The haunted quality of this big, beautiful man’s voice made chills go up her spine. And the eerie feeling made her think of something Mr. O’Banyon had said once. It had been New Year’s Eve and she’d been talking to him about regrets. He’d said he had none. What he had were things he could never atone for. Regrets…Regrets didn’t go far enough.
She’d thought it was an odd way to put things, but he’d changed the subject and it had never come up again. Now, she looked back on that conversation and felt uneasy.
Billy brought his hand up to his chin. “Sometimes…Sometimes change isn’t good, you know?”
She let the comment stand, because she was well aware he wasn’t actually addressing her.
When a growling sound broke the silence, she frowned. Then realized it was Billy’s stomach.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
He looked down at his body as if surprised. “Yeah…I am.”
“Come on, I was just about to make myself something to eat.”
***
Chapter Thirteen
As Sean sat at his family’s old table in Lizzie’s kitchen, he had to give his brother credit. Billy was keeping it together, appearing to be what he was most of the time: a charmer of a guy with great people skills and a lot of bawdy stories.#p#分页标题#e#
But Sean knew the truth, knew how much it was costing his brother to be here. Billy had said he’d never come back to the duplex and it was clear the specter of what had happened upstairs was prowling around in the guy’s head. Billy’s eyes kept lifting to the ceiling as if he could see through the plaster and the Sheetrock and the framing boards into the past.
He was making an effort to keep tight, though, and Lizzie seemed to be having a great time as the two of them cooked then put dinner on the table. Man, it was a perfect summer meal. The hamburgers were stacked with juicy beef-steak tomatoes that spilled out of the bun as you bit down. The corn was sweet and tender. The lemonade was perfect and very chilly.
Except he didn’t enjoy it as much as he could have. While they ate, he tried to get lost in the talk and the food, but it was tough. Even though he was in that post-migraine float zone where everything had soft edges, he kept thinking about Billy.
By the time a bag of oatmeal cookies was passed around, he was feeling the strain in his head.
After Billy told a real barn-burner of a story and Lizzie laughed so hard she was gasping for air, Sean’s brother checked his sports watch. “I’ve got an early PT session tomorrow so unfortunately I have to take off soon.” He got to his feet and picked up his plate as well as Lizzie’s. “This has been great. Would love to do it again soon.”
Lizzie grinned at him. “Yeah, well, I’d love to hear more stories from the locker room.”
“I knew you were my kind of girl.” The faux-leer Billy shot over his shoulder somehow managed to be both outrageous and respectful at the same time.
Which meant Sean didn’t have to snap his brother’s chain. Too hard. “Forget it, Billy, she’s out of your league.”
“I know. Too smart.” Billy smiled at Lizzie. “You’d have to be smart to get through nursing school, right?”
“It helps,” she said, winking at him.
Sean stood up. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
“Great.” As Lizzie rose from the table, as well, Billy stuck his hand out at her. “I’d hug you but I think my brother would hurt me.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” she said.
Lizzie stretched up onto her toes and threw her arms around Billy. He was so big, she looked as if she were embracing the hood of a car, her reach not long enough by half. In response, Billy handled her gently, the way he did with all women. As a man who knew his strength, he was always careful around those more fragile than him.
Which was pretty much everyone on the planet.
“Okay, you can stop that,” Sean said, putting his hand on Billy’s shoulder and pulling back with a little tug.
Billy let go and wagged his eyebrows at Lizzie. “See. Told you.”
She batted his tattooed bicep. “You know Sean’s just kidding.”
Yeah, the hell he was. “Come on, big man. Out.”
As Billy laughed, Sean frog-marched him to the apartment’s door, but they both got serious as he opened the thing. Stepping out into the foyer, he deliberately stood in the way of the staircase, trying to block as much of it as he could with his body.
Billy’s eyes went up to the top landing and his mouth got grim.