I couldn’t think of any reason without telling him that I was investigating her, and I definitely couldn’t tell him that.
“Oh, shit. I forgot about her husband,” he winced. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
I nodded, pretending that was the exact reason I had been thinking. “Yeah, you know, try and have some sympathy for the dead.”
“I’m sorry, man. I just forget because she seems so happy all the time.” He frowned, glancing back up the stairs. “Do you think that’s weird?”
Of course it was fucking weird. The woman was a murderer, supposedly, and she was happy as a clam that her husband was dead. And I liked her!…way more than was normal for a regular man and woman, but even more so because I suspected her of being a murderer. It was all insane. Hell, I was insane. I wanted to scream and slap him, tell him everything I knew about her, but I couldn’t do that, and it was killing me inside. I had to get this out.
I grabbed him by the arms and shook him violently. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with, man! She’s a psychopath. She kills people for fun! For the love of God, man, run for your life!”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, thoroughly confused.
“I’m telling you that she’s a killer. Not like, sort of a killer, but a real killer, one that kills people until they’re dead. And they never come back,” I said hysterically.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, glancing upstairs.
“Completely! Well, not really at all, and that’s not even the worst part.”
He swallowed hard. “What the worst part?”
“I think I love her, or if not love, I’m halfway there. I slept with her, and then there was this like…chemical reaction or something in my brain. She’s always on my mind, invading my thoughts until I finally break down and see her again. And I do all this knowing every day might be my last!”
“You love a killer,” he said, staring at me like I was crazy.
“Do you think I don’t realize how insane this all is? Do you think I want to love someone that might murder me in my sleep? I’m well aware of the consequences.”
“Then you have to stop seeing her,” he insisted. “You have to get out while you can.”
I gripped his arms, my eyes going way too wide. “I can’t! She’s got me trapped in her web. It doesn’t matter what I say or do, I need to be around her. I can’t walk away. Don’t you see?” He shook his head. “It’s like she’s got her claws in me…or she’s poisoned my mind into needing her. I can’t break free. But you need to run. Get out of here before it’s too late!”
I shook my head, clearing my throat. Yeah, if I said all that shit, I was pretty sure I would get locked up, or slapped upside the head for being an idiot. Realizing that I was still standing there, reflecting on my daydream, I answered his question.
“Everyone grieves in their own way. We shouldn’t judge.”
He nodded. “You’re right. Anyway, we’re all taking off.”
He tried to step around me and I stepped in his path, chuckling slightly. “Whoa, why are you taking off so soon? I mean, what’s the rush?”
“We finished work on the kitchen today. And with the snow storm coming, we decided to knock off early and start fresh in the morning.”
I couldn’t let him leave. He was supposed to be here the whole fucking time with me. “Yeah, but…isn’t that bad work ethic or something?”
“There are only three hours left into the work day. We’ve been busting our asses for weeks on this house. I think knocking off early one day is completely fine. Besides, I already talked it over with Lorelei and she agreed that we should all get home before the snow hit.”
“So, you were going to leave a defenseless woman out here to fend for herself?”
He gave me a funny look. “Defenseless? Have you seen her chop wood?” He slapped me on the shoulder with a laugh and stepped around me. “Trust me, that woman is not defenseless. Besides, you’re here now,” he said over his shoulder.
He opened the front door and walked out, carrying supplies with him. I stood there, wondering what the hell I was going to do now. She hadn’t seen me yet. I could just leave. But then Eric would see me leave and that would look suspicious. Hell, if it was a choice between living or looking bad, I would take living any day. Well, at least today I would.
I turned to leave just as I heard her voice from the top of the stairs. “Andrew, hey!”
Cringing, I slowly spun and turned that frown upside down. “Hey!” I said, a little too excitedly. “You’re here. I was just looking for you, but I didn’t see you, so I was going to take off.”
“Where did you look for me?” she chuckled, walking down the stairs.
I shrugged, blowing out a breath. “You know…in the hall…”
She laughed, walking up to me. “You’re so funny.”
She looked down at the bags I was carrying and bent over to inspect them. “What did you bring me?”
“Oh, this? Uh…” Shit, I hadn’t really thought about doing this shit when no one else was here. But I couldn’t walk away now. “Well, I brought a book about color ideas for your other rooms, my gloves, in case you wanted to chop more wood, some yarn, and a set of wrenches.”
She looked at me funny. “You brought me yarn?”
“Yeah, well, I mean, it was just leftover stuff that Ma left at the house. I figured someone should use it.”
“That was very thoughtful of you.”
I shrugged like it was no big deal.
“And what are the wrenches for?”
“Ah, well, I noticed that you were missing a few from your set, so I picked up a new set for you.”
“Seriously?” she asked, yanking the box out of the hardware store bag.
