Page 38 of The Summer that Changed Everything
“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll be fine.”
“You might change your mind after you hear what I have to say,” he told her with a knowing grin. “As a matter of fact, I think you’re going to start being a lot nicer to me.”
She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t count on it,” she said but was secretly relieved when they were sitting on her back porch, enjoying the breeze coming in off the ocean as well as the wine he’d brought over. With Ford around, she felt safe, didn’t have to worry about Reggie or anyone else.
There were other worries, though...
“You have to admit this is nice,” he said.
“I don’t have to admit anything,” she said grudgingly but smiled.
He chuckled. “Are you ever going to forgive me?”
“I already have. I just don’t see any reason for us to be friends.”
His smile disappeared. “Maybe I need a friend more than you do.”
She was sitting in the swinging chair to his right. “Then you should pick someone else. Even if my father didn’t kill Aurora, he murdered Tony and Lucinda, Ford.”
“That’s tragic. I wish it never happened. But it did, and he’s in prison now. There’s nothing else that can be done in that regard.”
“I’m still related to him,” she pointed out. “That was what made me anathema last time—besides the fact that I had no money and no real prospects for college, I suppose.”
“My parents were wrong to treat you the way they did,” he said with a grimace. “So was I.”
The lump that formed in her throat embarrassed her. It’d been fifteen years! Certainly, she’d gotten over what’d happened in that length of time.
She cleared her throat so the emotion wouldn’t show in her voice. “You’ve already apologized. And I’ve accepted. It’s over. No need to mention it again. Anyway, I can see why they did what they did. They didn’t want someone like me to get hold of you.” She laughed, but he didn’t laugh with her.
“That’s such bullshit,” he said. “I wish they’d handled it differently. I wish I had, too. But if you’ll let me, I’d like to show you that I can be a better friend. I’m convinced I’m a nice guy—down deep,” he added jokingly.
She didn’t know how to respond. She used to prefer him to any other person on the planet. But that was when she was young and naive. “I’m sure you are,” she said and quickly moved on to a more comfortable subject. “So what’d you want to tell me?”
He crossed his long legs out in front of him. “I hired a private investigator today.”
She looked up from her wine. “To...”
“Figure out who killed Aurora—or at least prove it wasn’t your father.”
She put down her glass. “Why’d you do that?”
“So that you’ll have the help you need.”
“I can hire my own investigator, Ford. And I will, when I’mready. I don’t have the resources you do. I’ll probably never bethatrich. But I’ve got some money saved up. I’m just waiting until... until I find the right person before tapping into those resources.”
When he sat forward, she could tell he’d picked up on the edge in her voice. She didn’t want his pity. She also didn’t want to feel indebted to him. Somehow, that would only make things worse. At least she’d never taken anything from him, including the money he’d tried to give her the day before she left town.
“Now you don’t have to,” he said simply.
“This isn’t your problem,” she insisted, but she’d told him that before.
“Actually, it’s not your problem, either,” he pointed out. “I could easily make an argument that you shouldn’t bother. I mean... I’m guessing it won’t make much difference in the way you feel about your father, given what he did to the Matteos. It certainly won’t get him out of prison. And it won’t bring Aurora back.”
“It might mean that she’ll get justice,” she said. “It’s important to get these things right.”
“I agree, but that isn’t your responsibility any more than it is mine. Or are you out to prove you didn’t encourage your father to get rid of her?”
“That could be part of it,” she allowed. “Since I didn’t. I don’t remember so much as mentioning Aurora to him. I didn’t want him to know I was seeing someone. He was insanely protective, wouldn’t have liked it. Besides, I felt secure with you at the time, or I wouldn’t have... let it go so far.”
