Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            She hadn’t moved her face and he hadn’t moved his hand.

            He was staring down at her, his emotions too turbulent for her to read. But then, one emotion rose above the others and the sight stopped her heart. Longing.

            She leaned closer and for a brief, shining moment, hope surged. Again.

            And then he took a step back. Again. “All right,” he said quietly. “I won’t bother you anymore. Just let me know when you’ve figured out how we can be friends, okay?”

            He left the garage, and a few seconds later, she heard Pebbles’s yip and whine, Tom’s deep rumble of chastisement, and then, finally, she heard Rafe’s front door open and close.

            She let out the breath she’d been holding and sagged against Sasha’s car. For a few minutes she stood there, breathing. Collecting the pieces of her heart that had shattered. One by one, she rebuilt herself until she could stand firmly on her own two feet.

            She had practice doing this. She’d done it before. When her mother had died. When her sister was killed. When she’d held Fritz’s body, his life already having seeped away.

            She’d rebuilt her life before. She’d do it again. And because she had a little girl waiting for her in Mercy’s apartment, she forced her feet to move.

            She opened the door to find Rafe waiting in the foyer, looking devastated.

            He started to speak. “I’m—”

            She held up her hand, stopping him with a smile. “It’s all right, Rafe. Tom and I are friends.” It was a lie, but Rafe seemed to believe it. “It’s not the drama you think it is. He yelled at me the other night because he was upset that I hadn’t told him about Fritz until now. He needed to be sure that he hadn’t hurt my feelings.”

            “And did he?”

            “Nope,” she said with forced cheer. “I’m good.”

            “He’ll come back tomorrow to help me with the tables. You can hide anywhere you like.”

            “If I’m still here,” she said lightly. “I have to go home sometime. Although I do recall you promising pancakes for breakfast when I first got here, so I’ll stay for those.”

            Rafe’s smile was one of relief. “Okay. But maybe tell that to Mercy? Otherwise I’ll be sleeping with Abigail’s puppy in the doghouse tonight.”

            “It’ll be quieter there,” she told him. “Abigail wants to stay up all night telling stories. I give her till midnight before she conks out.”

            She opened the door to rejoin the party, only to stop short at the sight of Mercy holding one of the cartons of rocky road and a spoon.

            Liza appreciated the gesture more than she could say, and she really, really wanted that ice cream, but she shook her head with a smile. “I’m good. Let’s save the dessert until after the pizza. Abigail, we need to finish polishing your fingernails.”

            “Mercy did it for me.”

            Well, shit. Liza amped up her smile. “What about your toenails? You can’t leave them naked. That would be too scandalous.”

            “Can I have stickers on them?”

            “You sure can.” Liza sat on the floor and patted her lap. “Come sit with me and we can choose your design.” And if she squeezed Abigail a little harder than necessary, the little girl didn’t complain.





TWENTY-ONE



SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

            SATURDAY, MAY 27, 10:30 A.M.





Liza found everyone eating pancakes in Rafe’s small studio apartment the next morning. They’d scattered among the three floors when it had been time for bed the night before. Liza had been worried that Abigail would want to camp on the floor with sleeping bags, but the girl had informed them that she’d slept on the floor “back there” and liked a soft bed better.

            Liza had been the odd woman out, all the other adults—except for Amos—having partners. So she’d shared Abigail’s bed with the little girl, telling herself to stop feeling sorry for herself.

            Amos had prepared her for Abigail’s nightmares. Liza was ready to hold Abigail and tell her that it would be all right. What she hadn’t expected was that she’d wake up gasping herself. She’d dreamed about Fritz again, except that at the last minute, Fritz’s face had become Tom’s.