Just a Little White Lie(78)
Absolute outrage iced her voice. “Do I get my one phone call?”
“Yep.”
“Let me guess,” she said. “Later.”
He gave her a crooked grin. “You got it.”
Her mind raced. What was going on here? Would Birdie be willing to help her against her own father? Would the rental company clear things up, or had they somehow made a humungous mis—
Jake? What the heck was he doing here, sitting on a bunk in a cell and looking every bit as angry as she felt?
“Why are you here?” He jumped to his feet. “Randy, what’s going on?”
The officer shrugged. “Danged if I know. I just do what your dad tells me.” He extracted a ring of keys from his belt, opened the cell next to Jake’s and herded Lucinda inside, his face red. “Sorry about this, Ms. Darling.”
When the door clanged shut behind her, Lucinda flinched. Felt the rise of claustrophobia, fear beating wildly in her chest. She couldn’t stay in here.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and was instantly sorry. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of stale beer and urine. She eyes flew open. “Ick! That stench! Is it you, Jake?”
“No!” He sounded offended. “Jeez! It’s this place. The smells soak into the walls, the floor.”
“Hah! You ought to smell it on Saturday nights,” a man from a cell at the end of the corridor said.
“I think I’ll pass,” Lucinda answered. She jerked her thumb at her jail mate. “What’s he doing in here, Randy?”
“Who, Jake?”
She nodded.
“He’s locked up for threatening an officer of the law.”
“I raised my voice to my dad.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. What’d you do?”
“Stole a car.”
His eyes narrowed. “You smell a setup here, Luce?”
“Oh yes.” She looked around her. “In addition to other things.”
“I think he had help,” Jake said. “In fact, I’ll bet a little Birdie is behind this. Dad was talking to her on his phone.” His face grew thoughtful. “Just before he left, he told me he’d always wanted what was best for me.”
Her heart clenched. Did that mean—
“And me?” Jake said. “I’ve been sitting here stewing because I’m a bigger jerk than Donald.”
“What?”
She moved closer to the cell bars between them.
“I was so stupid this morning, Luce. When you wouldn’t stay with me… And then I heard you talkin’ to your dad…” He looked miserable. “I overreacted. I knew you didn’t mean what you were saying. I heard the sarcasm.” He folded his hands.
“Jake.”
“No, Lucy. Let me finish. I told myself not to get involved. Right from the beginning, I warned myself you were out of my league. But I couldn’t stop what was happenin’. Here.” He thumped a hand over his heart. “I convinced myself you were gonna walk away. So when I saw those pictures…I got stupid. I shouldn’t have let you go. I should have stopped you, told you how I feel.”
“Oh, Jake, I wish you had.”
“And,” he continued, “I should have plowed my dad since I’m paying the price anyway.”
“No. You shouldn’t have. I think, in his own way, he’s trying to fix things.”
“Maybe.”
“You know what the most dangerous thing is, Jake? Not to be willing to go after what you really want because you feel you have to meet the expectations of others. I’ve always believed I had to agree with my parents so they wouldn’t leave me the way they left each other.”
“Luce—”
She shook her head. “I don’t expect you to understand. You can’t. I know your dad’s been hard on you, but at least you have him. You have your family, your history. They love you. You. Not what you’ll do for them.”
He met her halfway, and they clasped fingers through the bars. “Your dad did this because he loves you.”
“Bull! He did it because he wants to be God. Control everything and everybody.”
“No,” she said. “It would have been far easier to let me leave, then work on you and Wanda Sue, his choice for you.”
“He gave it a halfhearted try this morning.” Jake’s eyes darkened with emotion. “Then he went after you. Brought you back…to me.”
She nodded.
Staring into Jake’s beautiful eyes, Lucinda knew she had leaped over that last invisible barricade she’d erected to protect herself.
A slow smile curved Jake’s lips. His heart was in his eyes as he reached through and drew her close. His hand slid behind her head as their lips met between the bars.