“Sure, the town is being good to me now, but that’s how it always starts. They get you all nice and complacent and then they turn on you like a pack of wild dogs when your guard is down. And look what else is going to happen? Emma Jo is going to be the new suspect and focus of gossip now that the town knows she had a legitimate reason for killing Jed, and she’ll never be able to ride off into the sunset with Buddy and have a good life,” I complain.
“Sweetie, you need to stop worrying about me so much,” Emma Jo says softly, wrapping me in her arms once again. “I love you, and I will never be able to thank you enough for coming home, and taking care of me and making me see just how strong I could be. You’ve done more than enough, Payton. I won’t let you take the blame for Jed’s murder and deal with the wrath of this town on top of that. I can’t. It’s not who I am and you know that.”
My eyes blur with tears and I start to wonder where the hell they’re all coming from. I’ve never cried this much in my entire life.
“Also, I’m not riding off into the sunset with Buddy Lloyd. I don’t even like him,” she scoffs.
“Nice try, asshole. I’ve seen the way you stare at his ass whenever he’s around,” Bettie laughs.
When Emma Jo starts to protest again, Bettie claps her hands together.
“Alright, The Crying Game is over. The people of Bald Knob love Payton and again we need to make sure it sticks this time, especially because that lasagna is fucking delicious and I’d like whoever made it to keep dropping it off,” Bettie announces, pointing at the foil-covered pan next to her. “Emma Jo, go hunt up some more wine. Payton is going to suck it up, try and convince us of all the stupid reasons why she can’t fall in love with Leo, and then we’re going to discuss that little murder thing that happened and this murder weapon you seem to know something about.”
Emma Jo quickly goes to the fridge to procure more wine.
“Tonight’s secret word is murder weapon!” she announces, turning from the fridge and holding up two bottles of wine.
Seriously, how did I get so lucky to have friends like these two? Looks like it’s another night of drinking and poor life choices.
CHAPTER 34
Coffee before talkie.
—Coffee Mug
Thankfully, I managed to keep the wine drinking to a minimum the rest of the day, because being drunk tonight and then hungover again tomorrow is something I don’t need right now. Emma Jo pouted when I took her wine glass away and put the wine back in the fridge, but she was mollified when I pulled out the murder suspect list and gave her and Bettie something else to do other than scream, “MURDER WEAPON!” and drink themselves into a coma.
After going over the list for several hours, I started to feel really bad about pointing fingers when these people had showered me with food and compliments all day. Sure, I was still afraid they’d turn on me at any moment, but right now, it felt good to be liked by everyone and very, very bad to be trying to figure out which one of them we should accuse of murder.
When I told Bettie and Emma Jo about the cause of Jed’s death and how it was something sharp and pointy, they were as confused as I was regarding the whereabouts of the award that used to sit on the front table. Bettie never remembered seeing it and Emma Jo said she hadn’t paid much attention to it, but that the last time she saw it was when I was holding it my hand, shoving the thing toward Leo’s chest when he showed up at the house and I didn’t know who he really was, assuming he was just the guy from the hospital and he was stalking me. Which of course made me freak out that my fingerprints were all over that damn thing, but Bettie assured me that since we know for a fact I didn’t really kill Jed, someone else’s fingerprints would be on it too. And if they wiped it cleaned and it turned up somewhere, mine would have been wiped off in the process too.
All of this information did little to calm my nerves, and Bettie was proved right once again when I tried my best to convince myself and them that falling in love with Leo was the worst idea ever, but it didn’t work. The more time I spent with him and the more I got to know him, I knew it was a battle of the heart I’d never win, especially after the whole coffee mug present he left in the kitchen this morning. How do you not fall completely, head-over-heels in love with a guy who does something like that for you? And how do you choose between him and the business you scarified everything for, and worked your hands to the bone to build from the ground up, and the life you love almost as much in another state?
The answer is – you can’t. Which leaves me to wear I am now. Feeling like shit, all alone in Emma Jo’s house, curled up on the couch, and staring at the TV I didn’t even have the strength to turn on. Bettie and Emma Jo decided to head up to The Hungry Bear to get dinner a little while ago, and I declined their invitation to go with them, which they were far too excited about and okay with, grabbing their purses and practically running out of the house. It was a little suspicious that they felt the need to go out for food when we had an entire kitchen filled with everything you could imagine, and I knew they left and were happy I didn’t go with them because Leo would be here any minute and they assumed I was going to profess my undying love for him. They’ll find out soon enough that the only profession I’m going to be doing is about the award on the hall table and how I was the last one to touch it.
I hear Leo’s car pull into the driveway and I wipe my hands nervously down the skirt of my short, strapless, eyelet white sundress as I get up from the couch and meet him at the front door.