I SQUINTED through the darkness. He stood silhouetted against the lamplight like a cartoon villain. It was almost comical.
“Sorry to wake you,” he said. “But really I have no choice.”
Slowly, I reached toward my nightstand, fumbled for my glasses—glasses I only wore when Sean was around, as if somehow they’d make him think before raising his fist.
“You have a lot of choices,” I said.
“Not really. Not since you ran from the scene of a murder. That was your choice, but somehow it seems I’m the one paying for it.”
“That’s a situation you created.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No,” I said. “Did you?”
If he’d been close enough I would have felt the back of his hand one more time. Instead, he switched on the light, stepped inside, shut the door behind him.
“In case you’re thinking of running again, there are two sheriffs parked out front. They did me a favor, let me come in alone.”
He started toward me, then stopped and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached over, took my hand.
“I’ve been worried sick about you, Sarah,” he whispered. “I suppose you don’t believe me, but it’s true.”
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even flinch. As powerful as Sean was, as quick as he was to dole out a slap or a kick, it was the gentle, reassuring voice that I’d come to fear most. Because the longer the calm, the more violent the storm.
“Please just go,” I said.
“You know I can’t, baby. The only question is whether you’re going to make me break out the cuffs.”
For a while we just stared at each other. I could imagine the nostalgia in his eyes, and I have to admit I felt it, too. Not for him, but for the man I’d convinced myself he was, back when he was wooing me and I was letting myself be wooed.
“Okay,” he said. “We’ll do this the hard way.”
He stood, took a step back, pulled out his handcuffs, and twirled them around one finger.
“You want to pretend I’m the bad guy and you’re all sweetness and light, but the truth is—”
“Get your ass on the ground!” Doris screamed.
The door flew open so fast I couldn’t tell if she’d pushed it or kicked it. And then she was standing there with her twelve-gauge pointed at Sean’s jewels. At first Sean didn’t react. Then he looked back and forth between me and Doris, his smile growing wider and wider.
“I said on the ground.”
She pumped the shotgun for effect. Sean didn’t blink.
“Doris,” I said, “it’s okay.”
“Now!” she yelled.
“Lady—”
“Shut your mouth. Before you launch into an avalanche of bullshit, you should know that killing doesn’t scare me, and neither does getting killed. Everything I love’s been butchered by bastards like you. And so help me you’re about to pay for it.”
Sean let her anger simmer for a moment, then turned solemn.
“This has nothing to do with you, ma’am. I recommend you back off.”
“Kneel,” said Doris. “Lock your fingers behind your head.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Sean,” I said. “Sean, just please don’t—”
“There are armed deputies outside,” he told Doris. “That shotgun you’re holding will make short work of me, but I hope you were telling the truth when you said you’re ready to die.”
She stepped closer, then—in a move I wouldn’t have thought a woman her age could pull off—kicked his legs out from under him.
“Now you’re on your knees,” she said.
Sean ignored her. He looked up at me.
“You sure this is what you want?” he said. “I can still help you. I want to help you. I love you, Sarah. Don’t tell me it’s over between us.”
“You know it is, Sean. It was over even before all of this.”
“I don’t believe that. You don’t believe it. I’m the only one who—”
“Shut your goddamn mouth,” Doris said, inching forward, pressing the barrel against his ear.
But Sean was losing his patience.
“I’m going to count to five,” he said, “and if I don’t hear that gun hitting the ground, I’m going to forget you’re a lady.”
“Just do what he says, Doris.”
“Not a chance. I’ve gone that route with men like him. Even when you give them what they want, they find a way to ruin you.”
“One,” Sean said.
“Come take his gun,” Doris said.
“What about those sheriffs outside?”
“Two,” Sean said.
“Let ’em take me away. He’s an intruder in my home. I didn’t hear him identify himself. All I heard was threats. Your home is your castle in Texas. No way a jury convicts me.”
“Three and four,” Sean said.
Doris gave the twelve-gauge another pump. Sean smiled. I knew that smile. It meant he was about to have some fun. I couldn’t let that happen. Not to Doris. I threw myself at the man who’d come to drag me away, wrapped my arms around him, clung to him like body armor.
“I’ll go with you,” I said. “Okay, Sean? I’m going back with you.”
“You’ll regret this,” Doris said. “This moment right here. Every hour of every day.”
“It’s over, Doris,” I told her.
She turned and walked out of the room. I loosened my grip on Sean. We stood, brushed ourselves off.
“You have the right to remain silent,” he told me.