A few of the teenagers and chaperones stared, but Olivia didn’t care. For a moment, when she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to his embrace, she felt like everything was perfectly fine. The proposal, the wedding plans, none of that had happened. She and Andrew were happy.
“You might just be the most beautiful woman in the room tonight,” he murmured in her ear.
Her heart skipped a beat. “You’re just saying that because you’re hoping to get lucky on prom night,” she joked.
“No. I’m just being honest.”
He hadn’t played on her joke, and once again, she was confused. Was he just playacting, like she’d intended to do? When the night was over, would he go back to Brett’s and pretend that it had never happened?
It was almost too much for her to bear. Unable to hide the lump in her throat, she pulled away. “I think I need to get some punch and go to the ladies’ room. Excuse me?”
There was a flash of concern in his eyes, but he didn’t stop her, and she hurried out of the gym and prayed she wouldn’t burst into tears.
18
Out in the hall, Olivia took a couple of deep breaths and tried to clear her head. She was about to head to the bathroom when the sound of sobbing caught her attention. Following the sound, she moved through the lunch area and down the Math hall. As she passed the blue lockers, it occurred to her that whoever was crying was on the move.
“Hello?” she called out. “Are you okay? I’m a chaperone here, so if there’s something wrong, you can tell me.”
As she turned the corner, she stopped short. It wasn’t a student waiting for her but Elspeth. And Olivia only had to take one look at the woman to realize that her tears had been fake.
“I thought I’d never get you alone,” Elspeth spat. “I went to your office—until I remembered that you’d volunteered as a chaperone. What a joke. You’ve never done anything for the school committee before, but now that you’re single and lonely, you suddenly wanted to be the big hero and help!”
“I admit that I usually shy away from things like this,” Olivia said slowly. “But I wasn’t just doing this because of Andrew. I needed to figure some things out about myself.”
Elspeth narrowed her eyes. “And what have you figured out?”
That you’re not the timid little lady that I originally thought. “That I’m capable of doing whatever I set my mind to—but that’s not what you wanted to know, is it?”
“You’re to blame for all of this,” the older woman snarled. “You’ve been spreading lies about my daughter, and I won’t have it! Tanya is a good girl, and I will not let these rumors ruin her future!”
Olivia tried to step back, to head back to the main hall, but Elspeth was quicker than she looked. She reached out and grabbed Olivia, spinning her around and slamming her hard into the lockers. “Kimberly told you, didn’t she?” she hissed. “She just loved to spread gossip.”
“What are you talking about? Kimberly didn’t tell me anything!”
“You’re lying. I suspected, that day when I saw you in line for your dog food. I thought you might have listened to Kimberly’s poison, but I wasn’t sure. I needed to keep you close, just in case.”
“Just in case—what? Elspeth, did you kill Kimberly?” Olivia whispered in horror.
Tanya’s mother’s eyes were wide with rage, and anger stained her cheeks. She pulled at Olivia and then slammed her into the lockers again.
Pain lanced up her back, and Olivia found that she couldn’t get traction in the damned heels that she was wearing.
“She ruined my life! One little lie, one whispered falsehood, and my career as a lawyer was over before it even began. She told everyone that I cheated on my final exams, and as a result, I flunked them all. I barely graduated, and after that, no college would take me. It was a lie! I never cheated a day in my life, but no one would listen to me!”
“Elspeth, you need to calm down and listen to me,” Olivia said as she balled her hands into fists. “Kimberly never told me anything. The rumors about Tanya using Rich Eats to poison pets were started because someone overheard Tanya threatening another student, but Tanya admitted to changing grades and to the threats. That’s no lie.”
“You’re lying! Everyone is lying!” Elspeth shrieked.
Olivia swung her fist and connected with the older woman’s jaw, but she was no match against the adrenaline coursing through Elspeth.
The woman shoved her into a corner, grabbed Olivia’s throat, and started to squeeze.
