Color of Forgiveness (27 page)

“And you know what else? I’ve actually read
that exercise, especially weight-lifting, can increase testosterone
levels in men. So Jeff is probably telling you the truth. He wants
you
. He comes home to you every night, and he loves you. You
need to remember that.”

“I know,” Susie moans. “It’s just that I get
so down on myself sometimes. You know my self-esteem is in the
crapper most days. I hate having this extra weight on me. I just
don’t understand how Jeff would still want to be with me when I’m
so humongous and revoltingly fat. I’m so pissed at myself that I
blew my diet after what? Two days? I’m the Mayor of
Loserville.”

“You know Jeff loves you exactly the way you
are. Just because you feel that you have a few extra pounds on you
doesn’t mean you’re not beautiful because you are. You don’t have
to be skinny to be beautiful. It comes from inside. You need to
change the way you think about yourself.”

“Okay, stop it. You’re going to make me cry.
I’m a little PMS’y right now. I’ve been a little overly emotional
the last few days. I almost cried watching a Geico commercial the
other day. I felt sorry for the ugly ass caveman.”

Myra giggles. “You’re crazy.”

“Yes, I am. And I’m so glad that you like my
brand of crazy.”

“I love your brand of crazy.” Myra clears
her throat and changes the subject. “Guess who stopped by my house
today?”

“Who?”

“Sabrina.”

“Sabrina, the
ex?
” Susie shouts.

“Yep.”

“Holy shit... Why?”

Myra quickly relays the conversation she had
with Sabrina.

“That bitch totally slashed your tires.
She’s completely wacko.”

“I thought so too. But Dylan defended her
and said he didn’t think she did it.”

“That’s because he was with her when she was
sane, and now she’s clearly lost her marbles. She could totally be
doing drugs again especially with her being that delusional.”

“I know.”

“I don’t care what Dylan says, watch your
back. I don’t trust her.”

“I will.”

“All right, I gotta go. When I was in the
kitchen earlier and Jeff was trying to hump my leg, I almost
clocked him in the nuts. I told him I wasn’t in the mood so he
marched off and started pouting. Now I’m going to have to get the
kids to bed and go strip him naked and throw him down on the bed.
Thanks for setting my mind straight on things.”

“You’re welcome. Just make sure you don’t
hurt the poor guy,” Myra adds with a snicker.

“He likes it when I hurt him.”

“Ew…” Myra says with a shudder.

“Love you, honey,” Susie says as she giggles
hysterically.

* * *

Dylan’s phone rings. He yanks it out of his
pocket and groans when he looks at the caller ID. More work. He’s
got enough work to keep him busy for the next six months. He
silences his phone, and lets it go to voicemail.

As he screws the last cabinet into the wall,
he thinks about Sabrina. He plans on calling her later and having a
little talk with her. He thought for sure he’d made everything
clear with her the last time he saw her, but apparently he didn’t.
But he’ll make sure that she understands exactly where he stands,
and that he doesn’t want her ever bothering Myra again.

“Oh my god,” Myra says as she steps into the
kitchen. “I don’t even recognize my kitchen. The cabinets look
amazing. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Dylan says with a grin as
he starts putting away his tools. “Oh, I ordered the spring for
your garage door too. It should be here tomorrow.”

“Great.”

“So, are you coming home with me tonight, or
do you want me to stay here?”

“Whatever you want…”

Dylan smirks. “You’re coming home with me. I
want you in my bed again.” She smiles at him, and he can’t wait to
have her between his sheets again.

* * *

Just as Myra puts the last few items in her
overnight bag, she hears someone knocking on the door. She makes
her way downstairs to find Dylan standing at the door looking out
the small window.

He turns around and groans. “Jesus, it’s
Jackie. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” he mumbles.

“Chicken,” Myra says, teasing him.

“You got that fucking right,” he says,
slapping her ass as he walks past her.

