Wedding Bell Blues (12 page)

The sound of my classroom door opening brought my head up with
a
snap. It was my off period and I didn't have any conferences scheduled.
In fact, for the first time in more than five hours, I was alone. But
only after promising Jennings I wouldn't move from my desk until she
got back from the bathroom. So, when the door opened and then closed
without warning, my heart did a quick thump-thump-thump in fear even as
I swung to see who had entered, fully prepared to do whatever it took
to get out of the room and to Jennings as quickly as possible.

Only to sit back and smile in relief. Leaning against the
door, her
arms folded across her chest and sporting a look that was a mixture of
concern and frustration, was Lynn Buchanan, head of the history
department and probably my best friend. It wasn't hard to guess she'd
been carefully biding her time until she could catch me alone and I
wondered how Jennings would react to finding the door closed and,
unless I missed my guess, locked when she returned.

"Okay, Jessica, care to tell me what the hell is going on?"
Lynn
crossed the classroom to lean against my desk, looking down at me with
her best
I'm the
teacher. You're the student so don't try denying it
look.

"It's a long story, Lynn." I got to my feet and moved to stare
out
the window. "You heard about what happened at Manny's?" She'd know
where I meant because she had been the first to take me to that
particular liquor store more than five years earlier, telling me that
not only did it have some of the best prices and best selection in town
but that Manny would make sure to get anything I might want if he
didn't already stock it.

"Yeah. I can't believe it." Then she looked at me, her eyes
going
wide in disbelief as the facts suddenly fell into place. "Jessie! Were
you the witness?"

I nodded, a frown pulling at the corners of my mouth. "Not
that you
could really say that. I didn't see anything except someone in a mask
just before he knocked me cold."

"Is that how you hurt your cheek?"

"Yeah."

"Jess, you could have been killed!" She paled and hurried to
stand
next to me, her hand resting on my arm as if to reassure herself that I
was all right. "Dear God, why didn't you call me?"

"Lynn, I couldn't. I spent most of Saturday afternoon at the
hospital getting my cheek treated. Then I had to deal with my parents
before Dad took me home."

"You didn't stay with your parents?" When I looked at her as
if
she'd taken leave of her senses, she shrugged and even managed a hint
of a smile. "Okay, foolish question."

"Not really. I probably should have, but the thought of
spending the
night with them, having to deal with my mother in her worried about her
daughter-another daughter's getting married mode was just more than I
could handle."

"But?" she prompted, her head cocked to one side as she
studied me. "I know you too well, Jess. What else happened?"

I sighed and turned to the door as the knob rattled and a
knock
sounded. Peering through the window was Jennings, her expression
concerned. Then, seeing I was okay, she relaxed some and nodded,
mouthing for me to open the door when I was finished. I nodded in
response and then turned my attention back to Lynn.

"Nothing happened."

"Jess, I know you better than that."

"Colton came over that night," I said and went on to tell her
everything, not only about Saturday night but last night as well.

"Well." She leaned against the wall and looked at me closely,
a
slight smile touching her lips. "I have to say, that's the last thing
I'd have expected to happen."

"Tell me about it."

"Are you going to sleep with him again?"

"NO!"

She grinned, and I felt the blush creeping up my throat to my
face. Damn it.

"Jess, don't be too hasty. I know you thought you had good
reason
to break up with him before; but, to be honest, I've always thought
there might have been more to what happened than you knew," she said
simply before pushing away from the wall as the bell rang, signaling
the change of classes and preventing me from demanding an explanation.
"If you need anything, anything at all, let me know. And, Jess, do try
to remember that you deserve some happiness. Remember also that people
can change."

With that, she crossed to the door and unlocked it, nodding to
Jennings as the policewoman entered. Then she was gone.

"You okay?" Jennings asked, eyeing me closely.

"Yeah. As soon as this class is over, I'll be ready to get out
of here."

"You know something, ma'am, so will I. I never did like high
school."