Desperately, Olivia clawed at the older woman’s hands. “Elspeth, stop,” she choked. “You don’t want to do this!”
Elspeth just increased the pressure, and Olivia began to panic when she couldn’t find her breath. Finally, she managed to wedge her fingers just under Elspeth’s pinkies and yank. Tanya’s mother hissed in pain and released her. Doubling over, Olivia had just managed to inhale her first breath when Elspeth attacked her again, pinning her against the wall. Olivia grabbed at Elspeth’s wrists to keep them off her throat, and they were deadlocked.
“Olivia!”
Andrew’s voice echoed through the halls, and as he rounded the corner and raced toward them, Elspeth released Olivia and stepped back. Olivia would have slumped to the floor if Andrew hadn’t caught her.
“Christ, Olivia?” Andrew muttered as she massaged her neck. “Are you okay? What the hell is going on?”
Olivia took a few deep breaths and saw Elspeth’s gaze suddenly go out of focus. The woman looked dazed as she stumbled back. It was like she didn’t even know what was happening. She’d gone into full attack mode to protect her daughter, but now she was meek little Elspeth again.
“I told Tanya to go to the sheriff and admit what she’d done, Elspeth. Your daughter found Kimberly’s body.”
At that, Elspeth pressed a hand to her lips. “No,” she cried out softly.
“Nick is probably going to arrest her, and he may even charge her with murder. With the evidence against her, it doesn’t look good.”
“She didn’t do it,” Elspeth moaned. “I just wanted to talk to Kimberly, but I was so angry when I got there. She was whistling and so happy with her perfect life. She’d gotten everything that she’d wanted despite the fact that she’d smashed my dreams to pieces. And then she was going to do it to Tanya, too? I was so angry. I barely remember . . .”
“You need to go talk to Nick.” Olivia reached out and gripped Andrew’s shoulder. “Now. Before this gets any more out of hand.”
Elspeth nodded and slowly backed away.
When she’d turned the corner, Andrew brushed some of the hair out of Olivia’s face. “Do you think it was a good idea to let her go? She killed someone.”
“She loves Tanya. She’ll do anything to protect her. I know she’ll do the right thing. Besides, we’re going to call Nick and make sure that even if she doesn’t go to the station, she gets picked up.”
“She almost killed you.”
The memory of Elspeth’s hands around her throat was enough to make her shudder. “I totally had the situation under control.” She managed a weak smile. “We should fire Lady Celeste. She was supposed to foresee this kind of thing.”
Andrew chuckled softly and leaned down to kiss her. It was just a brief touch of the lips, but it made the fear inside her dissipate. “What am I going to do with you?” he whispered as he rested his chin on top of her head and stroked her back.
What, indeed.
19
“You could have died,” he whispered as he held her close. “If I’d been even a half a second too slow, she would have pulled that trigger. Point-blank, Rose. There’s no coming back from that.”
She was more shaken up than she wanted to admit, but it was torture to have him this close. “But you weren’t late,” she reminded him. “I called you, and you came.”
“Haven’t you figured it out, Rose? I’ll always come. That’s not the issue.”
She turned her face away. “We have an issue
?”
“You only call when you need the detective. You don’t call when you need the man.”
Slowly standing up, she walked away from him. “That’s not fair, Jason. You have a girlfriend. A nice, safe, girlfriend who will have dinner ready for you when you get home and not pick your case apart when you talk about your day. It’s all you ever wanted, remember?”
“No,” he said hoarsely. “All I ever wanted was you.”
“Sure, but you wanted me to give up what I love. And I can’t do that.”
He didn’t say anything, and her heart broke as she turned and walked away. Once again, they had been so close, and once again, they just couldn’t make it happen. It was the story of her life, and it probably meant that she needed to move on from Jason.
Really move on.
