A Fresh Start (45 page)

Kate pursed her lips and dragged her feet forward. Tyler’s jaws were shut tight, probably still seething at what he’d just heard.
 

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that his anger would be directed toward her. She didn’t choose to be in this situation, but she was sure she’d be treated like the antagonist.

“Forfeit the house. You can’t sell it anyway. Forfeit it, we’ll follow the conditions, and I’ll pay you for that.”

And so it began.

“I wasn’t going to steal the house from you. I know how much this house means to you.”

“So what do you want?”

“To help.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. Though he didn’t say anything, the contempt was clear.

“Look, accept the conditions. It’s just one year,” she said.

“That’s his condition. And yours?”

“Mine?”

“What do you want?” he asked, enunciating each word.

You promised.
She drew in a frustrated breath. “Like I said, to help.”

“If you didn’t want the house, then why would you stay by an old man’s side to take care of him?” Tyler continued. “Why act so high and almighty now?”

Kate grabbled with her anger. “I may not be as rich as you are, but I don’t need the money from the inheritance, and I don’t need your house. I don’t even like this stupid place. It’s like a scene out of a horror movie.” She was tempted to reach over and strangle him, but reigning in her anger, she took in another deep breath and stepped away. “You aren’t angry with me; you’re pissed about your grandfather’s will. It disrupts my life, too. So before you start venting your anger on me, maybe you should think about that.”

Tyler remained silent, staring into the distant.

“I’m going to tell Mr. Sawyer that I’m forfeiting the house. You decide if you want to go along with it.”
 

Turning, Kate stalked away, wondering what she ever did to offend the late Mr. Hayes to deserve such a punishment.

“So? What did he say?” Marianne asked when she entered the house.

She looked at the creases of worry etched in Marianne’s forehead. Giving her a wry smile, Kate answered with a sigh.

Marianne handed her a warm cup of tea. “Whatever he said, ignore him.”

“Yeah.” She nodded, and took a sip of the tea. “I’m not stealing the house from him.”

“I never thought you would.”

Marianne’s immediate reply was comforting. At least someone didn’t think she was gold digger.
 

“Thanks.” She took another sip of the chamomile tea, then handed the cup to Marianne. “I’ll inform Mr. Sawyer, then I’ll head home. It’s been a long day.”

“Thank you for doing Ty this favor,” Marianne said with a warm smile.

She returned to the kitchen and informed Mr. Sawyer of her decision.
 

No matter how awful Tyler was, she did make a promise to the late Mr. Hayes.
 

And it was just one year.

Besides, the mansion was huge. It should be easy to avoid Tyler if she wanted.

After speaking with Mr. Sawyer, she left the house and slipped into her car. Inside, she pulled out the cream envelope from her back pocket and opened it.

Dear Kate,

I cannot begin to imagine your thoughts and feelings while you are reading this. Let me begin with a heartfelt apology. I am truly sorry about putting you in such a situation, but you are the only one I trust to handle this.

You know the one regret I had in my life was not mending the mistake I made with Tyler. He did not deserve the treatment he received. I should have been there for him, but I was so blinded by my own grief that I ended up letting down the most precious person left in my life.

As I leave to meet his parents, the shame is mine to bear, but Tyler does not deserve to be continually haunted by the ghosts from the past.

Please Kate, help me give Tyler back his home.

Love,

William Hayes.

Closing Books

©
2012 Trisha Grace

The traditional role of man and woman becomes twisted with Dan and Evelyn.
 

Dan wasn't a playboy. He didn't have any commitment issues. In fact, he wanted it all. Relationship and family.

Only problem?

He wanted it with someone who didn't want anything to do with him.

Evelyn didn't fool around in relationships because she had never been in one.

She was certain that things like love and happily-ever-afters weren't meant for people like her. There was simply too much darkness in her past. A past she thought she'd buried.

But she was wrong.

After more than a decade, her nightmare returned to haunt her, forcing her to face up to memories she couldn't seem to shake.

Could she ever close the books to her past and let go of the horrors she had been through? Could she ever learn to trust again?

Enjoy the following excerpt from Closing Books (Ghost of the Past Book 2):

Prologue

Evelyn and Dan strolled through the park, the light pink cherry blossoms hanging low above them. She took off her coat, folding it over her arm.

Spring was warmer than usual this year.

Children were already out in full force, running around in t-shirts and jeans.

She glanced over toward the playground and smiled ruefully as she saw the huge grins plastered on children’s faces.

She loved watching children at playgrounds. She loved listening to the high-pitch, carefree laughter and the shrieks of joy as they ran spiritedly, flailing their hands about.

“I used to love playing at the playground until my parents forced me to take my sister along,” Dan suddenly said.

She shook her head with a grin, but didn’t say anything. She felt Dan’s eyes on her, waiting, she supposed, for her to share an anecdote of her own.

But she didn’t like to think about the past. No, she didn’t allow herself to think of the past.
 

“Do you want to head over to the mansion for dinner tonight? Or would you rather we go somewhere else?” Dan asked after a moment, turning her head back to him.

She pursed her lips. It felt weird going over to Kate’s house when she wasn’t around. “Somewhere else.”

“Are you going to stay away from the mansion until they come back from their honeymoon?”

One of her shoulders inched up, giving him a nonchalant shrug.

“You can still head over even though she isn’t around, you know?”

“I know.” She smiled, then continued. “Where do you want to go for dinner?”

She was glad that Kate’s wedding had resulted in the need for Dan and her to work together. She was reluctant at first, thinking it was better that she stayed away from him.

