Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(69)

I was speechless. Jonah had been telling boys in school to stay away from me? I should have been angry with him, but I couldn’t muster any fire in my belly. All the fire went elsewhere.





Lorraine didn’t want Jonah and me sleeping together at night. I overheard as much when I was making up the couch in the living room and their whispering voices carried to me from the office.

“She’s only eighteen,” Lorraine said. “I have a responsibility to her father. If he were here, he would never allow it.”

“It’s fine,” Jonah replied. “I’ll sleep in here, and she can sleep out there.”

There was some shuffling and moving of things while Jonah set up the mattress.

“So, how long has this been going on?” Jonah asked.

“What?”

“You and Sebastian Seaborne.”

“I never cheated on your father and he never cheated on his wife, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That’s what I’m asking.”

I gripped the blanket, not liking the way he was talking to her, although I’d asked the same question when I first met Lorraine.

“It’s just hard to believe that you’re with him. Everything I know about him says he’s about as affectionate as an ice cube.”

“He’s nothing like that,” Lorraine said in a chastising voice. “He’s a quiet man and a little standoffish sometimes, but he’s also kind and caring. Look at the way Candy feels about him. Have you ever seen loyalty like that before? Look what he did for his wife.”

“I know what he did for his wife, but what did he ever do for Candy? He gave her up and hardly ever saw her. Then he let her get drawn into this mess. Sebastian Seaborne is no saint.”

“I never said he was. But he loves his daughter, and he loved his wife. I know that much.”

Jonah hushed her then, and I heard him quietly close the door to the office. His mother’s words resonated in my head, love and loyalty. Somehow she understood me, and she understood my father too. Had he ever actually said that he loved me? I couldn’t remember a time. But I didn’t need to hear the words. In his own way, he loved me. I’d doubted it at times myself, but I never completely gave myself over to the idea that my father didn’t love me. He did the best he could. Like Lorraine, I’d always understood that about him.

Jonah was a different kind of person from my father. He talked about his feelings, and it seemed like he felt them more deeply than my father or I did. We were reserved, even in the best of times; in the worst, we were downright reticent. Jonah’s willingness to tell me how he felt disarmed me, and even though it made me uncomfortable at times, I basked in it and hoped he wouldn’t lose patience with me because I didn’t know how to express myself the same way.

Lorraine and Jonah eventually emerged from the office, and their calm expressions gave nothing of their conversation away. I’d changed into the flannel pajamas Lorraine bought, and Jonah wore sweats and a T-shirt. We all told each other good night, and I thought Jonah might stay with me to talk for a little while, but he didn’t. After giving me a hug and a kiss on the top of my head, he went to the office and closed the door.

As I lay down on the couch with Pumpkin curled up by my feet, I couldn’t help but wish Jonah was lying beside me. I thought of everything he said to me today and how I felt about it all. His words repeating in my mind felt like a warm blanket wrapped around me, protecting me from the cold.

With so many thoughts spiraling through my head, I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, but exhaustion won out and soon I drifted off.





It was three in the morning when my eyes opened again. I didn’t know what woke me. If I’d had a dream, I couldn’t recall it. When I sat up and rubbed my eyes, I noticed that Pumpkin was gone. Fully awake now, I got up to look for him, figuring he’d finally felt comfortable enough to go exploring a little.

After searching in the kitchen and dining room, I walked down the hallway, wondering if he’d found his way back to the bathtub. When I saw that the door to the office was wide open, I peeked inside and stared at the empty air mattress. My gaze swung around the room, but Jonah wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the bathroom either, but Pumpkin was, back in the bathtub again where he obviously felt the most comfortable.

Concerned, I went back into the living room and looked out the window to find that Jonah’s Jeep was gone. My heart knocked a little harder in my chest. It was three in the morning. Where was he? I thought about waking up Lorraine to see if she knew, but decided not to worry her. I wanted to call or text Jonah, but I couldn’t use my cell phone. I wouldn’t risk it.

I sat back down on the couch and worried my lip as I stared out the window at the long, dark driveway, waiting for him to come back. The hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach told me Jonah was off doing something he shouldn’t. After all, nothing good happened at three in the morning.





Lorraine was up with the sun and found me sitting in the living room, still staring out the window.

“Did Cooper go out somewhere?” she asked, standing in the kitchen doorway in her robe. “I didn’t see him in the office.”

I’d never get used to her calling him Cooper. “I think he’s been gone all night.”