Falling Into Right

by Sharon Kay

  “Stay here on the couch,” Shane instructed Becca. He paced to the door and looked through the peephole. A wave of relief washed over him.

  It was his neighbor, Mike Jackson, dad to the four blond kids that made up their street’s Denver fan club. He turned to Denver and spoke soothingly, giving him the command to be at ease and that this visitor was friendly.

  But Denver’s protective instincts must have been off the charts tonight, and Shane could tell the dog needed to see for himself.

  “It’s my neighbor, Mike,” he called to Becca and opened the door a crack. He grabbed Denver’s collar as he lunged for the screen and wrestled him back. “Hey, Mike.”

  On the porch, Mike took a step back. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to disturb. Hey, Denver. It’s just me.”

  Seeing Mike’s familiar face and hearing his voice took the edge off Denver’s aggression. “All right boy, that’s it.” Shane patted the dog’s shoulders and glanced up at Mike. “Sorry ‘bout that. He just needs to see and smell you.”

  “Well, Molly dripped most of her ice cream cone all over me tonight, so I bet I smell pretty good to him right now.” Mike kept his hands loose at his sides. “Is this a bad time?”

  “Not a bad time. Just been an off night.” Shane got Denver to sit. The dog’s posture relaxed to the point of being alert but not ready for a take down.

  “Well, I second that. That’s why I came by. Sorry it wasn’t sooner.”

  “What’s going on?” Shane asked.

  “Thought I saw someone over here,” Mike began.

  Shane’s brows raised. “You wanna come in?”

  Mike eyed Denver warily. “You sure?”

  “Yeah. Positive.” Shane opened the screen door.

  Mike stepped in and stood still, letting Denver sniff his leg.

  “Good boy, Denver.” Shane stayed close for a second, but he could see the change in his dog’s behavior. “Come on, Mike. Have a seat.” He led him to the living room.

  “Hi, Becca.” Mike greeted her and sat in an armchair. Becca had come along on enough walks that most of Shane’s neighbors knew her.

  “Hi,” she murmured, tucking her legs under her.

  Shane was too restless to sit. “So you saw someone here?”

  Becca sat still. The house was small, so no doubt she had overheard Mike’s comment at the door.

  “Yeah, and I apologize for not getting a ton of details,” Mike said. “We were leaving to go to dinner at Julie’s folks’ house, and we were running late as usual.” He shook his head. “Trying to get all six of us anywhere on time is a circus.”

  Shane grunted. With those four little whirlwinds, he wasn’t surprised.

  “So, we was finally all piled in to the van. I was backing out of our driveway and looked both ways, and when I looked toward your direction, I swear I saw someone getting into a car. Real fast, like they was in a huge rush.”

  “Man or woman?” Shane asked.

  “Couldn’t tell. They had a ball cap on and dark clothes, and like I say they was rushing.” Mike leaned forward in his seat. “The person got in and backed out your drive, and took off down the street, real fast. Too fast. That pisses me off.”

  Shane frowned, recalling the last couple times he’d seen a car racing down his street. “Do you remember what kind of car it was?”

  “Yeah, they sped right past my house. It was a black Yukon. I know that for sure because I used to have one, back in the day before we had to get the van. And by that point, even though it all happened real fast, I had a bad feeling about it. So I tried to see the guy’s plate, but all I got was the first three digits. 9-7-1.”

  Holy shit. A make and model of a car, plus a partial plate. Since they were at needle-in-a-haystack level, any info was huge. “Thanks for being so alert, Mike. This is a big help.”

  Mike rubbed the back of his neck. “Like I said, it doesn’t seem like much, and when it happened, I thought maybe it was nothing. But I wanted to let you know.”

  “Thank you. We really appreciate it,” Becca said.

  “Is everything okay?” Mike asked. “Y’all didn’t get broken into or nothing did you?”

  “No, no one broke in,” Shane said. “We just… we could tell someone had been around, and we’d like to know who.”

