Page 72 of Guarding Over You
Part of her wanted to do it for her fragile nerves alone.
“Yes, you did,” Billy shot back. “You could have left my name out of it.”
“Billy, I had to tell them everything going on in my life. That includes my ex-husband showing up unannounced when he’s supposed to keep his distance. Then, not long after that, I get the first note. Your girlfriend leaves a gift for Gracie without yourknowledge, and now my tire is slashed. Any idiot can connect the dots.”
“It’s not me! For God’s sake, give me a break, Arden. I’ve never laid a hand on you, never threatened you.”
He hadn’t laid a hand on her, but threats? Yeah, he’d given her plenty and half he said he didn’t remember. “But I don’t knowher, and that’s what Officer Lancaster was asking about, wasn’t it? That’s the problem, Billy.” His silence told her she was right.
“Do you really think Tina would do this?”
She threw her free hand up, frustration ripping through her. Blaze stayed silent beside her, his profile hard, jaw tight, every muscle in him coiled. She hated he had to hear another ugly fight she didn’t want witnessed, let alone byhim.
The first man she let into her life when she’d shut down the possibility for years.
Billy’s voice rose louder. She glanced through the sliding glass door thankful Gracie was asleep upstairs.
“I don’t know her!” she snapped. “I don’t even know herlast name!I didn’t tell Julie about the gift yet, but I’m going to tomorrow. You knew that. I’ll be handing over copies of the police report too.”
“Don’t do it,” Billy snarled.
“Don’t tell me what to do. This is my daughter.”
“Our daughter!”
“Yeah, well, it’s hard to focus on that when all this crap keeps happening tome.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not Tina.”
“You don’t know that! Where was she this afternoon? With you? Can you vouch for that?”
“All you’re doing is pissing me off by accusing us of something we didn’t do. That’s your MO, Arden. Always hasbeen. Little perfect Arden. Never wrong, always looking for fault in everyone else.”
Next to her, Blaze’s hand curled into a fist against his knee, silent but seething, the intensity of his body bouncing off hers. At least he was keeping his presence unknown.
She took a breath, her voice shaking, her fury barely contained. “All I can tell you are thefacts.Things are happening, and the timing lines up with our fights. The police will decide what to do with that. If this were happening toyou, I’d expect you to do the same thing. I’d ask if you were okay. IfGraciewas okay. But did you ask me any of that?” Her voice broke, it cracked toward the end. “No. Because it’s always aboutyou.It always has been.”
The silence that followed was deafening. She knew she’d hit home. It was the same fight they’d had for years. His selfishness, his deflection, his inability to see beyond himself.
“That’s your fallback in every argument,” Billy said finally, quieter now, but no less bitter.
“Billy,” she said, exhaustion weighing on every word. “I can’t do this again. I’m tired. I’m mentally done. And this…” She gestured uselessly, as if he could see her through the phone. “It’s wearing me down.”
It wasn’t what she wanted to say in front of Blaze, but the raw and unguarded truth slipped out.
Billy pounced. “Are you going to be there with Gracie tomorrow, or do I need to get my attorney involved?”
“I’ll be there.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Blaze frowned. His jaw was clenched like he wanted to argue or step in. She shot him a look, silently warning him not to. She didn’t need another man trying to control the moment.
“You better be,” Billy snapped.
“I’ll be there early,” she said, her voice solid again. “With copies of every report for Julie and for your attorney. Mine’s already getting them too. I’m not hiding anything, Billy, and for your sake, I hope you’re not either.”
“Morris. It’s Tina Morris.”
“Thank you,” she said, then hung up.
