Chapter Twelve – Faith

 

I stood on the porch and watched as Sam pulled out and drove away down our little gravel road, a vague sense of longing haunting my thoughts as the taillights of his car disappeared into the great piney forest that surrounded the little farmhouse Veronica and I called home.

There was something about him. Something strange. The way he moved, the way he acted. The gun he had. I still didn’t think he was a journalist. At least, not entirely a journalist. Something about him just seemed off. Shady. Like he wasn’t telling me the whole story of what he was really doing in Potterswell.

And, yeah, he was sexy. I mean, of course he was sexy. Those arms, that little half-smile of his. Any woman in her right mind would be wondering what those hands of his felt like. But, did I really want a guy who couldn’t even tell me who he really was?

Besides, I didn’t want some random guy for just one night. I’d never been that kind of girl before, and I wasn’t about to become one now. No matter how sexy the man in question was.

“Did he leave already?” Veronica called from inside the house, a pout to her voice. She was loud enough that I could hear her clearly through our single-pane windows. The walls might be thick enough to muffle her when she brought a guy home from the bar, but the glass was a different story entirely.

“Yep,” I called back as I turned around and headed for the door. I pulled it open and stepped into the living room. “Thanks to you.”

“Thanks to me?” she asked from where she was lounging on our old couch, beer in hand. “What did I do?”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Veronica was sometimes the sweetest girl in the world. Other times, she was the densest. And usually when she was being thickest in the head, she also happened to be drunk. One could say there was a direct correlation between the two.

Of course, it wasn’t like I was trying to get Sam to stay the night or anything. Even if I found him super sexy, I hardly knew the guy. I’d just wanted him to stick around a little longer than he had. So we could maybe talk about something other than break-ins and mutilated livestock. Was that too much to ask? But, I didn’t like him. Not like that.

Did I?

But, right now was not the time to discuss this kind of thing with Veronica. It was already getting late, and I had an early morning tomorrow.

“Hey,” Veronica slurred, “I’m sorry if I screwed up your alone time. The bar was just lame, so I figured I’d come home and call it a night. You know, stay in, or something.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said as I walked through. “You live here just as much as I do, and have every right to be here.”

“Well, I know that, but…”

I stopped and turned around, leaning against the hallway with my arms crossed over my chest. “It’s cool, Veronica. Don’t worry about it.”

She frowned a little, sat up, and hunched forward. “It’s not just that, though. We’re friends, Faith, not just roommates. So, I’m sorry, okay? I was just messing around.”

She could be sweet when she wanted to be, like I said earlier, but she still had a hard exterior. Of course, sometimes you had to get through the rest of her personality before you reached the sweet part. Almost like a Tootsie Pop.

“You’re forgiven, Ronnie. Okay?”

She sat back on the couch, letting her head roll onto the headrest behind her. She turned my way and batted her eyes. “You sure?”

I sighed, rolling my eyes again as I nodded. “Yes, okay? He and I are in just kind of a work thing. I’m helping him out with something, that’s all. He’s not really my type, anyways.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling a little. She turned her attention back to her beer, took a drink.

When she didn’t say anything else for a long moment, I decided it was time to call it a night. I turned and headed off to my room.

“Hey, Faith!” Veronica called when I was about halfway back to my bedroom.

I stopped, throwing my head back so I was looking at our ceiling, with its peeling paint and a single cobweb up in the corner. Old houses like this always seemed to have a spider or two you could never find.

“What now, Veronica?” I asked, exasperation creeping heavily into my voice.

“Does that mean I can take a crack at him?”

I let out a long, groaning sigh. That was just what I needed. Veronica going after Sam. That wouldn’t complicate matters at all!

She must have heard me, though, because before I could even respond, she was already practically cackling. “Oh, calm your tits, girl!” she shouted between fits of laughter. “I’m just messing with you! Go to bed! Your little boyfriend’s safe from me, I promise!”

I swear, that woman was going to give me a heart attack one of these days. I went into my room, closed the door behind me, and began to undress.

As I did, my thoughts traveled back to Sam, and to the weird moment of panic I’d felt when Veronica had asked if she could have a go at him. Maybe there was more to this than just a physical attraction? Maybe, instead, it was something else other than just thinking he was good-looking.

I finished changing into my PJs, headed down the hall into the bathroom, and started my nightly routine.

After all, I had to be up early tomorrow morning.

And something was telling me it was going to be one hell of a long day.