Page 17 of You for Her (The Edge of Retaliation 2)
“What do you do, April?” she asks me.
“Currently, I’m working at a café, but I plan on doing something more productive with myself soon. Maybe go back to school?” I tell her.
“That’s a wonderful idea. I’d love to go back to school. Chase always wanted to be a doctor. Did he ever tell you that?”
“I think Celia mentioned it once or twice,” I say, my voice hitching. I have to breathe through it—she will know I’m lying if I don’t get it together fast.
“Celia was such a lovely girl. I don’t think anyone will ever recover after that accident. That poor thing, just walking down a road. It broke her family. Just tore them right apart. Her parents have never been the same. I think they blame themselves.”
“It wasn’t their fault,” I say, trying desperately to ignore the pain slamming against my chest as my heart ferociously pounds. “They couldn’t have done anything to stop what happened that night.”
“No, you’re right, but they were going through so much they didn’t even know Celia was dating Chase for months. I overheard her telling Chase once that she felt ignored, that they didn’t even know she existed. After Mark cheated on Adriana, things just went south for that poor family. Tanner had to hold everything up. Do you know Tanner?”
So much information.
My mind is spinning.
This woman clearly hasn’t had anyone to talk to for a while, she’s spilling things like we’re best friends.
“I do know Tanner, yes. He’s a good guy. You’re right, Celia was having a hard time. It was hard after what Mark did. It really hit home for her.”
I have no idea what I’m talking about.
I feel sick.
“I can imagine, the poor girl. For them to keep going on like nothing happened. I can’t believe they’re still together, to be honest. Word is he has another woman again.”
God.
She really needs to get out.
“That’s so sad. I imagine all of this would have been hard on Chase, too?”
Freya nods. “It was hard on him. The two of them started fighting and then she broke it off with him. That was hard enough, but then when she died … He just couldn’t be here anymore.”
“I didn’t realize he left,” I tell her.
“He was only going to go for a while, but he decided he couldn’t come back. He still won’t tell us where he is, it’s like he’s pushed us all away and started anew. I rarely hear from him. The town lost Celia Yates, but I lost my son, too. It was the worst night of my life.”
I won’t cry.
Dammit, I won’t.
“I’m so sorry. I hope Chase comes home soon.”
She smiles, but it trembles. “I don’t think he will. I don’t think he will ever face up to what happened here. He’ll never be able to live through the pain.”
I’m taking another huge risk asking this, but I have to know. “I heard that the girl who hit Celia said that she had stepped out in front of the car, did you hear that, too?”
Freya nods. “I did hear that.”
“Do you think it’s true? Do you think Celia was unhappy enough to do something like that?”
Freya hesitates, and then says low, as if we’re being listened to, “I never said anything to anyone, but before she died, Celia was in a bad place. I overheard Chase telling his brother that something happened, and she was struggling. That’s when Chase started running off the rails. He couldn’t get ahold of her. It was bad. But after she passed, Mark and Adriana claimed she was happy, that there is no way she would have done anything like that. They even went through her things, nothing indicated she would hurt herself. No one in her family believed it. Celia put on a brave face, she always did, but I saw a different face. I saw the face she wore when she wasn’t with her family.”
“She was hurting,” I say, my voice low, soft.
“She was hurting,” Freya confirms. “I did try to mention it to Adriana once, but she maintained her daughter was happy. That the morning she died, the two of them had been dancing and laughing in the kitchen. I don’t know if it was denial, or if Celia really didn’t want her family to suffer so she put on a happy face to keep things flowing. Either way, I do feel for the poor girl that hit her, because maybe, just maybe, she did take her own life.”
Finally.
There is someone out there with doubt.
Someone that doesn’t believe I’m the monster in all of this.
I’m one step closer to getting where I need to be.
Only one step.
But it’s something.
“SERIOUSLY?” JO ASKS as we walk toward a local Italian restaurant where we’ll be having dinner and a few drinks. “You have Chase’s number?”
“Yes,” I say, “I just haven’t decided how I’m going to approach it yet. This is my one chance not to screw this up. If I do, he’ll run, and I’ll never find him.”
