Page 38 of Art of Love

Still, when she looked at Abe, a flicker of guilt twisted in her stomach. She wasn’t lying to him. Not really. Just… protecting him from a thread that hadn’t unraveled yet.

But she knew that secrets had a way of pulling everything apart. And soon, hers might do just that. Maybe she was secretly sabotaging whatever was between them? After all, she’d gone her entire life believing she didn’t deserve happiness.

“I didn’t just come here for dinner,” he surprised her by admitting. He reached over and turned off the gas stove, leaving the chicken, veggies, and rice simmering in the pan.

She set the spoon down. “No?” Her eyes scanned his and instantly heated when she saw the desire in his. His gaze dipped to her lips quickly and then back up.

“No.” He sighed. “There are… things we need to discuss.”

“Okay,” she said slowly.

“First…” He cupped the back of her head, and moved slowly towards her. The kiss was light but hotter than the gas burner. Her mind stopped working as her desires took over her body. She leaned into him while his hands gripped her hips and his fingers fisted in her shirt.

“I wanted to do that earlier,” he admitted as he rested his forehead against hers. “Now maybe I can think a little more clearly.”

“Now I can’t,” she said with a chuckle.

“Today, earlier…” He leaned back a little more and searched her eyes. “I didn’t mean to be an ass about Nate.”

She smiled. “Dealing with jealousy isn’t really my forte. I can honestly say that I’ve never had anyone experience that emotion because of me before.”

“Well, now you can pin that merit badge on.” He sighed. “I like kissing you. I hope soon we can do more, but…” He shook his head slightly. “We need to get some things out in the open first. We both need answers to questions that are blocking us like a brick wall.”

She nodded slowly. “Trust isn’t something that comes easily.”

His eyes narrowed slightly as he dipped his head slightly in agreement.

“How about we eat?” she suggested after a heartbeat. “Then I can show you what I have gathered on this case.”

His eyebrows arched. “You’d do that? Share with me? A suspect?”

She smiled. “I removed you from the suspect list the moment I heard you sing Kara’s song at the wedding.”

He frowned and closed his eyes. “No one else knows that I wrote it for her.”

“No one else has to know.” She touched his cheek and placed another kiss on his lips. “Now, why don’t you grab us some beers while I dish us up food?”

They ate in the little dining area off the kitchen while she showed him the files that she had typed up on her laptop. She held back the full police report along with some of the images of the car and Kara at the scene of the accident. She did, however, go over one eye witness statement, an older man who had been out walking his dog. They also went over his and Kevin’s statements, which were taken the morning after the accident.

There were no reports from a coroner. There were no more photos of Kara’s body, other than the one of her still in the car. There was no investigative report on the vehicle or the tire marks on the road.

The old man had heard the accident and rushed to the scene. He said he’d seen a man with a build that matched both Abe’s and Kevin’s perfectly, running away from the accident.

This is, no doubt, why Abe and Kevin were questioned the next morning. But since Abe’s roommate at the time remembered Kara dropping him off around nine-thirty, almost an hour before Kara’s car hit the cement wall under the bridge, he was taken off the suspect list.

“Is this normal for a case?” he asked, averting his gaze from the image of Kara’s wrecked vehicle sitting sideways in the ditch. It was the one image she was willing to show him. “The lack of… well, there just seems like there should be more here.”

“There should be more reports from the coroner, the impound lot, and even forensics. Kara had her seatbelt on and was strapped into the passenger seat. Not the driver’s side. Yet the police reports indicate that she was the driver and they suspected ice on the road to be a factor in the accident.”

“Ice?” He frowned and leaned closer. “But the accident was in late August. There had been some rain earlier in the evening, during dinner and when she dropped me off at home, but it stopped shortly after, before her accident. There would have been no sleet or snow.”

She nodded. “Yes, and all the weather reports show that the high temperature for that day had been seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit. The low for that evening was fifty-four.”

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “She was wearing jean shorts and a T-shirt that evening. Her shirt had little blue flowers on it.” His voice was low, soft, like he was pulling the memory from deep down. No doubt he could see her perfectly behind his closed eyes. “Her hair was braided in one long thick braid.” His eyes opened and he ran his eyes over Dylan’s darker hair, which she’d braided in two longer braids earlier that morning.

The pain behind his eyes made her swallow hard. She could remember just how her father looked that last day. What he’d worn. Every word he’d said to her. The pain of the loss caused her chest to ache between her ribs, and she reached out and squeezed his hand lightly.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t replay that last night we had together,” he said, and she nodded in understanding. “Which is why, I suppose, you are here. I don’t blame Kevin for wanting answers. I’ve wanted them too.” He took a deep breath. “What’s next? How do we get those answers?”