Page 5 of That Summer

“Well, he did a show at the library in May.” Now it was her turn to shudder. What a jerk he was, and what a hoe-bag—is that what Lucas called Marissa?—she had been. “So, anyways, long story short, I met him. Matthew James, I mean. He asked me out, but I stood him up.”

Lucas’ expression morphed from amazement, to shock, and ended with a scowl. “Why?”

“Matthew made some rude comments behind my back.”

“I see.”

“Anyways. I got over it. However, because the universe doesn’t already hate me enough, it turns out we’re connected.”

He pulled her legs across his, and using his powers of relaxation, rubbed her feet. “Remind me to make sure you bring that up in therapy. The world doesn’t hate you.”

“Do you want me to finish?”

“Fine.” He leaned back and waved her on.

“So, this connection. Turns out Matthew’s wife was in the car that hit and killed Momma and Carmen.”

“No shit.”

“Yeah. It gets better, in a sick kind of way.” Another shudder coursed through her. She braced herself for what she had to say and it wasn’t pretty. “So I agreed to meet up with him the next time he was in town as I wanted more information on it. He obviously knew more about the crash than I did. Nate and I had just broke up. Or at least I thought we had. Nate said we didn’t. Which makes the next part even worse.”

He grimaced, pushing harder into a tender spot on her foot.

“Ouch.” She yanked her foot back, hurting her hip.

Dammit. And physio’s a few days away. It’s hard enough dealing with the hip pain without my Percs, but to be so stupid in yanking back my foot. Damn.

She rubbed her hip, ignoring the stare down from Lucas.

He glared at her. “Tell me you didn’t?”

The hairs stood at attention on the back of her neck, and goosebumps pimpled her flesh. “Well, in my defence, my veryweakdefence, I was high. Very high. I fell that night and bruised my hip. I took a combo of Percs, Xanax and something else to feel numb. Like borderline hallucinogenic high.”

“Aurora.”

Ouch. That pity-filled tone stung. Her chin nearly touched her chest when she continued. “I thought Matthew was Nate when he kissed me. I honestly did. All I saw was Nate’s face. Every touch I honestly believed was Nate’s touch.”

“That’s disturbing.” He shook his head and pulled back just enough to notice. “You were out of your mind.”

“I really was. And the next morning, Matthew was still there. I immediately ended whatever it washethought was going on. Then Nate and I got back together, and all was good. I never mentioned my mistake. However, Matthew wouldn’t leave me alone. He texted me details about the trial, and as much as I wanted to let him go, I couldn’t. It was because of Matthew that I understood what was going on with the trial. My own father wasn’t as forthcoming with information.”

His voice deepened as he leaned toward her. “That had to have been difficult.”

“Thank you.” A nod of understanding. “It was and still is. As terrible as Matthew was, he’s also the link to a part of my past.”

“Something you’re not ready to let go of yet.”

A small shake of her head. “Anyways, this past week, the sentencing was being deliberated, or whatever the hell they call it. Well… Friday afternoon Matthew came to the library to check on the final preparations on the new wing.” She searched Lucas for understanding, hoping he’d show some kind—any kind of emotion. Instead, he was a blank slate. Something she envied. “And he came with news to deliver in person.”

Lucas pulled himself closer, but retained his poker face.

“He told me about the sentencing. Thomas Anderson, the driver, is going to prison for a long time.”

“That’s great news.” He reached out and touched her hand, rubbing her knuckles with his rough thumb.

She hadn’t shared any of this with him before, and even as awful as it was, she felt a burden being lifted from her. Things didn’t seem so terrible. But an image of what went down Friday afternoon flashed in her mind like a neon sigh. “Yes, it was a little overwhelming to hear it. I didn’t realise Nate was in the staff room. I swear to God I didn’t.” She flicked away his hand and gripped the blanket tightly in her fists. “I started crying, right? This was the news I’d hoped for. A bit of closure in a way.”

“Yes.”