  “Well, shoot, so do I. Anything I can do, just let me know. Gotta keep our street safe.” Mike stood. “I don’t know who’d be dumb enough to set foot on your property, anyway, with Denver around.”

  “If you think of anything else, give me a call.” Shane walked Mike to the door and opened it.

  “Will do. Now I gotta git. Julie’ll have my hide for making her get the whole brood in bed by herself.” He waved and left.

  Shane closed the door and rejoined Becca on the couch. “I didn’t expect good news to come knocking. At least I’m taking this as good news. Do you know anyone with a Yukon?”

  “No,” Becca said. “But what he said right at the end…”

  “Yeah?”

  Her brows knit. “He said, who would be dumb enough to come around, because of Denver. Well, maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that this happened today. We weren’t around, and we had Denver with us.” She sat up straight. “Like, if this guy had done this during the middle of the night, maybe no neighbors would have seen, but Denver would have woken up, right?”

  “A strange engine idling outside, and footsteps he didn’t recognize? Hell, yeah. He’d be trying to break down the door to get to the guy.”

  “Whoever it is knew we weren’t home. He knew this was his chance to do something like this.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It seems like this is getting worse. Scarier.”

  Shane wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Sooner or later, he’s gonna make a mistake. Look at tonight. If Mike had been a minute earlier, he may have had a lot more details on this guy. The asshole got lucky. But everything he does gives us a chance to learn more about him. We’ll find him. I promise.”

  Slender fingers clutched his T-shirt sleeves. “I’m so glad you’re here, Shane. I couldn’t do this without you.”

  “You don’t ever have to.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, wishing for nothing more than to erase her pain, guilt, and fear. All he could do was love her and protect her and wait for the crazy guy to make a mistake.

  Chapter 31

  November arrived with sunny days but mornings that held the first bite of frost. Becca knew it was only a matter of time before the sky was cloudy all the time. She was happy that her Prius was toasty warm inside from sitting in the Silver Springs parking lot all day. She’d had to turn the heat on in the morning when she’d driven to work.

  With her day done, she pulled out of the lot and headed to her own house for her twice-per-week mail pickup. She varied the days that she stopped by, usually by herself since it was on the way from Silver Springs to Shane’s house. She pulled into her driveway and took a minute to just stare.

  She loved her little house, with its porch railing and fall decorations she’d wanted to set up, even if she wasn’t there often to see them. It appeared so tidy and cozy. Who would ever know that its owner’s life was a mess?

  Just another example of how appearances were deceiving.

  She stepped out of the car and went to the mailbox, grabbing a stack of letters, flyers, and—wow. The Christmas catalogs were starting to arrive. There had to be six in there already. She walked back to her car, dropped the mail in, and paused. Given the sudden chill in the mornings, and knowing it would only get colder, she decided to go inside and grab her winter coat. It would just take a minute.

  The foyer closet was small, but she’d managed to cram her puffy winter parka in there. She pulled it out and caught a whiff of last year’s perfume on her scarf. And it brought back what she didn’t want reminders of. Kirk had picked that fragrance ou
t and given it to her.

  Time for a new scent and a new scarf too. She frowned, remembering he’d given her that as well.

  She paused, hand on the door knob. As long as she was here, she may as well grab some of her sweaters and fleece hoodies. Those were upstairs in her bedroom.

  She set the coat gently on the floor and headed to the stairs and up to her room. Her warm, cozy sweaters were at the back, organized by chunkiness level. She smiled to herself. Was that even a word? At any rate, they progressed from super warm to first-days-of-autumn warm. She reached inside, grabbed an armful, and laid them on her bed. Next, she grabbed some lightweight hoodies and denim jackets. Mixed in among them were her various scarves, needed both for warmth and cleavage cover. Going back for another bunch, she stopped short.

  Thunk. Clink.