Things between them were complicated.

They were good together, but they weren’t meant to be.

She wasn’t meant to be someone’s girlfriend. She wasn’t meant to be in a relationship.

She wished things between them could remain like this forever.
 

Simple. Just two friends hanging out together.

“How about—” Dan looked down toward the floor.

A young girl wearing a bright pink dress printed with large blue flowers ran right into Dan’s legs, fell back, and landed heavily on her bum.

Dan immediately knelt down and lifted the young girl up.

The young girl stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, seemingly ready to burst into tears.

Even being down on his knee, Dan towered over the girl.

“You all right?” Dan asked with a small smile and a light pat on her head.

The girl nodded slowly, her lips curling to reflect Dan’s.

“Are you hurt?”

“No,” the young girl replied.

“Abi!” A woman wearing a light purple top came running over. “I’m so sorry, she never looks where she’s going,” the woman said as she scooped the young girl into her arms.

“It’s okay,” Dan said, grinning at the girl. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Bye,” the young girl grinned and waved as her mother carried her back toward the playground.

Evelyn watched Dan return the girl’s wave.

Dan would make a great father.

The kind of father who would be there for their children. The kind of father a kid would be proud to have.

He was responsible and extremely patient.

She had worked with him and seen how he was with his staff. When things went wrong, he never lost his temper. He focused on solving the problem, gave a stern warning that such mistakes should be avoided, and never brought it up again.

And with her, even after all that she’d put him through, he would always turn up whenever she needed him.

“Cute girl,” Dan commented.

“You think every child is cute.”

He grinned and shrugged.
 

“You would be a great father.”

“I sure hope so, I’ve been babysitting Joanne forever,” he said. “And I’m sure you would be a great mother.”

She hitched her handbag higher up against her shoulder.

“You don’t want to have a family?”

Her fingers tightened around the strap of her handbag.

This was why they weren’t meant to be. They were so different. “I know you do.”

“Yeah, I do. And you don’t?”

Again, she adjusted the strap on her shoulder. “I already have a family. I have Kate.”

Though Kate wasn’t related to her, they were closer than most sisters were. Kate would probably be the only family that Evelyn would ever have.

His head bobbed up and down as he stared ahead.

They continued strolling through the park, walking side by side, neither saying anything.

Evelyn gazed at a mother walking past them. The young mother held a baby in her arms, rocking gently as she cooed the baby back to sleep.

She turned her head from the mother and child. She wouldn’t know how to be a mother anyway.
 

She didn’t know a single lullaby. She didn’t know how to bake cookies. She didn’t even know what a normal childhood was.

It was better that someone like her didn’t have children.

“So what do you want to have for dinner?” Dan asked.

Dan deserved better. He shouldn’t be wasting time on someone who could never give him what he wanted.

Pressing her lips into a thin line, she turned to him. “Actually…” She paused as she felt the vibration in her bag. “One minute.”

She pulled out her phone and frowned at the unfamiliar number. “Hello?”

“Hi, Mandy.”

Evelyn’s face blanked. “You got the wrong number,” she said, and hung up the phone.

“Everything all right?”

She forced a smile as she looked up at Dan. “Yeah, but I’ve got to go.”

“Now?”

“Yeah.” She turned and walked away from Dan.

“And dinner?”

She drew in a deep breath and turned back to him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Eve—”

“I really have to go.”

She spun around and strode toward the parking lot, still clenching the phone in her hands.

Chapter 1

Evelyn stared at the numbers on her vibrating cell phone. The originally unfamiliar number had become a source of fear and probably the cause of the migraine she had been suffering from.

She buried her face in her hands and let the phone vibrate a few more times before sighing and picking it up.

“I thought you were going to ignore my call,” the monotonous voice said.

Tightening her grip on the phone, Evelyn clenched her jaws. She took in a deep breath and quietly cleared her throat of the frustration that had lodged itself there before replying. “What do you want?”

“Money, of course. I’ve run out.”

“I’m not your bank.”

“You can always say no. But I can’t say you’ll like what follows.”

Evelyn shut her eyes and reminded herself to take slow, deep breaths. All she wanted to do was to smash her phone into the wall and leave, to disappear to a place where no one knew her.
 

If only life was that easy.
 

“How much do you want?”

“Three thousand. Six o’clock, same place.”

Evelyn hung up the phone without another word. Leaning back against the chair, she shut her eyes and swallowed hard. Crying wouldn’t solve the problem. She needed a solution; she needed to think.

She had contemplated on making a police report, but that meant revealing the secret she had so adamantly refused to speak of. She had thought of changing her phone number and live in denial, praying that things would simply return to normal as long as she could no longer be reached.
 

As much as she tried to convince herself, she knew things wouldn’t just vanish by feigning ignorance.

Since receiving the first call less than a month ago, Evelyn’s bank account had been set back by over six thousand dollars, and there didn’t seem to be an end to it.
 

Straightening herself, she stared at the photos playing as the default screensaver on her laptop; photos taken on her best friend’s wedding. She stared blankly at the pictures from Kate’s wedding, seeing smile after smile, until a photo of Dan and her appeared.

Evelyn tilted her head back and took in a deep breath, but tears still went tumbling down her cheeks. Tears stemmed from the nostalgia of joy she had felt in the picture; a joy which seemed so far away and unattainable at the moment.

Life had been good since she got out of the foster system. She had worked hard, and along with Kate, they had a successful career and a great life.