Five Minute Man: A Contemporary Love Story (18 page)

He should never have agreed to meet with Eve. He should have followed his gut and gone right to Holly’s after work. He might not have been in time to stop her from getting hurt, but he would have been there for her. By her side. Holding her hand. Ensuring they were taking good care of her.

And then he would have taken her home, watched over her. There would not have been any hurtful texts or photos, and she would be safe and warm in his arms.

Instead, he was here, trying to flush God-knew-what out of his system, and Holly probably never wanted to see him again.

What was that saying, hindsight is 20/20? Looking back now, it seemed all too easy to see the pattern of obsessive, borderline psychotic behavior. It was the stuff of Hollywood thrillers, and he had a starring role. The woman needed some serious help.

Those mortifying pictures were now in the hands of the Covendale Police Department. Thankfully, his friend had assured him that the images would be kept private unless absolutely necessary. Hopefully that wouldn’t happen. After Adam had spent an hour or two in Sam’s office with the door closed, the CoP had opened up an official criminal investigation.

Not only had Eve’s actions been morally reprehensible, but they were illegal as well.

Adam was confident that the blood test would prove the existence of a foreign substance. He didn’t do drugs, never had. There would be statements taken from character witnesses, interviews with his crew to show that he’d been stone-cold sober before leaving work. But Sam had told him quite honestly that while that might make him look good, it still didn’t prove that he hadn’t ingested the drugs willingly. Recreational drug abuse was not limited to punk teens and street addicts, especially when widely accepted, white collar stress-busters were involved.

He didn’t like it, but that was the least of his worries. He was much more concerned about Holly. As the level of Eve’s obsession became increasingly clear, so did Adam’s certainty that the recent series of unfortunate incidents was not coincidental.

Sam’s expression had grown progressively grim when Adam had expressed his concerns. The Chief had been aware of the fire at Holly’s, but the situation had taken on a whole new perspective when Adam told him that Eve knew about (and was jealous of) his relationship with Holly. Adam also told his friend about Holly’s flat tires and Max’s sudden unexpected sickness only a few days earlier. And those were just the things he knew about. Holly wasn’t the type to openly moan and complain when things went wrong. Were there other things that she might not have mentioned?

Sam’s advice made it even worse. “If all this came about because Eve was jealous of your relationship with Holly,” he’d said, “then for now, at least, the best thing you can do is stay away from your girl. Until we can find something that will hold up in court, let Eve think her little plan worked and that Holly wants nothing more to do with you.”

Adam didn’t like it one bit. But if it was the only way to keep Holly safe, he’d do it.

H
olly’s brother-in-law, Zach, a corporate lawyer based outside of Philadelphia, set the papers down and took off his glasses. “Civil suits aren’t really my area of expertise,” he said carefully. “But I have to call bullshit on this.”

As annoying as her loud-mouthed, older sister Vicki was, Holly often wondered what the handsome, soft-spoken attorney had seen in her. Zach was nothing like Vicki. He was so laid back, always seeming to take everything her odd family threw at him in stride. Plus he was one of the few who didn’t seem to think Holly’s life and career choices were causes for an intervention.

Holly was very fond of Zach. Fond of all her sibling’s spouses, as a matter of fact. It was only her blood relatives that she had problems with.
Huh
.

“It’s all fluff and bluster,” Zach continued as the rest of the family listened in. The moment David read the letter, he’d called everyone in for a family meeting. Now there were McTierneys all over Holly’s modest living room – standing, sitting, or leaning against every available surface. The space had never seemed quite so small.

“What exactly does that mean?” Holly’s mother asked.

“It means they don’t have a legal leg to stand on. From what you’ve told me, Holly, this cottage and the land it’s sitting on were divested from the original Penn estate a long time ago. It’s been privately owned and maintained for well over a century, and the Covendale Valley Historical Society has never felt the need to intervene before. I don’t think there’s any question that this is a personal attack on you, Holly. Who did you manage to piss off, anyway?”

It was impossible to take offense when Zach’s eyes were filled with amusement and his mouth tilted up in that boyish half-grin. He knew about her fierce independent streak and, unlike the rest of her family, actually seemed to think it was a good thing. Which pissed Vicki off to no end, so it was especially appealing.

