Page 56 of Fatal Deception
“And if this was some random winter, with no threats, you’d just be handling all of this on your own.”
“I have help.”
“When and if you take it. Bigwhens. Bigifs.”
She wanted to get away from him, but his arm was holding her in place. She squinted at the mountains in the distance. She couldn’t put into words theneedto do all that. It came from a place too deep to fully verbalize.
And if she tried to tell him, it felt like it would uproot the strength of purpose that kept her going.
“I have no doubt a lot of people around you know this, that maybe even tell you this, and you probably don’t listen to them,and you probably won’t listen to me, but it’s impressive what you do, what you handle. All on your own.”
It was just the kind of compliment that should have touched her. Instead, it made her want to shrug away the words. Pushing every boundary, just like she’d accused him of earlier.
“Would it kill you to take a compliment, Audra?”
God, sometimes it felt like it might.
“I know they did a number on you, but it doesn’t have to keep doing the same number.”
“He says, from experience,” she grumbled, only half-irritated. Because it was true. Both what he said, and where he’d come up with it. They weren’t trite words. It was his own experience.
Someone had done a number on him, and he’d changed his whole life rather than live in the bowels of that.
“I’m getting there, I think.” His arm stayed around her, that comforting warmth, this unknown glow of being able to let go, let someone else handle something when none of her usual get-arounds worked.
Because Rosalie was tenacious and demanding and sometimes managed to wheedle Audra into accepting some help, some credit, but mostly—because she’d grown up with Rosalie and knew all her tender points—she knew how to move around her sister.
She didn’t know how to move around Copeland. Not when he was poking into things that were abouther, not the case.Life, not threats.
“You could get there with me, Audra,” he said, very carefully. “All it takes is a little leaning.”
She laughed, knew it was bitter-sounding. “Is that all? Because every time I’ve let myself lean, I’ve fallen flat on my face.”
“You won’t with me.”
The worst part was she believed him, even when she knew she shouldn’t.
THEY FINISHED HER CHORES, and while Copeland was eager to get back to the case, to find some answers for her, he’d also enjoyed himself in a weird way. There was something different about doing a lot of physical labor and seeing your efforts have physical manifestations. So much of his own work was nebulous. Sure, he solved mysteries, helped people out of danger, but then it was left up to the mess of the judicial system.
The only thing that could undo the windbreak was Mother Nature.
He glanced at Audra as they walked from the stables to the house. Speaking of things that needed an act of nature to move.
She needed a push, and it wasn’t coming from the people she’d learned to fool with her walls and boundaries.
So it was going to have to be him.
Something he’d think about later, when there wasn’t a strange car in Audra’s drive.
He stopped her progress, situated himself in front of her. Rested his hand on his weapon. “You recognize that car?”
“No.”
A woman got out of the driver’s seat. Copeland gestured for Audra to stay put, and he did the same, watching as the woman crossed the yard with purposeful strides.
“Hello. I’m looking for Detective Beckett.”
“You found him.”