She giggles and watches him walk into the
kitchen. Taking in a deep breath, she opens the door. “Myra!”
Jackie shrieks before throwing her arms around Myra’s neck and
almost choking her. “I know Dylan’s here, but I have some fantastic
news. You’re never going to believe what happened to me today. This
guy showed up at the bookstore and said he represented an anonymous
party who wanted to buy the bookstore for a ton more than it’s
worth. Like double what I could probably sell it for. I honestly
hadn’t thought of selling the bookstore before because I honestly
thought I’d never be able to sell it, and I really wanted to try to
keep it in the family. But this offer is so amazing that I think
Grandpa would be really mad at me if I didn’t accept it. I was
thinking that I could take the money and maybe open up a
consignment shop or some type of clothing boutique in Boise. Did
you know I went to fashion school? What do you think? Should I sell
it? What would you do if you were in my position?”

Myra’s head spins with how fast Jackie’s
lips are moving. “Wow that sounds awesome. I think Jim would be
happy with whatever decision makes
you
happy. He wouldn’t
care if you sold it or kept it as long as you were happy with your
decision.”

“I agree. And I’ll admit I’m not happy. I’ve
been trying so hard to make this work, but I’m lonely here in
Nyssa. I mean, I have you as a friend and everything, but I really
want to move back to Boise. I really miss mom and dad. What do you
think I should do?”

“Have you talked to your parents about
it?”

“Yeah, I called them as soon as the guy left
today. They think I should take the offer because they don’t think
I’d ever be able to sell it for that much, and plus they just both
want me to move back home.”

“Well, I think you have your decision. What
are you going to do with the house?”

“Grandpa left the bookstore to me in his
will, but he left the house to my mom. It’s paid off but mom
doesn’t want to keep it so I figured we could put it on the market
and see what happens. At least we don’t have to be in any rush to
sell it.”

“Sounds like you have a plan.”

“But I’m going to miss you. What am I going
to do without my best friend?” Jackie moans before pulling Myra
into another excruciatingly tight hug.

“We can call each other and visit. Boise’s
only an hour away.”

“True. I just hope I’m making the right
decision.”

“I think you are. If you’re not happy here,
then it’s time to try something else.”

“I agree. So did you find out who slashed
your tires?”

“No, not yet...”

“I still can’t believe someone did that.
It’s so scary. Well, I’ll let you get back to Dylan. I just had to
share the news.”

They say their goodbyes and Jackie gives her
one more painful hug before bouncing out of her house.

* * *

Dylan sets the groceries on his kitchen
table and turns to Myra. “Do you wanna start dinner?” he asks. “I
need to go make a couple of phone calls.”

“Sure. Take your time.”

Dylan steps outside onto his patio and dials
Sabrina’s number.

“Dylan…” she answers happily.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing,
Sabrina?” he asks in a low, angry voice.

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean. Why the hell
did you show up at Myra’s like that? You had no damn right to do
that. We’re divorced. I talked to you about this when we went to
Boise. It’s over.”

“You’re not getting off that easily. You
told me you’d wait on me and that was the only thing that kept me
going. I kept up my end of the bargain and I want you back. I still
love you, Dylan, I’ve always loved you. I know you love me too. We
just hit a rough patch but we can make it work again, I know we
can.”

“Look, I’m sorry that I led you on like
that. I’m so fucking sorry. I just wanted you to get better. And I
do care for you; I always will. But things are different now. We
can’t go back to what we had. Too much has happened. I’m not the
same person I was back then. I’ve changed. You saw that yourself.
And I’ve got Myra now.”

“Please, Dylan,” she begs. “Please. Don’t
give up on us. Don’t you remember the good times we used to have?
Remember that time we went to the lake and went skinny dipping
under the moonlight?”

“Sabrina, I can’t do this. Don’t contact
Myra again.” Dylan hangs up and rubs a hand over his neck, a tight,
uncomfortable feeling in his chest. Why the hell is Sabrina doing
this to him? Making him feel like shit for what he did. He has
enough guilt on his plate over what happened with Mel, he doesn’t
need to add Sabrina to it now.

Taking in a heavy breath, he steps back
inside and can’t help but smile as he watches Myra moving
comfortably around in his kitchen like she belongs there. He steps
up behind her and wraps his arms around her, burying his face in
her neck and breathing her in.

