Pretty Little Wife(35)
The ruffled look shook her. “Have you heard something?”
“No.” Jared looked from Lila to Tobias and back again. “I didn’t know you were in town.”
The “no” didn’t convince her. “I called him and asked for help.”
The men shook hands, but Jared’s focus stayed on Lila. “In searching for Aaron?”
“The ultimate goal is to keep the police focused on Aaron and not get sidetracked.” Tobias offered Jared a glass of wine.
Jared shook his head as he sat down across from Lila. “Speaking of that, who is Ryan Horita?”
The name vibrated through her. She called up every ounce of control to hold her expression and keep her body still. Energy pounded through her as she struggled to keep her voice steady. “He’s a client. I sold him a house.”
“Why do you ask?” Tobias asked.
Jared’s gaze wandered over her face. “The investigator asked about him.”
Tobias picked up his glass again. “Okay. I’ll try again, why?”
Jared shrugged. “That’s what I was wondering.”
Lila knew exactly why, and having a possibly alive husband was no longer her biggest problem.
Chapter Twenty-One
Seven Months Earlier
MARCH ON CAYUGA LAKE. THE TEMPERATURE STILL HOVERED in the midforties. The snow had cleared . . . for now. With the sun out and the bright blue sky calling, Lila and Aaron headed out for a hike. Lila insisted it be a short one because even at a brisk pace and with the best gloves on the planet, the chill coming off the water seeped right into her bones.
They stuck to the southern end of the lake. The muddy ground slushed beneath her boots. With most of the leaves gone, she had a good view of Cornell University in the distance. The clock tower loomed. In the fall, the area would be awash in color and the population would almost double in size due to student and tourist traffic.
Bright oranges and reds. She missed living in the South, but nothing compared to those few weeks of fiery colors breaking through a blanket of green and blue.
They moved back from the shoreline now, following a path that led them to a series of boulders stacked at the bottom of a scaling hill. Aaron hit the incline, grabbing on to tree limbs to boost him up.
She wasn’t ready to leave the quiet lapping of the water. She sat down, startled when the coldness from the rock passed right through her jeans to her bare skin.
Aaron looked over his shoulder then stopped walking. “What are you doing?”
Instead of answering, she lifted her head and let the warm sun beat down on her skin for the first time since winter set in last October. “Enjoying the scenery.”
“That’s not a bad idea. I think I’ll join you.” He slid back over the rough terrain and plunked down next to her.
She smiled but kept her eyes closed. “It also helps that I have the car keys.”
“Then I’ll definitely sit with you.” Not really one to stay still for long, he picked up two sticks and rubbed them together.
The breeze whipped around her. She inhaled, letting the fresh air fuel her. Out here in the quiet, while other hikers nodded and walked around them, ideas popped into her mind. Questions she’d never bothered to ask. But life kept racing past them, and with her jacket warming her, lulling her into a false sense of security, she asked a question that had been dancing in her head.
“Do you ever wonder if there’s more?”
“To the lake?” He pointed over to their right. “We’ve driven—”
“No, I mean to us. To life.”
“That’s a pretty heavy question for a Sunday afternoon hike.”
She could hear the amusement in his voice. She got it. This was not the sort of topic she usually used to waste time. “I’m serious. Do you ever wonder if we settled?”
She didn’t wonder, she knew. Aaron wasn’t the problem. She was. She’d never felt that anticipation. Sexual attraction, yes. Desire. But not the deep bonding that allowed her to let someone else steer for a while.
She’d become convinced all of that hearts-and-flowers nonsense was illusory. What counted was staying power. Determination. A will to get along. They had that. A shared commitment that arose from upbringings that told them the wrong way to do things.
She glanced over at him, expecting to see anger. Like he sometimes did, though not often, he surprised her. His forehead wrinkled as if he were actually considering the question. “Was I your safety net?”
Sort of, but not really, because she never felt truly safe and calm. “Neither of us demands that much from the other. We fell in together, decided to start dating without ever having a discussion about it. We rolled from one relationship stage to the other and now sort of bump along.”
He shifted until he faced her. One of his hands slipped to her knee. “I married you because from the minute I met you I thought I’d found someone who understood me.”
“That’s actually very lovely.”
“The way you look, how put together and sure you are—it’s all such a departure from how I grew up. My dad believed in the land. He hunted and fished and didn’t trust anyone. Life was about simplicity and strain.” He whistled. “You blew into that deli, and I couldn’t see anything else.”