Smoke And Ashes

“Fine.” Lindsay lifted it for her to see. “You know, if you wanted, you could come with me and Dad to the Millers’.”

Heather’s smile came a little easier. “That’s really nice of you, but you don’t need to worry. I’ll have to go up and talk to David, but I would guess that we’re probably going together. Fighting is just what married people do.”

* * *

KEVIN MADE HIS way toward Heather’s house where Lindsay waited. David’s Porsche was in the driveway. Hopefully everything was going okay. Every time he was around, David treated him like the village idiot, and he always wrapped his arm around Heather as if she was some high school conquest rather than his wife.

He had always hated men like that.

There was no reason for two people in a healthy relationship to hover and mistrust one another. When Allison had been alive, he’d never needed to claim her. No. Anytime they had been together it was like they were magnetic. It hadn’t mattered whether they were alone or in a room filled with people, he only saw her.

They had fit.

It was dumb luck he had found such a once-in-a-lifetime love.

Maybe it was stupid of him to compare what he and Allison had to anyone else. Maybe they hadn’t had just a simple once-in-a-lifetime love. Maybe they were soul mates, their love created by the gods.

Either way, he appreciated Allison way more than David seemed to appreciate the special woman he had found in Heather. His neighbor didn’t deserve such a woman—a woman so beautiful that the first time Kevin had met her she’d taken his breath away, a woman who put up with David’s possessiveness, a woman who accepted the hours that a cardiologist worked. Who knew what else she was forced to accept. Bottom line—Heather deserved better. Whether she knew it was another thing.

Regardless, it was none of his business. And he shouldn’t be thinking of his neighbor and his daughter’s babysitter this way. Though, truthfully, she’d been in his thoughts way too often lately.

He parked the truck and walked toward the house. Every bush along the walkway was perfectly shaped into a little sphere—it was like a trail of bombs just waiting to explode.

He knocked on the door.

It creaked open. Heather’s long brunette hair was pulled half up, making her look like one of those models from the Victoria’s Secret catalogs that he kept hidden in his bedroom like a teenager. Quickly he envisioned her in the skimpy lingerie and his gaze drifted to her breasts, but he wrestled his attention away. He hardened at the thought of her undressed.

What was wrong with him today? There were so many other things he needed to be worried about besides how a friend looked naked.

“Hey. I’m glad you’re here.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Something was wrong.

“Lindsay good?”

Heather’s face tightened.

At the sound of his voice, Lindsay poked her head around the corner and smiled. “I gotta grab my backpack.”

He turned back to Heather and looked into the darkness that seemed to fill her hazel eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Really. Just tired,” she said, maybe a little too insistently.

“I appreciate your taking Lindsay, but if you have other things that you need to take care of, I can find something else to do with her. Colter’s sixteen—he could be helping.”

Heather leaned in close. “No teenage boy wants to babysit his sister. I’m sure he has other things on his mind.” Her breath brushed his cheek. He breathed in, trying to control his body, but she smelled like flowers and the scent only made him harder.

“Yeah. Other things on his mind,” he said, stumbling through his words. He tried to take that advice and thought about baseball and who won the 1996 American League pennant.

“Are you okay, Kevin?” Heather frowned.

“Yankees,” he blurted out, trying to look anywhere but at her.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He leaned in, through the open door, brushing lightly against Heather and her not-to-be-noticed-by-him breasts. “Lindsay, let’s go!”

“Coming!” Lindsay said in a sing-song voice.

David came down the stairs and stopped beside Heather, barely giving her a sideways glance. He smiled. His teeth were straight with long, oversize canines. “Hi, Kev, how’s it going?” He slapped him on the back. “Heading to the Millers’ tonight? It’s going to be a good one.”

“Thought I’d pop in. Probably won’t stay too long.” The lust he had been feeling disappeared as he stared at David’s predatory smile.

“Long day?” David wrapped his arm around Heather, but she seemed to freeze under his touch.

“Brutal.”

When Lindsay made her way to the door, David turned and gave her a warm smile. “Thanks for coming by, hon. Great to have you here keeping the old ball and chain happy.”

Lindsay stared at David, a confused look on her face. “Sure, Dr. Sampson.” She slid past David, giving him plenty of space. “Bye, Mrs. Sampson. See you soon.” She rushed to the car.

From Lindsay’s befuddled look, he couldn’t help wondering what he had missed.

He turned to Heather. “Everything go okay?”

“Of course. Always.” Heather looked to David as though she was checking to make sure she was saying the right thing.

“We have a few things to discuss.” David pushed Heather back and moved to close the door. “Talk to you later, Kev.”

“It’s Kevin.”

David didn’t seem to notice; instead, he turned toward Heather. As the door closed, Kevin could swear his face was contorted with rage.

Chapter Four (#ulink_72d2550e-cd1e-554e-8da0-24e0b87dd1ba)

The teak chair pinched Heather’s leg as she perched on the edge trying to make her legs look sexy. David wasn’t even looking at her; instead he stood chatting away with Heather’s beautiful friend Brittany. He brushed back Brittany’s blond hair and whispered something. Her laughter cut through the air.

The grill sizzled and smoke poured into Heather’s face, making her look away. A group of teenage boys were splashing around in the pool as the teenage girls sat on the side whispering behind their hands and texting on their bubblegum-pink phones.

Life had been so much simpler at that age. Days consumed with flirting and laughter. Nights filled with dreams of things to come. When she was close to that age she had been consumed with thoughts of the charming, too handsome, college-aged David—the man who had started their relationship with flowers and love notes and now couldn’t even look her in the eye.

She walked over to him, but only Brittany looked at her. “Hiya, Heather. David was just telling me about his day. He’s so funny!”

He hadn’t been funny with her in a long time.

She suffered through a smile. “Yeah.”

Brittany turned to David and laid her hand on his shoulder. “Did you tell her what happened?”

David finally bothered to look at her, but his eyes were pinched into a glare. “She doesn’t like to hear about my job.”