  She froze. Had there really been a sound? She stood still as stone, breathing as quietly as possible. Minutes ticked by. Only silence met her ears.

  Slowly she let out a breath. Maybe she had imagined it, or maybe there’d been a noise outside. Still, her skin tingled with apprehension. She had her coat and several sweaters. No need to get more today.

  Scooping up the clothing she had laid on the bed, she turned to the bedroom door—

  Kirk.

  She yelped, then froze. He leaned both hands on the frame and a slow smile spread across his face. “Hi, Becca.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  He raised a brow. “That’s the second time you’ve used that phrase to greet me. I’m not sure I like it. It’s not very nice.”

  Chill panic slid down her spine, despite holding an armload of warm sweaters. “This is my house, not a bar.”

  “A house you’re not in very much anymore.” He tilted his head. “Too bad.”

  “How…” The words stuck in her throat. “How would you know if I’m here or not?”

  “I make a point to know as much of what’s going on in the county as possible, especially when it comes to you.” He took a step forward.

  She took a step back. “Why do you even care what I do? You made it very clear that you—”

  “And I explained to you, that night that you weren’t very polite to me, that I was wrong to say what I said.”

  She stared at him, thoughts tripping over themselves in her head, not forming a coherent sentence. His words stirred up a lot of what the hell is going on? Maybe try an obvious question. “How did you get in?” She had changed the locks after he’d broken up with her, not because she ever thought he would try to come over, but just because it would be weird to know he still had a working key to her place.

  “You made me get creative since my key no longer works.”

  She swallowed. The clinking she heard…oh god, he’d broken in.

  Her heart slammed in her chest as she met his eyes. Something was deeply unhinged with him. “Um…” What to even say to him when he was acting so oddly? Maybe try to placate him? “I appreciate that you came by to tell me again how you feel. But I was actually about to leave.”

  He shook his head. “No,” he said softly, eerily, so calm that it unnerved her more than if he had yelled. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  The pile of sweaters fell to the floor. Her arms went limp, useless at her sides. “What?” The word came out choked and raspy.

  “I want you back in my life, Becca.” He strode all the way into the room and walked around, trailing a hand along her dresser. “We had a lot of memories right here in this room. I miss that. I miss you. Let’s pick up where we left off.”

  Oh god. What the ever-loving hell? She decided to play the concern card. He liked when he thought people fussed over him or paid him extra attention. “Kirk, are you feeling okay? You look a little pale.” He didn’t, but it was worth a try. It was a matter of opinion.

  “Feeling great now that I’m with you.” He set his hands on his hips. “I was such an ass. I almost made the biggest mistake of my life, letting you go.” His gaze raked her body greedily, even though her Silver Springs polo and khakis weren’t exactly flattering.

  She backed up another step, glad the bed was between them. “I don’t think we can pick up where we left off.”

  “And why is that?” His question was calm as if he had asked if it was rainy or sunny.

  “Things have changed.” Her voice was small, because she knew an argument was coming, Kirk excelled at arguing. And she just got emotional. “W-We aren’t the same as we were before.” Of course they weren’t. He was acting like a psychopath right now.

  His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and he laid a hand on his heart. “I am the same, Becca. I love you. I always have, and now I see what an idiot I was. I will always love you, no matter what you do. You messed up and…” He shook his head and gave a half laugh. “I gotta say, you did a bang up job. No holding back. But, Becca.” He paused. “I’ll always be here to help you fix your messes. No matter how bad you screw up.”

  His words came at her like knives. He still honestly thought everything was her fault, like the events of the year had nothing to do with bringing her to a breaking point. Did he even care about their losses? “I’m an adult. If I mess up, I’ll deal with what comes.” She kept her voice as calm and soothing as she could.

  “Yeah, okay, sure. You gonna do dishes for the rest of your life?”

  “Maybe I will. I went out and found a job when I needed to.” A note of challenge crept into her voice. She wasn’t certain how far she could push him, still unsure how delusional he was.

