to hear. Instead she just admitted, “My mom has a blockage in her heart. She needs surgery, and you know Brett’s not gonna take care of it. She’s got diabetes too, and a whole host of other medical problems that have to be handled.”

Wyatt flinched. The pain showed on his face for one brief moment before he turned his head to look out the side window and take a long, cooling breath. “I’m sorry ’bout your mom.”

Tabitha nodded and considered him. He was so big in person, so overwhelmingly broad and muscular. His wide shoulders were tight, the tension was still bleeding off him to the point that she wanted to reach out and comfort him somehow, but there was nothing to be done. She finally whispered, “I’m sorry too…for everything.”

Wyatt didn’t respond. He just sat there quietly for a few moments and then started the car as if there was nothing else to say. Tabitha hadn’t really expected him to say it was fine that she’d walked out on him less than a week after they’d gotten married, but the deafening silence wasn’t any easier to bear for being predictable.

Tabitha stared out the window as they drove. She tried to worry about her mother, her abandoned car, or even her fear and resentment over being forced back to Garnet. Even the hatred for Brett seemed better to focus on than the pulsing sorrow that was welling up inside her chest and making the rural scenery grow blurry in a way that had nothing to do with the rain.

When he turned down the long driveway that led to the lake house, Tabitha was ready to leap out of the car and run away from the heartache. Wyatt must have sensed her urge to flee and grabbed her wrist gently. He gave her a look that said he expected her to stay put.

Tabitha shook her head in denial, because being with him was ripping her apart on a soul-deep level. She’d rather be back home with Brett than alone in that lake house with Wyatt. “I’m fine. Really, Wy, you don’t have to fuss over me.”

Wyatt opened the car door and stepped out as if he hadn’t heard a word of her argument against it. “Just lemme get the first-aid kit out of the back.”

Tabitha huffed in defeat, knowing how stubborn Wyatt got when he had his mind set on something. She had a ring that proved that. Only now realizing it, she looked to her left hand, seeing the golden band, and felt a sinking horror. Not for Wyatt to see she still wore it, but for Brett or her mother to notice and start asking questions. Why hadn’t she thought of it before this moment?

She pulled at the band, trying to wiggle it off her finger, but the summer heat made it hard to get off. She managed to slip it a little up and saw the deep groove left from thirteen years of wearing a ring she never took off, along with a noticeable white tan line. Too much Florida sun. On or off, it made no difference. Anyone who bothered to look would know she was married.

Her car door opened, and Tabitha dropped her hand self-consciously, hoping to God Wyatt didn’t see her fight with her wedding ring. She grabbed her purse, clutched the blanket tighter, and jumped out of the car before Wyatt could do something like try to carry her again. If he wanted to follow, she couldn’t stop him. Even if he wasn’t sheriff, which made him something akin to God of Garnet, he was still bullheaded.

She fished in her purse for the small set of keys as she walked up to the lake house, that was surrounded by woods and hidden so far off the main road few knew it was still there. It was bigger than she needed, but the only other place Terry had to rent was next door to Clay Powers, and she sure didn’t need that.

“Wow, Terry really did fix this place up, didn’t he? It’s like Better Homes and Gardens in here,” Wyatt mused behind her. “I hadn’t really paid attention to it the last time I was in this place, but I surely can’t believe he turned that old, rotting cabin into this.”

“Well, that’s what he does.” Tabitha opened the front door. “Fixes places to work off a lifetime of too much energy. He should’ve stuck to those simple little one- and two-bedroom houses. They’re easier to rent. A place this big is harder to sell and even worse to rent, too darn expensive.”

“You seem to know a lot about what Terry’s been up to,” Wyatt said suspiciously. “Have ya been keeping up with him?”

Tabitha turned to Wyatt, who stood behind her, a backpack over his shoulder, a large white first-aid kit in his hands. An explanation was on the tip of her tongue. Terry was her friend, one of her only true friends from childhood except Clay Powers, whose loyalty certainly wasn’t in her court anymore, but the words were trapped in her throat. She couldn’t make excuses for staying in touch with Terry and spilling her secrets to an old friend while keeping her husband in the dark.

She could always tell him the truth, which was the best explanation of them all, but she wouldn’t risk that. Keeping that secret from Wyatt was the reason she’d left.

“I’m gonna go take a shower.”

Tabitha turned back around and promptly tripped over her luggage still in the foyer. Wyatt dropped the first-aid kit and caught her before she could face plant on the hard European tile. It took amazingly quick reflexes to save Tabitha from herself at this point in the game. She should be impressed, but all it did was humiliate her further. She looked down to the bandages scattered over the floor and felt her cheeks heat.

“Please lemme go.” She closed her eyes, feeling Wyatt’s big hands holding her upper arms through the blanket, and whispered, “I need to go drown myself now.”

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay alone in the shower?”