After pulling Suzanne aside and quietly explaining the situation to her, Olivia and Andrew were excused from their chaperoning duties. Olivia told her mother goodnight but failed to mention what had happened, and Andrew drove her straight to the sheriff’s station. Tanya and Elspeth had both turned themselves in, and Nick was already arresting both of them.
“Even Tanya?” Olivia said with a frown.
“I’m afraid so,” Nick muttered. “She’s eighteen. An adult. All we can do is hope that a jury is lenient on her—but not only is hacking a crime, she obstructed an investigation. I’m glad this case is finally closed, but Mary is going to kill me if I’m late for dinner. I think she bought a new dress and everything.”
It was over, but it was hardly a victory. As they headed back to the car, Olivia stopped suddenly. “I actually think that I’m going to walk,” she told Andrew. “But thank you again for the lovely evening. I know chaperoning a bunch of teenagers wasn’t your idea of fun. Probably spending the night with your ex isn’t ideal, either, but I managed to make it all that much worse, didn’t I?”
“I’ll walk with you. I could use the exercise. Brett has terrible dietary habits, and all I’ve eaten lately is fried food,” he joked.
Olivia wanted to tell him that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be around him, but she ended up saying nothing. They fell into step and were quiet as they walked through the town. Everyone was dressed up for the evening and out enjoying the festivities. Women were dressed in flowing sleek evening gowns and poufy princess-cut dresses. Men were in tuxedos, mostly in the classic black, but Olivia did see a few brightly colored tuxedos strolling throughout town.
The town square was lit up, and music filtered through the night as people danced and laughed. Children skipped around in the grass as they chased each other. Little girls twirled to show off their sequined dresses, and the little boys tugged sourly at their bowties. Everything was sweet and charming, but Olivia couldn’t get into the mood. She’d been so excited when she’d been getting ready, but after the evening’s events, she really just wanted to relax in the bubble bath.
What a waste of a dress. Even worse, she could feel the chasm between her and Andrew grow even deeper.
“Do you think of me as your ex?” he asked quietly.
“Aren’t you, though? You said that you wanted space to think, but you moved out. Like, out-of-the-lease out. That seemed pretty final to me.”
He looked straight ahead as they walked.
There had been a time when Olivia would have thought the dimly lit streetlights were romantic, but now they just reminded her of what she’d lost.
“I did need some space,” Andrew admitted. “I just didn’t know how much space I needed. I feel like you still aren’t willing to admit that things weren’t working out between us.”
She needed to be honest with him. It was now or never. “I know that you’re wrong about me not wanting to marry you, but I also know that it’s my fault that you thought that. I have always resisted change, and in a lot of ways, I resisted you. I knew that you were going to propose, and I threw myself into a murder investigation as an excuse to avoid you. We should have talked more about it and been more open—but Andrew, I never regretted saying yes to you.”
“Then why did you get so weird during the wedding planning? It felt like you wanted to get it over with, like it was ripping off a Band-Aid.”
“It’s how it started,” she said slowly as they walked. “And then it became about proving that I wasn’t some Cursed Bride. The wedding terrified me, but the marriage to you? I was ninety percent sure that I could handle it.”
“Ninety percent?” he echoed with a raised eyebrow. “I was sort of hoping for a hundred percent.”
“Hello? Commitment-phobe right here,” she said as she pointed to herself. “Still, I think you were right about us needing some space. I feel like maybe you took too much space, but there were things that I needed to figure out.”
“And did you?”
She smiled. “I think so. I know that I spend more time running from things that scare me than is healthy. I’ve learned that I’m a terrible judge of character. I’m starting to realize just how great this town is, and I’ve realized that I don’t give myself enough credit.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I also know that I lie to you. I lie about things that matter. Not that I’m cheating on you or anything like that, but I’m not always honest about the things that make me happy.”
He paused and turned to her. “Like investigating crimes?”