With that, Jennings slipped into a chair at the back of the
room as the first students began streaming in.

The sound of a key turning in the lock and then voices
reached me
as I worked at the kitchen table. Despite my best intentions, I'd
returned to Colton's apartment after school. Not that I'd really
planned to. No, I'd had every intention of going to the police station
to see what he could tell me and then finding a nice hotel room
somewhere to spend the night. But, as we left the school, Jennings
reported that Colton was out in the field and had suggested she take me
to his place where he'd meet us. Since there'd been no look of
speculation in her eyes, nothing more than approval, I didn't know what
else to do. So, alternating between frustration that he'd simply
assumed I'd agree to return to his place and relief that I didn't have
to find somewhere else to stay, I'd let Jennings bring me here.

Still, I hadn't been comfortable with her coming into the
apartment
-- not that she'd made any move to do so. Instead, she'd taken up a
position at the end of the hallway where she could keep an eye on the
door as well as the elevators and stairwell. For my part, I'd fled
inside, closing and locking the door behind me.

After changing into the pair of jeans and a tee shirt I'd
bought
just the day before, I started dinner. Of course, there wasn't much to
choose from. Not unless a very healthy selection of beer counts. But
there had been the makings of spaghetti sauce and I'd even found some
ground beef in the freezer. With the sauce simmering on the stove, I'd
settled at the kitchen table to grade the papers I'd brought with me.

That's where Colton found me when he arrived home. I didn't
need to
turn to know he had stopped just inside the door and was looking at me.
I wouldn't turn. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Still, a little
knot of tension I hadn't realized had taken up residence in the pit of
my stomach unwound, and I sighed softly. Then I frowned and cursed
silently. What the hell was wrong with me? I shouldn't be reacting like
this just because he had finally come home.

Of course, I shouldn't be staying here, making dinner for the
two
of us, just as though the last ten years had never happened. Well, I'd
correct this particular mistake as soon as possible.

"Something smells good," he commented as he moved past me
into the
kitchen. I kept my head down, pretending I was concentrating on the
paper before me. But hearing him lift the lid off the saucepan, the
clink of silverware as he grabbed a spoon to taste the sauce, I
couldn't help holding my breath. "It is good," he said a moment later
and a slight smile touched my lips.

Okay, I love to cook and, like anyone who takes her cooking
seriously, I enjoy it when someone pays me a compliment.

"I figured I owed you a home-cooked meal after all you've
done for
me." I looked up from the paper I'd been grading and smiled in
appreciation as he handed me one of the two beers he now held. "Of
course, your larder is quite bare, so all I could throw together was
pasta and sauce."

"That's more than I'd hoped for." He took a swig of beer and
then slipped out of his jacket. "Do I have time for a shower?"

"You do." He nodded and started toward the bedroom, turning
back to
face me as he reached the doorway. "Jess, I'm sorry I couldn't meet you
earlier and I'm not trying to put off telling you what's going on.
Unfortunately, there simply isn't much to tell. Davalos promised to get
me her preliminary report tomorrow morning, and I'm still trying to
sift through all the evidence taken from both Manny's and your place.
I'll fill you in on the details after I shower."

With that, he disappeared into the bedroom, and I leaned back
with
a sigh. Damn. I'd really been hoping he'd have some sort of news for
me.

Okay, but something was eating at him. I could tell. Maybe it
was
as simple as he didn't have anything new to report. I could understand
that, especially since I wanted to know something, anything that might
help explain all that had happened. Or it might be that he knew
something he didn't like and didn't know how to tell me. That was a bit
more problematical simply because I wasn't sure I wanted to hear
anything like that. Well, I did but I didn't. God.

Well, in either case, it wasn't going to get any easier when
he
heard what I had to do after dinner. Not that I hadn't tried to figure
some way out of it, because I had. I'd spent the last few hours doing
more than a little thinking on it. But, short of being on my deathbed,
there was no way I could get out of it. Whether I liked it or not, I
had to be at my parents' to help Maryanne go over the last of the
wedding plans.