“Are you hungry?” she asks, rubbing her hand
over his arm.

“Starving.”

“Good. It’s just about done.”

“I was thinking about visiting Natalie this
weekend.”

“Oh. You should, definitely.”

“You wanna come with me?”

Myra turns in his arms and cradles his face
in her hands. “I’d love to,” she whispers with a smile and her eyes
shining.

Dylan’s smile matches hers as he slips his
hand into her hair and presses his lips against hers.

* * *

The next day back at her house, Myra peeps
into the bathroom where Dylan’s working. “Do you want something to
drink?” she asks.

“I’m good. I’m done here so I thought I’d go
work on your garage door so you can get your car out.”

“Like you’d actually let me get my car out
even if the garage door worked?” she asks, cocking an eyebrow and
putting her hands on her hips.

He smirks. “You do have a point.”

He follows her back downstairs.

“Lock up and give me your keys so I can get
back in later.”

Myra rolls her eyes as she walks over and
grabs her keys off the side table. As she hands them to Dylan, he
leans down and gives her a quick kiss. Myra locks up the door after
him and just as she starts to go into the basement to do some
laundry, she gets a call from her grandfather’s attorney telling
her that her Grampie’s estate has been settled, and that he’s going
to wire transfer the money to her account. After the call, she sits
down at the kitchen table and stares out the window. She doesn’t
want Grampie’s money; she just wants him back. She misses him
terribly. She misses her whole family.

Before she even realizes it, she has tears
in her eyes. Quickly wiping them away, she looks up when she hears
keys rattling in the door. She walks down the hallway and sees
Dylan stepping into the house.

“You okay?” he asks, his brow creasing with
concern as he stares at her face. He touches her cheek gently.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

She nods.

“Porter’s out front. He said he wanted to
check in on you.”

“Oh, good, tell him to come in.”

Dylan grabs her hand and squeezes it. “I’ll
let you two talk. I need to keep working on the garage door.”

A few minutes later, Porter steps into the
house and gives Myra a hug.

“How’s everything going?” Porter asks as he
sits down on the couch.

“Good.”

“Have you had any more problems? Seen
anyone?”

“No. It’s been pretty quiet. I haven’t seen
anyone, and Jackie stopped by last night and said she’s not seen
anyone either.”

“That’s good to hear. We’re kind of at a
dead end right now on the tire slashing. We didn’t get anything off
the prints. I questioned Derek and Lucia and that Ray character;
none of them had an alibi to back up their whereabouts. But that
doesn’t mean anything until I can get some solid evidence. But I
won’t give up.”

“Um, I wanted to talk to you about
something…” Myra says, her eyes darting guiltily towards the door.
“Can you keep this just between us?”

“Of course...”

“Well, Dylan’s ex-wife stopped by here
yesterday, and she was very angry. I don’t know how to explain it,
but there was just something ‘off’ about the whole conversation.
She went on about how she wants Dylan back and that she’s going to
‘fight’ me for him. I thought it was very odd that she showed up at
my house right after my tires were slashed. I think you should look
into her, but don’t tell Dylan. I talked to him about how I felt,
but he thinks I’m wrong and that she had nothing to do with
it.”

“What’s her name?”

“Sabrina… hmm, I don’t know what her maiden
name is but of course her married name was Lawson.” Myra’s insides
hurt a little to say that. “She lives in Boise.”

“That should give me enough to go on. I’ll
see what I can find out.”

“Just so you know I’ve had a patrol car come
by here every so often to keep an eye on things. You know I worry
about you.”

“Thanks. And don’t worry; I’ve got Dylan
watching out for me. He pretty much won’t let me out of his sight,”
she says with a laugh.

“Good. I like him. He seems like a good
man.”

“He is.”

“Well, I’ll call you as soon as I find out
something on the ex, okay? If you need me for anything, I’m just a
phone call away, got it?”

“Got it,” Myra says with a smile.

* * *

Later that evening, Dylan picks up their
paper plates off of the kitchen table. “I’ll do the dishes,” he
announces with a sly grin.

“How chivalrous of you,” she says,
smiling.