Page 100 of Tragic (Lark Cove 3)

“Ask me something,” he said softly.

“No.”

“Please.”

I sighed. “Why didn’t you talk to your mom for three years?”

“Ask me something else,” he murmured into my hair.

Disappointment settled on my shoulders, but he didn’t let me go. So I asked another one of my unanswered questions. “Where is your dad? You never talk about him.”

“He and Mom got divorced when I was just a kid. He was a good dad when he live

d in Bozeman, but then he moved. He worked for a company that did some development overseas. He was living and traveling through Asia a lot but did his best to call and check in. It was just too expensive for him to come home and visit much. When I was thirteen, he got pancreatic cancer. He died eight months later.”

“I’m sorry.” My heart broke for him, and I wished I hadn’t asked.

“It was a long time ago.” He let me go, and I followed him out of the pantry.

All of the skeletons in Kaine’s closet caused him pain. Did he have any pleasant memories from his past? Because I couldn’t think of a single happy story he’d told me from his youth.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He shrugged. “If I didn’t want to talk about it, I wouldn’t have told you.”

No kidding. I’d figured that out the hard way. When Kaine wanted to avoid a topic, he did so wholeheartedly.

“So . . . dinner?” I asked.

He held out his hand. “Take a walk with me first.”

I placed my palm in his and let him guide me to the door. I hadn’t bothered to take off my coat or my shoes when I’d come inside, so we went right out into the cold. I gripped his hand harder as we started down the path between our houses. My heels weren’t ideal for traipsing in the forest.

Kaine grumbled, letting go of my hand so he could take my arm. “You and your damn heels.”

“I like to look cute for the doctor.”

“You’re always beautiful, no matter what you wear. I don’t know why we need to risk breaking your neck with those extra three inches.”

I leaned into his side. “Soon I won’t be able to even see my feet. You can pick out my shoes for me.”

“Thank fuck.”

I giggled, letting my bad mood slip away as we walked. It was hard to stay mad at him when he called me beautiful and fussed over me.

“Should we check on progress?” I asked, pointing to the cabin.

He nodded and escorted me up the porch steps. Since his return from Bozeman, he’d finished staining the chair he’d built to replace the one he’d murdered by chainsaw. It was now situated by the other, both facing the trees.

He opened the door and we were assaulted by the smell of fresh paint as we stepped inside.

“Looks like they got done early today.” Kaine let me go and went to the laundry room while I inspected the living room.

The couch had been trashed because of the fire, along with one of his end tables. Most of his other belongings had been saved, including his clothes, which had been safe in the closet along with the box of his daughter’s things. Though I’d had to wash all his pants and shirts about five times to work out the smell of smoke.

“Looks good.” Kaine stepped up behind me, inspecting the new walls and flooring.

The crew had completely rebuilt the exterior and interior walls on this side of his house. It would probably always be obvious where the new logs had been placed from the outside because their color was brighter than the original ones. But inside, you couldn’t tell what was new.