Falling Fast
Page 24

“Ugh…” is my brilliant answer to that question.
“It just happened,” Colton tells her, wrapping his arm around my waist. “And it’s going to continue happening, so if you could knock before you come in, that’d be good.”
My cheeks burn hotter while my heart, which was already pumping hard, starts to pound. “Do not tell your mother that,” I hiss up at him, and he grins.
Gah! He’s annoying.
“This makes me happy,” Rose squeaks, catching me off guard and my head flies in her direction. “Seriously happy,” she continues as she starts toward the kitchen, and I notice then that she’s carrying a shopping bag.
“Ma, what did I say about doing my shopping?” Colton growls, and she looks at him, rolling her eyes.
“It isn’t for you. It’s for Gia.” She opens the bags and pulls out some soft looking cream-and-gold yarn and two different sized knitting needles. “I know you mentioned that you haven’t been able to get yours yet, so I wanted you to have these to hold you over until you do.”
Tears start to sting my nose, but I fight them back as I walk over and give her a hug. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiles gently once she lets me go. “Really, I was using this as an excuse to come check on you before you two go to work.” Her voice softens along with her face. “Kirk told me last night that you have to go in today after work to take a polygraph,” she says, reminding me of something I have been trying to forget. That, along with the fact they believe someone tried to burn down Grandma’s house with us inside. I still don’t believe that’s true. Grandma doesn’t have any enemies, and neither do I. There isn’t any reason someone would do something like that. “Are you holding up okay?”
“I’m okay. I just want to get it over with. That way, if what they say is true, they can find who really did it,” I reply, and she looks from me to her son.
“You’re going with her.”
“Absolutely,” he says instantly, and relief fills me. I didn’t want to ask him to come, since he’s already done too much, but I know I’ll feel better having him there with me.
“Good, and I expect at least a text when you leave, to tell me how it all went.”
“I’ll do that,” I agree, and she reaches out, touching the tips of my fingers with hers before looking at her son.
“Both your brothers are coming over next weekend, so I want us all to have dinner Sunday night,” she informs, then she looks at me again. “That includes you too, Gia.”
“We’ll be there,” Colton answers before I can, and nervousness fills the pit of my stomach.
“Have you two eaten? I could make you breakfast,” she offers, and Colton shakes his head smiling.
“Go home, Ma.”
“You’re so mean to me,” she laughs, giving him a hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tell Dad I’ll call him when I get to the bar.”
“Will do,” she promises before giving me one more hug and disappearing out the door.
“That went well,” Colton says, and I look at him then the door. It did go well, but was it too easy? Shouldn’t a mom have concerns about her son living with a woman he just met, and also hooking up with said woman? “Stop thinking so much, Gia.”
“I—”
“Stop trying to make this complicated when it’s not. My parents both like you. They liked you before we kissed, and they will continue liking you now that we have.”
“I need to shower,” I say, not wanting to think about that right now, and his eyes darken instantly. “Alone,” I add, even though the thought of him naked in the shower with me is enough of a reason to second guess that decision and change my mind.
“I’ll drive us to work when you’re ready to go.”
“Sounds good.” I hustle past him to my room, shut the door, and lock it once I’m inside. Going to my cell phone that I plugged in to charge last night, I send Nat a text then head for the shower. When I get out, I find a text from Nat that says only one word.
FINALLY.
~**~
“Thank you, Miss Caro,” the polygraph examiner says, shaking my hand after he finishes removing the cords and things wrapped around me. The test didn’t take long, maybe twenty minutes in total, and he didn’t ask me a million question—only about eight of them, three times each. I told him I was nervous before he started, but he told me that was completely normal and not to worry about that messing with the results. Still, I was nervous, because some of the questions put me on edge.
“How long should it take to get the results?” I ask him, grabbing my bag from the floor next to my chair and standing.
“You didn’t show any deceit during the test,” he replies, and I let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll pass over my findings to Detective Preston, and I’m sure he will be in contact with you within the next couple of days.”
“Thank you,” I say, and he nods before going back over to his desk.
Opening the door to the room, I find Colton waiting for me with his back against the wall. As soon as he sees me, he takes my hand and pulls me into his chest, asking at the top of my hair, “You okay?”
“Yes.” I nod and his hold tightens. “He said I didn’t show any deceit, so hopefully if someone really did set fire to the house, they can go about finding them now.”
“If?” he asks, and I tip my head back to look up at him.
“Why would someone break in to set Grandma’s house on fire?” I ask the question I have asked myself a million times. “She doesn’t have any enemies, and neither do I. It doesn’t make sense to me. You know Grandma is not well, and she has tried to cook in the past and it didn’t go well. All I can think is that she started the fire by accident.”
“They said an accelerant was used.”
“I know,” I mutter, still having no explanation for that.
“Hopefully they will figure it out.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “I really want to get into the house to get some stuff for Grandma’s room at the nursing home. I hope that if I can make it more like home, she’ll start to feel more comfortable there and come around.”
“We’ll make that happen. As soon as they give us the okay,” he says, and looking into his eyes, I believe him. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
“Yes,” I let out a relieved breath, and he takes my hand and leads me back out of the building the way we came in. As soon as we exit, we head for his Suburban and get in. “Do you mind stopping off so I can see Grandma before we head home?”
He looks over at me with soft eyes. “I don’t mind.”
“Thanks,” I say quietly, and he reaches over, taking my hand and pulling it across to rest on his lap. Ignoring the way it feels to have him holding my hand, I pull my cell phone out from my coat pocket. “I’m going to call Nat really quick to let her know she doesn’t need to come down here and raise holy hell.”
He laughs, but I’m not joking. She was beyond pissed when I told her the news yesterday about having to take a polygraph, and threatened to come down here if they didn’t clear my name. And since she is an attorney, she could do it.
“How did it go?” she asks as soon as she answers, and I smile. She’s obviously been waiting for me to call.
“It went good. The polygraph examiner said I didn’t show any sign of deceit, so hopefully that’s all done and we can move on.”
“Of course you didn’t show signs of deceit,” she grumbles, sounding annoyed. “So what now?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just have to wait for the detective to call me.”
“I pray they do that soon so you can get on with your life.”
“Me too,” I agree. “Like I told Colton earlier, I want to get into the house and get some stuff for Grandma. She doesn’t even have any of her clothes with her there.”
“If they don’t call you by tomorrow afternoon, call and tell me. I will call them myself and demand an explanation for their actions. You have done nothing wrong and have been cooperating with them, so they have no reason to keep you from the house,” she says, and I can tell by her tone that she is working herself up—something she’s good at doing.