“Swedish Barbie,” Holly muttered, remembering Eve’s thinly veiled threats that day.

“Excuse me?” That from Vicki.

“She means Eve Sanderson,” Liz said, breezing into the room with a bag of comfort goodies (ice cream, chocolate, and DVDs) for their planned two-person fuck-the-world fest later. An FTW, as Holly and Liz called it, was a necessary response to a really big WTF moment in one of their lives. It was also a not-so-subtle hint for Holly’s family to be on their way. 

“Who?” Holly’s younger sister Shelly asked, her head snapping up guiltily as she pretended that she
wasn’t
reading Holly’s latest manuscript. Holly recognized the look immediately. It was the same look Shelly would get when they were teenagers and she tried to sneak-read Holly’s secret collection of romantic erotica.

Holly narrowed her eyes in warning. Shelly’s cheeks went pink and if anyone was really listening, they would have heard the drawer of Holly’s roll-top desk closing softly.

“Eve Sanderson. Holly’s boyfriend’s ex.” Liz answered. Her mouth grimaced as if saying the other woman’s name left a bad taste in her mouth.

Several sets of eyes locked on Holly like heat-seeking missiles.

“Boyfriend?” Holly’s mother said, her interest immediate and absolute due to that one, ill-chosen word.

Holly shot Liz a scathing glance and squirmed under the pressure. She might just have to smack her BFF upside the head with that half-gallon of Rocky Road later, accompanied by repeated warnings to never,
ever
, make any mention of male interest around her mother.

“Just a guy I saw a couple of times, Mom. No big deal.” The lie burned on her lips, accompanied by an ache in her chest that was still too fresh, too deep. She forced it down, schooling her features into a mask of feigned indifference. She simply could not, would not, discuss Adam with her family, not yet. Maybe never.

“You didn’t mention him.”

“Because, like I just said, it was no big deal. We went out once or twice.”
Most of the time we stayed in and had wild hot monkey sex.
Holly almost let the words fly, just for the pure shock factor. It wasn’t worth the inevitable fallout afterward, though.

“But –“

“Drop it, Mom,” Holly warned sharply. Eyes widened around the room while her mother openly gaped at her. Then Colleen McTierney’s eyes began to narrow and
everyone
knew that mother and daughter were both gearing up for one of their epic battles.

“Right, then,” Holly’s dad said, standing before Colleen McTierney dug her heels in. “I think that’s our cue. It’s getting late and most of us have work in the morning.”

Holly gave her father a look of grateful appreciation. Her father was a great, great man. And so wise.

“But Jack, Holly needs –“

“- peace and quiet,” Jack McTierney finished firmly for his wife, his tone brooking no argument. “Liz is here to take care of anything else, right, Liz?” he asked, shooting a pointed glance Liz’s way.

“Right, Mr. McTierney.”

There were a few grumbles and protests as her father tried to round everyone up and out, but once Jack McTierney made a decision, it was law. Every one said their goodbyes, and promised (i.e.,
threatened
) to return the following weekend.

Holly gave a big sigh of relief when they were finally gone. “God, they’re exhausting,” she said, closing her eyes and leaning her head back. Two days felt more like two months. Now she remembered exactly why she moved over an hour away.

“Yeah,” Liz agreed, sinking down beside her with the tub of Rocky Road and two spoons. “But they mean well. Do you think if I managed to hurt myself in a totally random and completely believable unstaged freak accident they’d come over to my place? I mean, jeez, Holly. I’ve never seen this place so clean. And I swear there’s enough pre-made meals in the freezer to last a month!”

“Yeah, there’s that,” Holly sighed. As much as it chafed to admit it, they had been a tremendous help. Lord knew she sure as hell didn’t feel up to running the vacuum, doing laundry, or cooking dinner. Though she would probably spend the next couple of days putting things back where they really belonged.

Holly’s mom’s idea of organization was based on appearance; Holly’s was based on accessibility and common sense.

A perfect example: her favorite zip hoodie was now hung in the foyer closet, instead of being draped across the kitchen chair where she could put it on when she needed it. Granted, her cottage had never looked so good, but Holly much preferred practicality over aesthetics.

