Chapter 69

I snuck a quick glance at the soggy envelope. Joel was holding it loose at his side, still unopened.

I just prayed it stayed that way.

With growing despair, I watched my aunt walk toward the stairway. My heart was racing, and I wanted to holler out, "Come back!"

Aunt Gina was a bundle of energy. She'd be the perfect distraction for what I desperately wanted to do – sneak off with that envelope and see what it contained.

Yes, it would be intrusive, unethical, and a whole bunch of other things, but I was beyond caring. And besides, I was part of the foundation. Whatever the envelope contained, I should've been informed.

This had to be Derek's doing, which meant, of course, that the envelope was a proverbial bomb, waiting to explode.

Stalling for time, I turned to Joel and explained that Aunt Gina's early arrival had caught me by surprise. I finished by saying, "So anyway, sorry I didn't call to warn you. I guess I should've, huh?"

"It's alright." He eyed me with obvious concern. "Hey, don't look so worried. It's not a big deal."

I swallowed. "I look worried?"

I wasn't worried. I was terrified. But it had nothing to do with the change in my aunt's schedule.

All day, I'd envisioned telling Joel about Derek's threat. And all day, I'd imagined Joel's response. Joel was fearless. There was no way he'd back off just because Derek had waved some photos in my face and made mouth noises about knowing some prosecutor.

After all, if Joel had any sense of self-preservation, he wouldn't've been fighting at all, especially with it being illegal. I recalled our conversation from just a few days earlier. He'd actually mentioned fighting again if the money ran low.

Seriously, what on Earth was he thinking? That he could fly under the radar and not get caught? My shoulders sagged. Who knows, maybe he could've. But not anymore, because Derek wouldn't let that happen.

Joel asked, "Are you feeling okay?"

I gave a little jump. "What?

He reached for my hand. "You're shaking."

Distracted, I murmured, "Am I?"

Trying to keep it together, I gazed into Joel's eyes and wondered what would happen if the worst-case scenario played out. I envisioned him in jail – or worse, in prison, surrounded by enemies seeking revenge.

At the thought, I wanted to cry. Instead, I forced a smile. The smile felt funny, like my face was a lot smarter than I was. Somehow, I managed to say, "I'm just a little cold. You know, from the rain."

It wasn't even a lie. The house was warm, but for some reason, I felt chilled to the bone.

He pulled me close and whispered into my hair. "You want me to make a fire?"

The offer was a lifeline, and I decided to grab it while I had the chance. I nodded against his soggy shirt. "If you're sure you don't mind, that would be great."

He pulled back and said, "What do you have, like three fireplaces? Pick your favorite, and I'll get one going."

In what I hoped was a casual gesture, I tugged the envelope from his hand and said, "How about the family room?"

When he looked down at the envelope, I added, "I'll just set this aside to dry off." Before he could argue, I turned away and began walking toward the kitchen. I called over my shoulder, "I'll grab us some hot chocolate or something. Meet you by the fire?"

Without waiting for his answer, I hustled to the kitchen and filled the tea kettle with water. I placed it on the stove and turned the burner to its highest setting.

The hot chocolate was my excuse, but the thing I really wanted was the boiling water. The envelope had a normal seal, and I'd seen plenty of movies. A good dose of steam would loosen the glue easily, right?

Unfortunately, I never found out. The water hadn't even begun to boil when Joel's voice broke into my murky thoughts. "Want me to get that?"

Startled, I whirled around to see him standing within arm's reach. "The hot chocolate?" I tried to smile. "Thanks, but I've got it."

He smiled. "Sorry, but no."

I blinked. "What?"

He reached for my hand. "Come on. The fire's going. You let me worry about this, alright?"

Damn it.

Trying to sound happy about it, I asked, "But how could the fire be going already? It's only been like two minutes."

"I cheated," he said. "There was a starter log already there."

I stifled a curse. That's right. I recalled staging that stupid thing a few months ago. An instant fire with the flick of a match, it sounded oh-so wonderful at the time. Now, it was just an annoyance.

I glanced toward the kettle. "It's almost done," I said. "You go. I'll meet you there."

"That's what you think." He put an arm over my shoulder and guided me out of the kitchen. Short of throwing off his arm and bolting for the stove, I didn't know what to do except follow along.

The only bright spot was that I was still holding the envelope. I carried it with me, even as Joel led me to the family room and practically pushed me into the armchair closest the fire.

He smiled down at me. "I'll be back in a minute, alright?"

One minute? Screw the steam. As soon as he left, I ripped open the envelope and pulled out its contents – a letter and a check for fifty dollars, made out to Joel.

I read the amount again. Fifty dollars? That made no sense. Unless – oh, shit. That was the exact amount of that very first check, the one that Joel had ripped up at his campsite. This had to be Derek's doing.

This wasn't good.

Conscious of the time ticking away, I turned my attention to the letter, printed on the foundation's letterhead. Quickly, I scanned the few short paragraphs.

When I finished, I felt like throwing up.

There was no way on Earth I'd ever let Joel read this thing. It wasn't just inaccurate. It was a travesty. Worst of all, it was signed by Claude, who was supposed to be helping me – not ruining everything.

I lowered my head to study the signature. It couldn’t tell if Claude had actually signed it, or if it was one of those auto-signature graphics that the foundation used for form letters.

Damn it. If only I had more time, I could sort this out. But I didn't, at least not now. I stuffed the letter and check back into the envelope and gave the room a nervous glance. I needed to hide this, but where?

My gaze landed on the fireplace, and I felt my jaw tighten. Screw hiding it. Before I could overthink it, I tossed the whole sorry thing onto the fire and stood to watch it burn.

But it didn't. To my infinite frustration, the stupid thing didn't burst into flames – at least, not soon enough, because a moment later, Joel's voice cut across the room. "What'd you do that for?"

Oh, shit.

I whirled to see him standing in the open doorway, giving me a perplexed look. And then, he was striding forward. Before I could process what was happening, he'd already moved past me and was reaching down into the fireplace.

I blurted out, "Don't!"

But he did.