As she drove around the lake, her eyes gravitated to the two-story house next to hers. Her night with Sheriff King hadn’t ended as well as she’d hoped. She couldn’t imagine he was too impressed with her at this point. But she’d been able to act on the feelings she’d had toward him for so long and, regardless of what happened, she’d always treasure the experience.
Her gaze shifted to her own home. The coming days, maybe weeks, were going to be so strange without Mia and Jake. The place looked different already, empty and forlorn with Mia’s tricycle on the grass and no little girl to come out and ride it.
How would she manage to live in a house where every noise, creak or rustle would be suspect?
She couldn’t even guess. But she had to try.
After pulling into the driveway, she grabbed her gun from under the seat and got out, but she didn’t walk around the car right away. She studied the place, searching for any sign that someone had been there while she was gone.
She couldn’t see anything. So when a figure emerged from her porch, she nearly jerked up the Sig and squeezed off a round.
Claire had been sitting deep in the shadows, hidden behind a pillar. She must’ve walked over because there was no car nearby. She did that sometimes, even though it was nearly two miles. She liked the exercise. But if she hadn’t called out when she did, Vivian might’ve shot her.
“Where’re the kids?” her friend asked, raising a hand to block the glare of the sun.
Rattled by what she’d almost done, Vivian shoved the Sig in her purse, which just happened to be the biggest purse she’d ever designed. She hoped Claire hadn’t seen the gun. It didn’t look as if she had. Vivian was carrying Jake’s jacket, which he’d left in the car when he got out, along with her purse, and the jacket had been partially covering her hand. Besides, Claire would never expect her to be carrying a weapon so she wasn’t likely to assume anything, unless it was very obvious.
Still, the incident made Vivian wonder if she knew what she was doing. She’d decided what was best for her family, but what was best for the people of Pineview? They didn’t deserve to get caught in the cross fire between her and Ink or whoever else The Crew had sent, and that could easily happen if Claire continued to show up here unannounced. Look at poor Trinity Woods. She’d been shot and killed on Vivian’s doorstep in Colorado.
Vivian forced a smile. “They’re visiting relatives out of state.”
“Your sister?”
“Um, yeah.” She’d made up a fictional family who lived in Denver. She felt guilty every time Claire mentioned them: Have you talked to your parents? How are they doing? When’s your sister’s baby due?
The subject seemed to come up again and again. But she’d had to provide some history. Everyone came from somewhere. To be able to share her excitement over Peyton’s pregnancy, she’d created a sister named Macy who was recently married and expecting her first baby. She’d also made up parents who were retired schoolteachers and gone so far as to say her mother suffered from adult-onset diabetes, which was why Claire constantly asked after her health.
Was it time to tell her best friend the truth?
That was something she’d never dreamed she’d be able to do. Just considering it made her feel freer than she’d felt in four years. She could be honest again. Not only that, considering the danger, she had a moral obligation to be honest.
She just wasn’t sure how to go about breaking the news, or how Claire might react. Claire had shared her deepest, darkest secrets, had trusted Vivian completely. How would she respond when she heard that Vivian hadn’t been doing the same? That she’d pretended to be someone she wasn’t from the very beginning?
Claire would feel betrayed. Hurt. Vivian didn’t think she could cope with that right now, not in addition to the pressure and worry she was already experiencing. But she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if anything happened to Claire, and that meant she had to warn her.
“So you’re looking at some time off from the kids?” Claire waited on the porch steps. “How long will they be gone?”
“Possibly all summer.” That sounded like an eternity to Vivian but she had to accept that it could take a while to solve her problem. If she was lucky, the police would find Ink and put him back in prison before Ink ever found her, and Horse would be busted along with him. Maybe they’d take down several more Crew members, and all the ones who felt so strongly about exacting revenge would be locked up.
If she was lucky it could happen. But she’d quit counting on luck years ago…?.
Fearing The Crew might come careering around the corner at any moment and gun them both down, she beckoned Claire to the car. “Let’s go out to dinner.”
Claire didn’t move. “Right now?”
“Why not?”
“It’s only three o’clock.”
“I missed lunch.” She’d missed breakfast, too. Feeling as unsettled as she did, she couldn’t imagine stuffing food in her mouth, doubted she could keep anything down. It’d been too hard to say goodbye to her kids. But she had to get Claire out of here. “And…I have something to tell you.”
Obviously concerned by her ominous tone, Claire came to meet her. “What is it?”
“Can we talk at the Chowhound?”
She smoothed her blouse, then wiped her hands on her khaki capris. “I guess. If that’s what you want.”
“It’s what I want.” Vivian watched the street, guarding Claire until she climbed into the passenger seat. Then she got behind the wheel.
“What’s going on?” Claire was trying to work out how worried she should be, but Vivian couldn’t prepare her. She was too busy rehearsing her part of the conversation…?.
“You’ll see.”
“Is it bad?”
“Yes.”
She offered Vivian a weak smile. “Great. I love bad news.”
Vivian had already started the engine. With a quick check in the rearview mirror, she peeled out of the drive, and Claire grabbed for her seat belt. She’d been too preoccupied by Vivian’s references to impending disaster to put it on.
“Whoa! Be careful. You live next door to a cop, remember?”
How could she forget? She watched and waited for the sheriff all the time. She hadn’t realized what a habit it’d become until the past couple of days. With Rex around, she couldn’t gaze out the window or sit on the porch listening for Myles. Her fixation would be too noticeable, and that made it all the more apparent to her. “He’s at work.”