Holly dug deep into the ice cream, relishing the total sensory experience. Ice cream was fucking awesome. Cold and rich and creamy, it never disappointed. Unlike everything else in life.

“So...Holly,“ Liz began slowly, drawing out the words, “we should talk.”

The tone, the cadence, the phrasing – they were all clear indications that whatever Liz wanted to talk about, Holly was absolutely certain she
didn’t
. “Don’t, Liz.”

“Then don’t talk, just listen. Because I’m only going to say this once, and then I am never, ever going to talk about it again.”

Something in Liz’s voice kept Holly from protesting again. “Alright.”

“I know you’re hurting, and I totally get it. What Adam did was just awful. But ... maybe it wasn’t completely his fault.”

“Excuse me?” Holly said, stiffening. Liz was her best friend. She was supposed to have her back, no matter what. No questions asked, just blind, 100% loyal support. “You’re defending him now? You saw those pictures, Liz!”

“Yeah, I did,” Liz admitted, biting her lower lip. “And didn’t he, I don’t know, seem kind of out of it to you?”

Holly
had
thought the same thing, but mostly because she had stupidly gone and fallen in love with the betraying bastard. It was her mind’s innate self-defense mechanism kicking into gear, lessening the sting just enough to enable her to hang on to her last remaining shred of self-control.

“So he got drunk first before he fucked her. That makes it
soooo
much better.”

Liz was quiet for a minute, staring into the ice cream as she swirled her spoon around the top. “I know I told you I didn’t like Eve Sanderson, but I never told you why.”

“I just figured it was because she was a spoiled, rich, self-centered cunt of a whore bitch.”

Liz’s lips quirked a little at that, but her eyes were sad. “Well, there’s that. But there’s another reason, too.”

Holly waited; she knew better than to rush Liz. Whatever she was going to say was obviously hard for her, and important. Liz wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise.

“You know I have a younger brother, right?”

“Yeah. Nick, right? Moved out west somewhere?”

“Wyoming,” Liz confirmed.

“You don’t talk about him much.”

“No,” Liz agreed. “But at one time, we were really close. We’re only about eighteen months apart in age, and we look enough alike that everyone always thought we were twins.”

“What happened? Why did he leave?”

“Eve Sanderson.” Liz spit out the name with more hate than Holly had ever heard coming out of her mouth. “I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version. She saw him at some party and decided she wanted him. At first, he was polite. Told her he wasn’t interested. Nick was crazy in love with his girlfriend, Annie, and was saving up his money to get her a ring for Christmas.”

Liz’s voice quivered a little. She paused for a moment and took a breath. “Well, we know what happens when Eve doesn’t get what she wants. She spiked his drink, or at least that’s what we think happened. One minute he’s fine, the next he’s acting all loaded and out of control. I mean, don’t get me wrong – Nick was no saint and could let loose with the best of them – but he always knew when to stop.”

She looked to Holly, who nodded mutely in understanding and encouragement.

“Anyway, one of his buddies saw what was happening and managed to get him into a bedroom to sleep it off. While Nick was passed out, Eve snuck in and texted Annie from his phone, pretending to be him. Said he’d drunk too much and needed a ride home. Annie was working second shift at the hospital that night – she was a nurse - which is why she wasn’t at the party, and texted back, telling him to stay there and be safe, that she’d be there for him as soon as her shift ended at 11. When Annie showed up, she found Nick and Eve naked together in bed.”

Holly’s gasp sounded loud in the otherwise quiet room.

“Annie was devastated. She was every bit in love with Nick as he was with her. They were so good together, Holly. Perfect. The kind of soul-deep love you write about in your books, you know?”

Liz shook her head. When she spoke again, her voice was completely flat, devoid of emotion. “Annie ran out of the house and got back into her car. Got into an accident and was killed. Nick didn’t find out until the next day when my dad tracked him back to Eve’s to tell him.”

“Oh my God, Liz,” Holly said, horrified. “That’s awful!”

Liz had tears in her eyes, revealing and magnifying the soul-deep grief Holly had never glimpsed before. “Nick lost it. When he found out what happened, he snapped. He didn’t remember any of it. Something broke in him, Holly. He left town after Annie’s funeral and never looked back. He sends me cards, sometimes, but he refuses to talk to any of us. Says it brings back too many memories.”