Read Online Unforgivable by Tina Wainscott - Free Book Online Page B

ruffled through the lush green leaves of the maples and oaks. Then it got darker as the large oak trees took over. And then, there was the house. 
    The sawhorses were still set up outside, and Silas was reclining at the top of the porch steps with his dog. He looked like a man who had worked hard all day. And perhaps he had, because new windows were now installed in the front of the house. He was watching her as she pulled next to his car. Or was it a truck? A Lincoln Navigator, one of those SUVs. Very nice, which made her wonder what he did for a living. That’s why she was here, because her curiosity was eating away at her. Curiosity didn’t always kill cats, did it?
    He pulled himself to his feet as she stepped out of her car. The Boss merely raised his head and woofed softly. Silas’s gaze never left her as she made her way to him, like a wolf sizing up his prey
    “Hi. I was on my way home and thought I’d come by and see how things were going.” Lame, Katie, so lame.
    He glanced toward the house. The front door was on, and he’d installed two new windows. “It’s getting closer to livable.”
    “They’re having a town council meeting right now, that’s where Ben is, to see what to do about this property.”
    “What do they want to do with it?”
    “That’s the big debate. Some want to put shopping centers to attract the area townspeople and travelers to stop. Others want to put some kind of amusement park, with miniature golf and the like. The only thing most of them agree on is that we need to do something. We’ve lost three businesses in the last year, and seven families have moved out of town to find better prospects.”
    He regarded her with amused curiosity. She found herself crossing her arms in front of her.
    “What do you think they should do with this property?”
    “I...” She blinked in surprise. “You know, I’ve never thought about it. No one ever asks my opinion on stuff like that.”
    He leaned against the massive column. “As I recall, you were happy enough to supply it anyway. When you were a kid, I mean. You were the feistiest kid I knew, a fighter if I ever saw one. You were also fearless; I saw the scratches on Gary’s face.”
    “Fearless,” she said in a low voice, trying to remember that girl. “I was fearless, wasn’t I? And feisty.” Her gaze fastened on the frayed bottoms of his jeans.
    “What happened to you, Katie?” he asked after a few moments. His voice was low and soft, laced in Southern honey.
    She looked at him at last. “People change, I suppose.”
    She could see a visible strain in his posture, as though he wanted to come closer, but held himself back. Which was a good thing, a really good thing. He hadn’t changed much, other than filling out and looking even more interesting than he had before. 
    “People are s’posed to change for the better.” He ran his hand back through the long waves of his hair. “What I mean is, people are s’posed to get stronger.”
    Should she be insulted by his words? She felt a twinge of something, but not anger. “What do you do, Silas?”
    “I work for a newspaper in Atlanta. And you work for your husband.”
    “With my husband. I love working with animals. Since Boots’s ordeal, I’ve become very interested in animal welfare. The people in town probably think I’m bossy.”
    Silas slid down the column and sat on the top step. He patted the area next to him. “What happened with your kitten?”
    She eyed the spot warily, but her body took her to it. She kept a safe distance between them, an appropriate distance between a married woman and a man she didn’t really know. 
    “God, I loved that cat.”
    “He lived for a pretty long time, didn’t he?”
    “Yeah.” She smiled, remembering the way he slept curled up by her feet every night. “Do you know what he did, right before he died? He found me. It was right after Ben and I married. I was down in the basement moving some stuff around. Boots crawled