Smoke And Ashes. Danica Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ closed the door to the kitchen. Lindsay didn’t need to hear anything David had to say right now. She would get the wrong idea. David wasn’t a bad man, just stressed. Stress always brought out the worst in people.

      “I should’ve known you would go to seed without me around.” He smirked as he looked at her. “I don’t know what you’re going to do without me.”

      His words were like a fist slamming into her gut, but she tried to ignore the pain. She needed to fix this and get him back. She couldn’t let herself fall into the same cycle her mother had—a life built around a husband who only came home when it was convenient and who was more than happy to use her love as a tool to manipulate her. She was better than that.

      For a moment her mind moved to Kevin—he had never treated Allison the way David treated her. Yet that was in public. Who knows what happened behind closed doors. Perhaps all marriages were the same—one person always bending to the whims of another for the sake of commitment.

      “I don’t understand this, David. I don’t even know where this is coming from.”

      “Do I have to remind you about Andrew?”

      Heather flicked a glance over her shoulder. “Don’t. Lindsay’s here.”

      “You afraid she’s going to find out what you’ve done?”

      “I didn’t do anything.” The second the words fell from her lips, she wished she hadn’t spoken back. Her insolence would only make things worse, and she needed him back—she needed to hold her family together.

      David glowered. “I don’t care what you say anymore. You’re a liar and a cheat.” He slammed the bottle on the granite countertop so hard Heather couldn’t believe the emerald-green glass hadn’t broken.

      She slumped onto the stool as tears welled in her eyes.

      David pushed back from her in disgust. “Save the waterworks for someone who gives a damn.” He strode out of the room. “Lindsay, when you grow up don’t be like her,” he said as his heavy, angry footfalls thundered through the living room.

      Heather moved to follow him, but stopped in the doorway. Lindsay glanced over at her but looked away when she met her gaze.

      Heather wiped away her tears. “Don’t worry, Lindsay.” She tried to smile, but the simple action pained her. “David’s just upset.”

      Lindsay just nodded.

      “Really.” The lie made her voice quake. “Everything will be okay.”

      “Okay, Mrs. Sampson.” It was clear from Lindsay’s averted eyes that there was no way to make her feel better or forget what had happened.

      “Can you do me a favor, Lindsay?”

      She finally looked up. “What?”

      “I don’t know what you heard, but can you please not tell your dad anything? I don’t need him to...” She paused. He had so many things in his life that needed his attention. She couldn’t let him sacrifice his time by helping her to deal with the storm in her personal life. No doubt, this storm would pass, just like the others that had preceded it.

      “You don’t need him to what?”

      “I don’t want him to worry.”

      Lindsay shrugged. “Okay, Mrs. Sampson.”

      The pipes clanked as David turned on the shower in the master bathroom.

      “How’s the bracelet coming along?”

      “Fine.” Lindsay lifted it for her to see. “You know, if you wanted, you could come with me and Dad to the Millers’.”

      Heather’s smile came a little easier. “That’s really nice of you, but you don’t need to worry. I’ll have to go up and talk to David, but I would guess that we’re probably going together. Fighting is just what married people do.”

      * * *

      KEVIN MADE HIS way toward Heather’s house where Lindsay waited. David’s Porsche was in the driveway. Hopefully everything was going okay. Every time he was around, David treated him like the village idiot, and he always wrapped his arm around Heather as if she was some high school conquest rather than his wife.

      He had always hated men like that.

      There was no reason for two people in a healthy relationship to hover and mistrust one another. When Allison had been alive, he’d never needed to claim her. No. Anytime they had been together it was like they were magnetic. It hadn’t mattered whether they were alone or in a room filled with people, he only saw her.

      They had fit.

      It was dumb luck he had found such a once-in-a-lifetime love.

      Maybe it was stupid of him to compare what he and Allison had to anyone else. Maybe they hadn’t had just a simple once-in-a-lifetime love. Maybe they were soul mates, their love created by the gods.

      Either way, he appreciated Allison way more than David seemed to appreciate the special woman he had found in Heather. His neighbor didn’t deserve such a woman—a woman so beautiful that the first time Kevin had met her she’d taken his breath away, a woman who put up with David’s possessiveness, a woman who accepted the hours that a cardiologist worked. Who knew what else she was forced to accept. Bottom line—Heather deserved better. Whether she knew it was another thing.

      Regardless, it was none of his business. And he shouldn’t be thinking of his neighbor and his daughter’s babysitter this way. Though, truthfully, she’d been in his thoughts way too often lately.

      He parked the truck and walked toward the house. Every bush along the walkway was perfectly shaped into a little sphere—it was like a trail of bombs just waiting to explode.

      He knocked on the door.

      It creaked open. Heather’s long brunette hair was pulled half up, making her look like one of those models from the Victoria’s Secret catalogs that he kept hidden in his bedroom like a teenager. Quickly he envisioned her in the skimpy lingerie and his gaze drifted to her breasts, but he wrestled his attention away. He hardened at the thought of her undressed.

      What was wrong with him today? There were so many other things he needed to be worried about besides how a friend looked naked.

      “Hey. I’m glad you’re here.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Something was wrong.

      “Lindsay good?”

      Heather’s face tightened.

      At the sound of his voice, Lindsay poked her head around the corner and smiled. “I gotta grab my backpack.”

      He turned back to Heather and looked into the darkness that seemed to fill her hazel eyes. “Are you okay?”

      “I’m fine. Really. Just tired,” she said, maybe a little too insistently.

      “I appreciate your taking Lindsay, but if you have other things that you need to take care of, I can СКАЧАТЬ