I sit back down on the couch. “Maybe he did.”
My mom looks down the hall toward the bathroom, then back at me. “Mr. Milton’s sister went to Lawrence, asking about her brother. She said she hadn’t heard from him in weeks and that wasn’t like him. My friend Dolores heard the whole conversation. According to the sister, Mr. Milton would never leave his cats, but according to concerned neighbors who had called her, he did.”
Well, well. Mr. Gardiner might be a murderer. Why am I not surprised?
I hear the bathroom door open, and I stand.
“Thanks Mom. I think we’d better go.” I give her a hug.
“Be careful. Don’t underestimate that man.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
I’m hoping he underestimates me.
CHAPTER11
Lucy
After we got backfrom his mom’s house last night, Cody excused himself and spent the rest of the evening in his bedroom. I went to the guest room and tried to sleep, but my mind wouldn’t shut off. I finally gave up at six a.m., and now I’m making way too much coffee to get through the day.
My dad knows no limits in trying to control my life. I had no idea he’d go this far, though. He saw how heartbroken I was, and all he’s ever said is I was better off. How does someone do that to their own daughter? How do they ruin someone else’s life?
He knew Cody didn’t have any money and that the scholarship was everything to him. Yet he purposely took away an eighteen-year-old’s future. For what? So, I would later find a man he deemed worthy?
Yes, Joseph came from money, he had his own trust fund and all the manners, but in the end, he’d been the worst decision of my life. And what about my mom? Does she know what Dad did? Does she agree with his choices?
I’m thankful Cody was able to go on with his life and not wallow in his losses. But we should have been together at college; we’d be together now, married.
But would he be happy? He said he struggled in school, but after enlisting, he found something he was good at. My thoughts evaporate when Cody walks into the kitchen.
Holy hell.
He’s shirtless and wearing pajama pants that hang low beneath more abdominal muscles than I’ve ever seen on a man.
Is that an eight-pack? Is there such a thing?
My eyes work their way up to his chest. Dear lord, this man is chiseled. A tattoo above his heart catches my eye.
“What is that?” I ask as I step closer. When I realize what I’m looking at, I almost drop my cup of coffee. “Lucy fromPeanuts?”
I scan his other tattoos; he has a couple more on his chest and several on his arm. No other comic strip characters.
“Yes. To remind me of you always.”
This man. I can’t. It’s too much. My chest aches, and I want to reach out to him, but he continues.
“It worked, too. And because of this tattoo, I got the call sign Pig Pen.”
“Pig Pen?”
“You know, the dirty kid FromPeanuts. I had just gone through a muddy obstacle course for training, and when I hit the showers, one of the guys saw the tattoo and the mud, and I became Pig Pen.”
I try not to laugh. “That’s an awful call sign, Cody.”
His lips twitch. “Is not. It always reminded me of you.”
I squeeze my eyes shut but cannot stop the tears from falling.
