Joe went white. “This isn’t our fight. We were kids.”
“Then why do I feel so responsible?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I feel the same way. Like we were part of it.”
“We were,” I said, nausea sweeping up my throat. “We brought him there.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Marjorie
I was getting ready for bed when my phone buzzed.
Colin Morse.
Not a person I wanted to speak to ever, but he could have information. More likely, though, he’d be bothering me to talk to Jade again.
“What is it, Colin?” I said,
a little more harshly than I meant to, into the phone.
“Hey, Marj. You called me, remember?”
Right. I’d forgotten. I’d called and left a voicemail, but I hadn’t mentioned Jade. Only that I needed to talk to him.
“You said you wanted to speak to me,” he said. “And I want to see you.”
“I thought you wanted to talk to Jade.”
“I changed my mind. She’s pregnant, and I don’t want—”
I cut him off. I was so tired of all of this. “What do you want?”
“I can’t talk over the phone. Can you meet me in town tonight?”
“You’re still in Snow Creek?”
“I’m staying at the hotel. You can meet me here.”
“And you’re not going to insist that I bring Jade along?”
“No. I said I changed my mind about that. It’s important.”
After our family meeting outside this evening, I wasn’t sure I could take anything more. I opened my mouth to tell him I’d see him sometime tomorrow but then thought again. He was willing to talk now. What if he changed his mind by tomorrow?
“All right.”
“Meet me at the bar in the hotel.”
“Sure. Give me a half hour or so. I’ll be there.” I ran a brush through my hair and pulled it into a high ponytail. Talon and Jade were both home for the evening, so the boys were taken care of. I was free as a bird.
I’d much rather be at the guesthouse with Bryce, but maybe I could finally get some information out of Colin. I knew him almost as well as Jade did, and in fact, I’d known him longer. I met him before my best friend while we were in college.
I should tell Talon and Jade I was leaving.
The thought hovered in my mind. If they noticed I was gone, they’d be concerned. Not that I felt I had to check in with them, but I didn’t want them worrying.
Something niggled at me, though. Something I couldn’t quite identify. A feeling that I shouldn’t tell anyone I was meeting Colin.