Page 24 of A Matter of Time
Close proximity to a department store had been one of the reasons I’d chosen my apartment building, so I headed there first, picking out some jeans and t-shirts, fresh socks and underwear, and some pajama pants for my brother too. While there, I also grabbed some steamy romance books for Shawna, figuring she could tease Dex and make him read them to her, as well as some of her favourite perfume and candy.
Laden down with bags, I headed back to my building to grab my truck, but I found my path blocked by a woman standing outside the door, staring at the list of tenant names on the entry panel.
“Are you looking for someone in particular?” I asked, partly to be helpful but mostly to move her out of the way.
As she turned to answer me, her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh. Tonia, hi. Actually, I’m looking for you.”
She looked vaguely familiar to me but I couldn’t place her. Obviously, she had no such trouble identifying me. “Can I help you?”
An amused smile pulled at her lips. “You don’t recognize me, do you?”
I didn’t, and my bags were getting heavier by the second. “I’m sorry, I don’t, and I’m kind of in a hurry…”
“Here, let me help.” Without waiting for my agreement, she took some of the bags from my hands. “You need to get your keys out, I suppose.”
I did, but I still didn’t know who this woman was and why she was holding my brother’s pants. “What can I help you with?” I repeated as I fished my keys out of my pocket.
“I’m Marley Stevens.”
The name hit me like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head, and as soon as I got the door open, I grabbed my bags back from her. “Of course you are. I see it now.”
Now that she said it, I couldn’t believe I’d missed it. I had spent those last few weeks before graduation hyper-aware of her in the hallways of the school. We weren’t in any of the same classes, thank God, but even seeing her in the hall made my blood boil. She always slunk away when she noticed me, never having the guts to say anything to my face.
Her face had a more angular look and she had her hair cut shorter, but beyond that, the woman in front of me was undeniably the same woman.
What in the world would be she doing there? It couldn’t be a coincidence that she turned up on my door right when Cam had reentered my life.
She quickly confirmed that coincidence played no part in it. “I know you probably don’t want to talk to me but I think it’s time we had a conversation. There are things you ought to know, things that Cam’s too stubborn to tell you himself, and if you’re going to be working together, it might help. Can we talk, please?”
I’d had just about enough of dredging up the past in the last few days. “Unfortunately, I’m on my way out.”
“But… you just got home,” she reminded me, sounding confused.
“And now I’m leaving again.” I started to walk towards the staircase down to the parking garage, but she followed after me.
“Please, Tonia. I’m not in town very often, and it took a lot of hyping myself up to come here.”
She still lived in Sandy Creek as far as I knew, still lived in that same house where I saw her and Cam together. I never went down that street if I could help it.
“You should have called first,” I pointed out before playing my trump card. “My brother’s wife is in the hospital and I’m on my way over there to bring them a few things, so if you don’t mind…”
That got through to her, as I hoped it would. “Oh, I heard about Shawna. I’m so sorry. Mrs Armstrong told Mary Beth Livingstone, who told the ladies at the H-E-B.”
Typical.Very few things stayed a secret in Sandy Creek.
“If you want some company…”
“I don’t.” The woman could not take a hint, apparently. “Look, Marley, high school was a long time ago. I’ve moved on, and I’m pretty sure Cam has too. If he doesn’t want you to talk to me, then maybe you shouldn’t.”
I wrenched the door to the stairwell open, intent on making my grand exit, but her next words pulled me up short. “He wanted to tell you, at least back then.”
Against my better judgement, I paused at the top of the stairs. “Tell me what?”
“About everything. About him spending time with me and why. He didn’t want you to get the wrong idea. The only reason he didn’t was because I begged him not to say anything.”
That didn’t sound like much of an excuse to me. “Well, he made that choice. He was a big boy, Marley; if he really wanted to tell me, he could have. Now, I really do have to go.”
She didn’t follow me, thankfully, but she did call down the stairs after me. “I’m in Houston until Wednesday. Let me know if you change your mind about talking.”
