Speak No Evil by Tanya Anne Crosby Page B

childhoods, chauffeured to and from school and wearing tartan uniforms that made them look a little like Highland dolls, right down to the varying shades of red in their hair. When Augusta had insisted upon being treated like a “normal person,” they had all three switched to public school in order to support her—much to Flo’s dismay. It was about that time they all discovered boys, and it was about that time Caroline met Jack.
    He was the reluctant heartthrob football player who tended to spend his time off field alone and oblivious to the sideways glances girls threw in his direction. A brooding loner, raised by an alcoholic drug-addicted mother and abandoned by his dipsomaniacal father. Although their mothers couldn’t have been more different, or come from more different backgrounds, both had neglected their kids. Caroline’s mother had left her for the paper and a mountain of grief while Jack’s had abandoned him for drugs and prostitution. Both were products of their circumstances.
    A champion for the underdog, Jack was the first and only person to ever see Caroline the way she felt. He saw in her what no one else did—that bottomless well of sadness that was inherent in neglected children, no matter what the price of their clothes.
    At the time, some part of Caroline had needed the compassion Jack showed her, but the problem with being someone’s project was that, eventually, another project would come along to pull at the heartstrings. It seemed to Caroline that Jack’s need to nurture was as much an addiction as drugs or alcohol and Caroline had to face the fact that it didn’t take much to eclipse the hardships of being a poor little rich girl.
    They were engaged to be married when she learned of Jack’s “indiscretion” with her best friend. She had completely rejected his impassioned assurances that nothing had happened—mostly out of fear that it was just a matter of time before he would break her heart anyway. But later, even after she’d finally come to believe him, the one thing that had kept Caroline from picking up the phone and calling him was a nagging sense of doubt that love was never a part of their equation.
    Simply put, Jack needed to fix things.
    He still needed to fix things.
    Apparently, so did Josh. He slept over until the door was repaired, which took far longer than anyone would have anticipated. The beveled Italian glass had to be custom ordered, but even once the repairs were done, Caroline had to assure him repeatedly that they would be fine on their own and she promised to set the alarm every night. If he were going to stay with anyone, Caroline reasoned, it should be his mother. It made no sense to leave Sadie alone while he watched over three grown women who were perfectly capable of fending for themselves. Anyway, what was he going to do? Move in indefinitely? That would be ridiculous. Flo had lived here for years alone. They would be fine.
    The real reason he wanted to stay, she suspected, was that Augusta was finally on her way home. Caroline took the opportunity of her sister’s arrival to book a flight to Dallas. She hadn’t accumulated much in life, but enough that it would necessitate making some arrangements, including getting her car back to Charleston. Her mom’s Town Car was great if you were a collector, but Caroline didn’t really give a damn about cars and she didn’t care to be the center of attention every time she got on the road. She’d rather be invisible in her little silver Lexus.
    As for Dallas, she didn’t feel much regret over leaving the place, but since she couldn’t get out of her lease, she decided to use the apartment for storage, which would allow her ample time to make a long-term decision. Whether or not she continued at the helm of the Tribune remained to be seen, but she wasn’t going to stay in Charleston an entire year without her belongings, so she packed up everything she couldn’t live without, and whatever wouldn’t fit