Wouldn't that be just loads of fun?

Well, there'd be time enough later to think about that.
Better check my sauce and put on the pasta.

"I hope this is all right," I said as I slid a plate of pasta
and
sauce on the table in front of Colton. He had already torn into the
garlic bread I'd put out a few minutes earlier. Mouth full, he simply
nodded and reached for his fork. "Now, can you tell me what happened
today? You seemed a little preoccupied when you came home."

He didn't reply right away. Instead, he kept his attention on
the
pasta he was twirling around his fork, not that it fooled me. He was
trying to think of how to answer. That didn't reassure me any.

"Like I said, Jess, there really isn't much new I can tell
you." He
looked at me over his fork, pasta trailing from it. "I won't get
Davalos's report until tomorrow and even then it will only be a
preliminary report. The lab tests won't be back for several weeks.
Unfortunately, real life labs don't work as quickly as those on TV."

I knew he was right, but I didn't like it. I wanted answers
now, not weeks from now.

"That's okay, Colton. Just tell me what you can."

"All right, it was arson. Someone tossed some kind of
incendiary
device through your front window. Because it wasn't caught in time, it
ignited the gas lines to your furnace and hot water heater. At least
that's Davalos's take on it. If she's right, it's an amateur job."

"She's sure?" My heart beat a little faster and my fear
kicked up a notch.

"She is. What it means, unfortunately, is that she's going to
have to make sure you don't have a reason to have the fire set."

"What?" I looked at him in disbelief. That was one thing I
hadn't
anticipated. Now that I thought about it, I knew I should have. Still
that the realization didn't reassure me any, or take away the sting of
insult.

"Easy, Jess. It's just standard procedure."

"Screw your procedure, Colton. I lost my house, things that
mattered to me. I most definitely did not have reason to set fire to it
all."

"I know that, and I told Davalos she was wasting her time."
This
time, his frustration shone through and that, much to my surprise, made
me feel a little better.

"Thanks." I tried to smile. "You'd better eat. You can tell me
the
rest of it afterwards. Then I need to talk to you about something."

His eyes darkened and he swallowed hard. Funny, he looked
suddenly
uncomfortable. Then, as understanding struck, I fought the urge to
laugh. He'd wanted to talk this morning about what happened last night.
Now he must be afraid I wanted to talk. Well, I did. But not about
that. Nope. No way did I want to talk about that.

Twenty minutes later, we worked side by side in the small
kitchen,
loading dishes in the dishwasher and putting away the leftovers. It
would be so easy to fall into old habits, habits I'd thought forgotten
these last ten years, and I couldn't do that. He'd broken my heart
once. No way was I going to put myself in that position again.

"So, what's on your mind?" he asked as he carefully folded the
dishtowel and hung it over the oven handle.

"I hate to say it, but I've got to go to my parents' tonight.
Wedding stuff."

"Jess, surely Maryanne would understand -"

"Don't even suggest it." I held up a hand to keep him from
continuing. "Colton, I can't ask Maryanne to change her plans. The
wedding is this Saturday. She was going crazy before my life turned
upside down. This -" I waved a hand at my battered face - "hasn't
helped any. Besides, I'm her maid of honor. I have to be there."

He ran a hand over his face, and I could all but hear the
gears of
his mind turning. "Maybe she could come here?" He sounded so hopeful,
and I couldn't imagine why. Well, I couldn't for about half a second.
Then I realized he had come to the same conclusion I had and that he
liked the possibility even less than I did.

"Colton, you know better." I leaned against the edge of the
sink and
looked up at him. "But you don't have to go. I can grab a cab or borrow
your car."

"Jess, I'm not about to let you go anywhere on your own."

"Then you'd better get your game face on, because you know
what my mother's like."

With that, I left the kitchen to get ready to go, relishing
the look
of panic that flashed across his expression at the mention of my
mother. Good. I shouldn't be the only one scared to face her tonight.