At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [46]
And now she was lying to him. Not once, but twice, and as he felt his stomach tighten, he was uncertain whether to punch the wall in anger or simply cry into his hands.
He was still sitting on her steps when she arrived an hour later. As she got out of the car, she seemed surprised to see him but then walked toward him as if nothing were amiss.
“Hey,” she said, flipping her purse over her shoulder. “What are you doing here?”
Jeremy rose from his seat on his steps. “Just waiting,” he said. Glancing at his watch, he noted it was a few minutes before nine. Late, but not too late. . . .
Though he made no move toward her—and she seemed to notice this—she leaned in to kiss him anyway. If she noticed his relative nonresponse, she gave no sign.
“It’s good to see you,” she said.
He looked at her; despite his anger (or his fear, if he was still being honest), she looked beautiful. The idea of someone else taking her in his arms was devastating.
Sensing his roiling emotions, she tugged at his sleeve. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he answered.
“You seem upset.”
It was the perfect opportunity to say what was on his mind, but he found himself hedging. “Just tired,” he said. “How was Doris?”
Lexie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Worried. Rachel still hasn’t called or checked in.”
“And she still thinks something might have happened to her?”
“I’m not sure. You know how Doris is. Once she gets something in her head, it tends to stick, and there’s never a logical explanation for it. I get the feeling that she thinks Rachel is . . . okay, for lack of a better word, but that the reason she left . . .” She shook her head again. “Actually, I don’t know what Doris is thinking. She just has the feeling that Rachel shouldn’t have left, and she’s really upset.”
Jeremy nodded, even if he didn’t quite understand. “If she’s okay, then it’ll all work out, right?”
Lexie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve given up trying to figure out the way Doris’s mind works. All I know is that she’s usually right. I’ve learned it time and time again.”
Jeremy watched her, sensing she was telling the truth . . . about her time with Doris. She’d volunteered nothing about where she’d been afterward.
He stood straighter. “I take it that you spent the whole evening with Doris, huh?”
“Pretty much,” she answered.
“Pretty much?”
Jeremy sensed that she was trying to gauge how much he knew.
“Yeah,” she finally said.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Lexie didn’t answer.
“I swung by Doris’s this evening,” he challenged, “but you weren’t there.”
“You went to Doris’s?”
“Here too,” he added.
Taking a small step backward, she crossed her arms. “Were you checking up on me?”
“Call it what you want,” Jeremy said, trying to stay calm. “But either way, you haven’t told me the truth.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Where were you tonight? After you left Doris’s?”
“I came here,” she said.
“And before that?” Jeremy asked, hoping she would volunteer the information, praying she would be honest, feeling the pit in his stomach grow.
“You were checking on me, weren’t you.”
Perhaps it was the righteousness in her tone that caused his temper to flare. “This isn’t about me!” Jeremy snapped. “Just answer the question!”
“Why are you yelling?” she asked. “I told you where I was.”
“No, you didn’t!” Jeremy shouted. “You told me where you were before you went somewhere else. You went someplace else after you left Doris’s, didn’t you?”
“Why are you yelling at me?” Lexie demanded, her own voice rising. “What’s gotten into you?”
“You went to Rodney’s!” Jeremy shouted.
“What?”
“You heard me!” he said. “You went to Rodney’s! I saw you there!”
Lexie took another step backward. “You followed me?”
“No,” he snapped, “I didn’t follow you. I went to Doris’s, then here, and then went looking for you. And guess what I found?”
She paused, as if trying to decide how best to respond. “It’s not what you think,” she protested, her voice softer than he’d expected.