  He shook his head. “You don’t belong there. You’re so damn smart. Your brain is like a scientific calculator. You could have the state budget balanced in an hour, and then an hour later, you’d find a surplus.” Excitement bubbled in his voice. “That’s why you and I are so good together!”

  She blinked, stunned. “Good? Wait, now I’m good for you? You said I was—”

  “Becca.” He crossed the space between them and stood too close. “I said I was sorry and didn’t mean the things I said. I’ve never met another woman like you. You get the high-level financial stuff. And you’re good with people. You can work a room.” He reached for her hand, but she moved it behind her back. “We make a perfect team.”

  He stood so near she could see the flecks of color in his hazel eyes—eyes she had once thought were so dreamy. Now, she had no idea what was going on in his head. The Kirk she knew would never break into anyone’s house. “Kirk, we stopped being a team when you broke up with me at the lowest point in my life.”

  “Is that how you actually see it?” Now he looked at her like she was the nutty one. “You made a choice to take that money.”

  “Don’t you care about all the other things that happened to lead up to it?”

  He had the nerve to act offended. “Of course I care. How could you even think that I don’t? But all of that, it’s not related to your crime.”

  “What do you mean it’s not?”

  “You were depressed, so you stole money?” His voice rose. “Who does that? That makes no sense. You didn’t even need it. If you’re depressed, you cry or something. Why would depression make you commit theft?”

  Her shoulders sagged. And here it was—the knife, the sticking point, the point at which her defenses crumbled because she had no answer good enough for him. “I don’t know.”

  “How can you not know?” he shouted. “You did it. You made the decision to reach into the drawer and take cash. God, Becca.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We’ve talked about this, and I can’t believe your answer is still the same. It makes no sense to say you don’t know.”

  She stayed silent. No words she had been able to come up with in the past had helped her in this particular argument. And nice Kirk was gone, replaced by the angry version she’d seen before—but not with a penchant for breaking and entering.

  “You
embarrassed me so much, but I spun the situation. Things are smoothed over. See? I can fix whatever you get into.”

  She embarrassed herself. But she didn’t need to tell him that. Guilt had destroyed any mental armor she may have had. Embarrassment, bad choices, needing to be helped out of her problems. This was her life. A disaster. Tears welled. Her gaze dropped to the floor.

  Her clothes were in a heap where she’d dropped them. She didn’t want to get back together with Kirk, but maybe she was too much of a mess for anyone.

  A patch of green caught her eye. It was her favorite green scarf, tucked into the denim jacket she had last worn it with, the night she’d gone to the football game with Shane.

  Shane. She stared at that swatch of green cotton and let a hundred emotions rush back to her. The way he’d made her come apart in his arms the first night she’d spent in his bed. The tenderness he revealed, that no one would expect from a tough ex-Army sergeant. And the way his own memories haunted him. She understood it. The way he constantly championed her, reminding her that life events beyond a person’s control could bring them to their knees, but that beating herself up was something he wouldn’t stand for.

  She raised cautious eyes to Kirk. “Okay, I get it. I messed up. And you might always see that in me. I can’t change that. But Kirk…” She drew a breath hoping this didn’t send him over another crazy edge. “We’re not a couple anymore. I’m not your problem anymore.”

  “Oh, Becca.” He reached for her, but she took a step back. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

  She searched his face, trying to grasp any thread of rationality. Her head was spinning from the onslaught of things that should not be happening. He was here. He had broken in. He said he loved her, then criticized her. She needed to get out of here, but he stood between her and the door.

  “Your life will always be entwined with mine,” he murmured in that soft and menacing voice. “I can’t move forward without you.”

  “Why not?” she whispered. “We made a clean break.”

  “There is no such thing. And if I ever thought so, I was wrong.” He shook his head. “In my career, no matter how much time passes or how deeply I try to bury it, I’ll always be known as the guy whose fiancée embezzled. In this day and age, those things are never forgotten.”