“I know that you hate it, but I don’t. I love it, and I’m not terrible at it. I’m not saying that I’m going to give up dog walking in order to be a PI, but I don’t want to not help out if I can.”
Rather than continue on their walk, Andrew sat down heavily on a nearby bench. “You do realize that I’m going to have to start counting on both hands the number of times that you’ve been in danger? I’m never going to be okay with that.”
Tentatively, she sat beside him. “I’m not going to be okay with that, either. I enjoy living, but it’s not enough to make me stop.”
He didn’t say anything, and she started picking at her dress nervously. “Did you figure some things out?”
“Yes. I’ve discovered some truly terrifying things about my best friend. I’ve also realized that I wasn’t in love with my previous girlfriend like I thought.”
Andrew had dated a girl pretty heavily before she up and moved out of state. It wasn’t something that he talked about often, and it certainly wasn’t what Olivia wanted to hear now. “Excuse me?”
“She left, and it didn’t occur to me to go after her. I left you, and my employees are now terrified of me,” he admitted ruefully. “Being away from you hasn’t been easy, Olivia. I do love you. Breaking off the engagement did nothing to change that.”
She held her breath. “But?”
“But I’m still breaking the lease.”
Her heart plummeted into her stomach, and she tried not to cry. More than anything, she wanted to beg him to stay, but she wasn’t going to force him to do something that he didn’t want to do. “I see,” she managed.
“And I think that you should, too.”
“Wait, what?” Confused, she stared at him.
He smiled softly and ran his fingers though his hair. “I actually threw away the paperwork to end the lease agreement a few days ago because I thought we had a chance to get back together and make it work. I was going to romance you tonight at the prom, and when you walked out of the gym with tears in your eyes, I was afraid that it might be over for good. I certainly didn’t expect to see someone trying to choke you to death. I hope you realized that you’ve shaved a good two decades off my life.”
“Focus, Andrew. You’re not making any sense.”
“We’re talking openly and honestly, Olivia. It’s something that we haven’t done in a long time, and I think we can both agree on two things. The first is that we love each other enough to want to make this work, and the second is that falling back into our old lives isn’t going to help. We need to work on this, and living together might make us lazy again.”
Olivia scowl
ed. “I’ll have you know that I jog now. At least I did. Once. But I am not lazy.”
“I meant as a couple,” he said as he shook his head. “Really? You went jogging?”
The memory of her failed run with Goodwin still stung. “I don’t want to talk about that. So you think we should both move out of the house. Then what?”
“Well, I hear that there are two apartments that will be available as soon as the landlords finish them,” he said with a mischievous twinkle. “And I think that they’re desperate for tenants.”
Olivia stared at him. “You want us to move into the brownstone?”
“Right across the hall from each other, but still close enough.”
“Close enough to what?” She laughed as he leaned down, and she slapped a hand on his chest. “Easy there, tiger. We’ve still got a few things to work out.”
“Like what?”
“Like the ring that I’ve been wearing around my neck.”
Pulling her across the bench into an embrace, he kissed the top of her head. “I’m actually going to take that back. It’s still meant for you, but when I give it to you again, I want to make sure we’re both ready for it.”
Snuggling up to him, she could help but smile. That sounded like the most perfect plan ever.
Epilogue
“Oh, come on,” Olivia wheedled as she poured the bag of popcorn into the bowl. The whole kitchen stank from the first batch that she’d burned, and she was privately happy that she’d done it in his kitchen and not hers.
There were some perks to this whole separate-living thing.
“Freddie Prinze Jr. is way past his shelf life,” Andrew muttered as he shook his head. “What did you do in here?”
She grinned and held up her bowl. “Popcorn?”
“Why does it smell like you burned it?”
Ignoring the question, she reached for the ranch seasoning and dumped it all over the popcorn. “It’s our first movie night, and I want to watch something in honor of our prom night.”
One Bark And Stormy Prom Night (Happy Tails Dog Walking Mysteries Book 3) Page 15
