“But I’m not strong like you, Casey.” Meg fought to stop them, but warm tears rolled down her cheeks. “He broke my heart again and I’m just barely hanging on here. I’m trying to stay brave in front of the kids, but what if I’m not strong enough to deal with whatever life throws at me and I screw everything up again? And now I have Haley to worry about too, so then what?”
Casey pulled Meg toward her and squeezed tight. “Then we’ll be here to pick you up and dust you off just like before. But you are strong enough, Meg.” Casey kissed the top of Meg’s head. “I’ve always believed in you. I just wish you’d believe in yourself for a change.”
“Easier said than done.” Meg let Casey hold her for a few minutes while she pulled herself together. She wanted to go home, hide under the covers, and hope the pain would ease by the morning.
Wiping her tears, she leaned back. “Can I borrow a Jet Ski to get home?”
“I had Trent leave you one at the end of the dock. I love you. Call me later, okay?”
“’Kay. Love you too.” Her mind whirling with what her sister had said, Meg slowly made her way down to the dock. She slipped into her life jacket, stowed her food, then turned the key that was dangling in the ignition. Cranking the gas, she tore away from the dock.
What was she going to do? Just because everyone told her she should consider forgiving Josh didn’t mean she could. His betrayal made it hard to even think about him, much less look at him. How could she let someone with the power to hurt her so deeply back into her life again?
She wasn’t Casey. She wasn’t the girl who had all the answers and did everything right. She was the screwup her dad worried would ruin his fine reputation. And now Amber had made sure the whole town remembered that was exactly what Meg was.
Pulling up to her new dock, she spotted Grandma’s car in the drive.
Great. That’s all she needed. Someone else telling her how to feel.
She tossed the life jacket and her dinner onto the dock, then hauled herself up and made her way to the back door. She crossed through the laundry room and into the kitchen to put the food in the fridge. She unloaded the bag and found a meatball sub, a bag of chips, a turkey sandwich, and a fruit cup.
Her grandmother called out, “Megan? What in tarnation took you so long? Get in here right now, young lady.”
Steeling herself for one more conversation she didn’t want to have, she grabbed her bag of Dove chocolates off the counter, went to the living room, and pulled up short.
Grandma sat in a rocking chair pointing a rifle at Josh, who was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed.
Meg tossed the bag of candy on the coffee table. “What’s going on, Grandma?”
Grandma slowly rose from her chair, threw her gun over her shoulder, and picked up her cane before heading for the front door. “You two are going to stay in here until you work everything out. I’ll be right outside on the front porch, so don’t try anything funny.”
The front door closed firmly behind her.
Crap!
So everyone had been in on it. Aunt Gloria, Casey keeping the kids, and Grandma kidnapping Josh at gunpoint. Never a dull day in Anderson Butte. But just for once, couldn’t everyone mind their own business?
When she finally met Josh’s gaze, the pain in his eyes matched hers, and her stomach sank. What was she going to do?
What she really wanted was to curl up in a ball in her bed. Was that so much to ask? She said, “You can go out the back if you want. There’s a Jet Ski that needs to be returned to the hotel anyway.”
Josh’s right brow popped up. “And risk getting shot by your grandmother again? I don’t think so.”
“She won’t really shoot you.”
“Says the woman with cute little buckshot scars on her ass to the man still recovering from the last time your crazy grandma shot me.” He rubbed his left arm where Grams had tagged him.
He stood and walked toward her.
She stepped backward with each of his forward steps until her knees hit the rocking chair Grandma had been sitting in. “I can’t do this, Josh.”
“I hated that I had to lie to you, Meg. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to fix this.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing that will fix what you’ve done to us. I’ll . . . just . . . go.”
He reached out and took her hand, but she pulled it out of his grasp. On a sigh he said, “Your grandmother can’t force you to forgive me. And neither can I. Only you can decide if you will or can.” He tilted her chin with his finger and stared into her eyes. “Tell me you don’t love me, Meg, and I’ll take my chances and be the one to go.”