Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

vulnerable. I think you should let someone take care of you every once in a while.” She took one of his hands in both of hers. “I think you should let me take care of you every once in a while,” she clarified.

She wished she could wrap him up in her arms and soothe him. It was at that moment she realized that while he needed to be taken care of, she longed for someone to care for. Avery’s death had left her a mother with no one to mother. Maybe she and Sam could give each other what they needed.

In response, he kissed her. Tenderly at first and then with more urgency. She knew he’d have a hard time admitting out loud he needed someone, so she let him pour his reply into the kiss. They made out like teens in a car, the armrests from the chairs impeding them from getting too close.

“Damn these stupid chairs,” he complained. “You wanna go back up to the house? We can grill some burgers and watch the fireworks from the pool deck. The chairs there are much more comfortable.”

Later, full of cheeseburgers and potato salad, they settled in to watch the fireworks, courtesy of the neighbors. A million tiny, exploding stars lit up the sky. One after the other, the whistles and booms morphed into showers of jewels that came cascading down into the water. It was magical, but not half as captivating as the man next to her.

As much as she wanted to stay, knowing she might have to start pulling away soon because of Wayne, and after having just said she wanted to slow down their relationship, she thought better of it and asked Sam to take her home after the fireworks. He was reluctant but did as she asked.

The next morning, she received the call she’d been dreading.

“He’s out, Annie,” said her attorney. “He’s been out for almost two weeks.”

“Two weeks? I thought you were going to call me right away!” God, these people were incompetent.

“I know. My guy on the inside was supposed to let me know as soon as the date was released, but he quit and neglected to tell me. I’m so sorry. We must look like a bunch of screw-ups.” She didn’t refute it. She was thinking exactly that.

“Just don’t let anyone there give out my home address, please. And how is my divorce coming? I’d hate for this to go on much longer. It’s causing me a lot of stress and mental anguish,” she said, hinting at a lawsuit. There was an edge to her voice she couldn’t hold back. It contained a veiled threat she would never carry out, but the attorney didn’t need to know that. She didn’t want to get into a lawsuit any more than the attorney would. She just wanted him to get his ass moving and finish this already.

“I’m hoping it will be final in the next couple of weeks. There are a few extra hoops to jump through now that he’s no longer in prison. We have paid all the extra fees involved in getting this done as a rush. You will not be billed for one dime of the extra costs involved in making this right,” he assured her.

Damn right I won’t, she thought, but kept her mouth shut.

“Call me when it’s done.” For the first time in her life, she hung up on someone. Unsure whether it was rude or assertive, she didn’t care. She was pissed, and it felt good. Let him stress for a while.

After talking to the attorney, she called her mother with a plan to casually work Wayne into the conversation and then ask if they’d heard from him.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to coax anything out of her mother. It was the first thing she brought up to complain about.

“Oh my God, Annie. That no good, rat bastard husband of yours has been harassing us for weeks looking for you,” whined her mother.

“I’m sorry, Mom. You didn’t tell him anything, did you?”

“Of course not. I told him we ain’t heard from ya in months, and I think he bought it. When ya gonna come visit? Grandpa is asking about ya.”

Annie’s heart broke a little. She so wished her grandpa would have come to Washington with her.

“How’s he doing? Have you been to see him? He tells me he’s okay when I call, but I’d feel better knowing you’ve checked in on him.”

“Oh, the old coot’s fine. It’s me and yer dad ya need to worry about. We hardly have enough money to buy food at the end of the month. Do you think you could send us a little something?”

“Sorry, Mom. I just moved and had to buy a new car. I can’t spare anything right now.” She didn’t want to get into it with her mother. Trying to tell her that if she stopped buying lottery tickets, alcohol, and cigarettes, she’d have enough money for food was always a losing battle.

As always, her mother had a long list of things to complain about, which Annie dutifully listened to before finally claiming she had to go. Her mother swore up and down that no one told Wayne she’d moved to Washington, but Annie took the promise with a grain of salt.

If he’d talked to her family, she could only assume he’d also check out her old office building. When he couldn’t find her there, he might start asking around. No one there knew about her situation, so telling him she’d transferred wouldn’t seem problematic to them.

While she couldn’t stand the thought of still being married to Wayne, what upset her more was that she would have to start distancing herself from Sam right away. Which would be all the more awkward since they’d only just made up.

Still needing his help with that damn security system, she’d get to see him at least one more time.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Wayne looked across the table and nodded attentively. It didn’t