Page 145 of Sunkissed Colorado

I pushed back from the table, standing up and wrapping my arms around myself. “But you didn’t say anything when those rumors were going around. When I felt completely alone.”

He scrunched up his face. “Because it got complicated. I found out who was harassing you.”

I spun on my heel to face him. “You knew about that? The person who broke my car window. Left those sick notes for me. And youknew?”

“It’s the same person who broke the window at the brewery earlier this summer. Started following you and harassing you again. I tried to stop it. I swear. If I’d known it could lead where it did, to arson and you being in real danger?—”

“Who?” I demanded.

He scrubbed his trembling hands over his face.

“It was my mother.”

THIRTY-EIGHT

Callum

I paced aroundthe waiting area at the station, nearly going out of my mind while Zandra was in that room with Leo.

Finally, I heard a door open. Voices. I went to the mouth of the hallway, just barely holding myself back from racing to Zandra as she murmured with Chief Nichols.

“Mr. O’Neal,” the front desk officer warned. “You can’t go back there.”

“Yeah, I know.” Even though it seemed ridiculous to be so formal. Give me a break with thisMr. O’Nealshit. Like I hadn’t known that guy forever and served him at Hearthstone plenty of times.

I’d also been texting with the Lonely Harts club, keeping them updated on the latest. Both Ashford and Grace had offered to come here and wait with me. But Zandra had already instructed her mom not to follow us here, so she probably didn’t want other people showing up. This had to be rough for her, and she didn’t need an audience.

Right now, I would be here for her. In any way she needed. I had every intention of supporting her through this, even if I hadn’t been thrilled about her talking to Leo in the first place.

Should’ve known I couldn’t stop her. My Zandra was brave as hell.

Zandra came down the hall, looking shell-shocked. “I’m ready to go.”

I glanced over her head at Chief Nichols, who’d already disappeared into her office. Then another officer walked down the hall and into the chief’s office too. Something was definitely up. A palpable new buzz of tension filled the station.

“What happened? What did he say?”

“I’ll tell you everything. But not here. I just want to get out of here.” She blinked a few times, then looked up at me. “Can we go see the sunflowers?”

I took her hand. “Of course, baby. We’ll go straight there.”

I drove my truck out to my friend’s property. Didn’t clear this visit beforehand this time, but I had no doubt it wouldn’t be a big deal.

It was the middle of the day, the sun shining brilliantly from a clear blue sky. We sat on the tailgate. It was warm out, but I still got a blanket from my backseat. I wrapped it around the both of us, and we sat on the tailgate as we watched the small sunflowers dance in the breeze.

“It was Jess and Leo’s mother,” Zandra whispered. “Paula.”

For a moment, I couldn’t track what she meant. “What do you mean, baby? What did Paula do?”

“She’s the one who harassed me. She thought I was responsible for Jessa’s death. That I was a…murderer.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

That made no sense. But I pulled Zandra close and held her while she fought back tears.

“Leo told me his mom got worse and worse after Jessa died. Then Paula must’ve heard the rumors from somewhere—thatIwas the one who pushed Jessa because we were fighting about a boy.”

“But she didn’t say anything to you. Why wouldn’t she confront you?”

“Because she thought I’d already gotten away with it, maybe? My family owns important businesses around town. She could’ve thought the police were biased. But maybe there was no rationale to her behavior at all. Leo said his mom was falling apart, not thinking clearly. She still talked about Jessa like she was alive. Paula even did that in front of me a couple times, like at the funeral.”