Not in Her Wildest Dreams(55)

"Money," Sterling answered. "She spends a lot of time at the bingo-plex."

"Olinda's been arrested for the fire at Dad's," Paige provided to Brit.

Britta started feverishly texting, probably to her contacts at the courthouse and her dad.         

     



 

"You were almost killed in that fire, Paige," Sterling said. "I couldn't not go to the police. You see that, don't you?"

Her lips were trembling as the magnitude of this news began to penetrate. "She thought I was gone," she excused.

"It could have spread. She put the whole neighborhood in danger."

"But-" Olinda had been the one to point her toward accounting, telling  her it was a solid profession. She'd been the one to coax her past  feeling self-conscious about her feminine curves and had never judged  over the Sterling debacle and she'd listened to all her problems in  Paige's marriage with a sympathetic ear.

"Why does everyone I love let me down?" she asked, catching the flash of guilt in Britta's expression.

They hadn't talked about the way Britta's attitude had sent Lyle to  parts unknown. Paige had learned long ago not to get between those two.  She sublimated the blame and resentment because she loved Britta and saw  her side of it as clearly as she saw Lyle's.

"Don't drive back tonight," Sterling said in her ear. "You're too upset  and Britta's probably tired. Get some sleep and we'll talk about it when  you're home tomorrow-"

"Why would I come back there?" She realized tears were gathering like  rain clouds in her sinuses, making her sniff and blurring her vision.  "Half my family already left. Zack graduates next year and goes to  college. Apparently Olinda is going to jail. I should move Mom here and  quit that stupid town for good."

"Paige. I knew you'd be mad at me for calling the police, but she almost killed you."

"That town almost killed me. That factory and trying to please everyone  and-" She sniffed, starting to drown in her own self-pity. "Just buy out  Dad so I never have to go back there again."

"Paige-"

"Hey." Britta slid close, took the phone in one hand and hugged Paige  with the other arm. "We're going to need some time to process here,  Sterling. Paige will call you back later, ‘kay?"

Britta hung up on him and wrapped both her arms around Paige. "I'm  sorry," she whispered, rocking Paige like a baby. "I'm sorry we all let  you down."





Chapter Thirty-Four

Sterling found himself heading out to the lake before it was light. His  insides were so knotted and heart so wrenched he didn't know what else  to do. That's where you went when the woman you loved crushed your soul,  right?

Then he missed the turn and kept going, passing the sign that gave him  the mileage to Seattle and kept driving, thinking, Fuck it. He wasn't  his father who let this shit happen to him and he wasn't his mother,  letting a Fogarty go because their lives happened to be messier than he  liked.

He was the guy so deeply in love, he was a drooling mess and would be until he got Paige back into his life.

~ * ~

Paige was nothing but chapped eyes and a hollow soul when Anthony buzzed to come up the next morning. Early, of course. Jerk.

His new wife had leased out her own apartment down the hall when they'd  moved in together which was why he wanted this one so badly. It was a  great building in a great location. Also, the layout in this one was  better, but Paige was not in the mood to see how happy they were.

She hit the button to release the downstairs door, not ready to try her  voice. Britta had left an hour ago after reporting that all her contacts  were keeping their lips buttoned about the investigation into Olinda  setting the fire.

"That means it's serious, Paige. If the charges weren't holding water, they'd say so."

What was left to say?

She propped open the door and moved to continue flicking through her  tablet for a two bedroom apartment with a decent commute to her office.  Something with a community center nearby for her mom. The move would be  hard on her, but...

"Do you understand how these building security systems are supposed to work?" Sterling asked.

She looked up, stared with a lack of comprehension, baffled by his presence here. "I thought you were Anthony."

"I could have been a serial murderer for all the precautions you take."

"Go back out and we'll try again," she muttered, dropping her gaze to a  picture on her tablet that didn't make sense. Her brain was nothing but  static.

"You're mad. That's fair. Maybe if you'd been there to talk to, I might  have discussed it before calling Cam. But maybe not. Because, quite  frankly I might have been afraid you'd be too lenient. We're talking  about arson, Paige."         

     



 

"I don't know if I'm mad or sad or disgusted or feeling like a sucker! I  do know I'm tired of feeling all this angst and turmoil. Anthony used  to accuse me of being addicted to it. Maybe I was, but it has to stop.  I'm the one who has to quit going back to Liebe Falls expecting things  to be different."

"So you're serious about not going back."

She shrugged, realized how weak that was and made herself say a firm, "Yes."

"Then it's a good thing that audit is done. Soon as we get the place appraised, we'll see if we can find a buyer."

She straightened, frowning. "What do you mean? You can't sell."

"Watch me."

"No. Sterling, the whole town depends on that factory."

"Do you hear yourself? Screw the town that has screwed you, Paige. If  you don't want to be there, I don't want to be there. I want to be here.  With you."

"Are you trying to guilt me into coming back there?"

"No." He shook his head, like she was something peculiar he didn't  understand. "Stop trying to save the world. We can do good things there,  we can, but so can someone else."

"I don't understand." She really didn't. Her body was reacting like  she'd woken up somewhere unfamiliar. Her pulse was unsteady and her  brain grasping at facts and sensations and details, only coming up with  how the sun glinted in his hair and his eyes looked tired and he was in  her apartment, which was really weird. Maybe she was dreaming?

"You know what your brother said to me? That I'm too self-sufficient. I  am. I can solve my own problems, Paige. You don't have to fix anything  for me. What I need from you is for you to be in my life. I love you."

She was dreaming.

She pressed her fingertips to her lips, trying to steady them. Her throat felt swollen, her heart too big for her chest.

"Don't look so damned shocked." He frowned, maybe self-conscious, maybe a  little stung. "It's always been you," he said, palm out, voice not  quite steady. "You must realize that by now."

She swallowed. She really didn't want to wake up. Not in her wildest  dreams had she let herself believe this could really happen.

"Are you-" Her voice didn't want to work. She cleared her throat. "You  would really leave Liebe Falls? For me?" She touched fingertips to her  collarbone, unable to process it. Of course, the likely fallout hit her  like a ton of bricks, making her shake her head. "People really would  hate me if I was the reason you left town again. Your mother..." She  could only imagine.

He came across and settled his hand warmly against the side of her neck. "Stop caring what people think."

"I can't!" she groused. "And I'd feel really bad if the factory stopped making money and people lost their jobs."

"Did you hear me tell you I love you? Because I'd really like to know  how you feel." He dipped his head, brow stern, nose almost touching  hers, but so much tenderness in his eyes, she could hardly breathe.

"Of course I love you." Saying the words made her eyes sting. Her throat  grew tight. "Always. So much it's stupid. I'm stupid, because I'm  standing here thinking about moving back there to be with you and I just  finished convincing myself never to go back there again."

"I'm telling you we don't have to. We can live anywhere, so long as we're together."

God, he really did know how to woo a girl.

"What if I want to?" she asked in a barely there voice. "Move back, I mean?"

"You want to live there?"

She shrugged, thinking about all the reasons she'd left. They had all  centered around how much she'd been hurt by what happened between them.  Things were different now. They were. "It's a good job. I like working  with you."

"You're okay to work with. Bit of a stickler for due process." Warmth  lit his blue eyes. She couldn't look away, but that heat was making  something swell in her. Something giddy and scary and wonderful.  Hopeful.

"What if people... say things? Like that I married you for the company or something?"

"They might say that about me. Do you think my mother will put up with any sort of gossip for long?"