Running with Secrets

Untitled Part 51

"I can't believe you agreed to go somewhere without talking to me first! Do you know what kind of can of worms this could open up?" Heath asked as they were safely tucked inside his car, on the way home.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked. "Swim, shower and eat and sleep?" She whined, trying to suppress a groan. "I can't just sit around and watch television. Do you know how much that did to me sitting around Sally's place for a week? I didn't see too many books at your grandma's that I'd be interested in and she has no movies,  AND I really don't like watching television. I need do to something, Heath!" She wasn't yelling, but she felt like it.

Watching his knuckles twist and turn white while he drove was not very reassuring. "I'll have to check in before I let you go, but I really don't want to hang out with Clark and his 'mates'."  He said with finger quotes.

It made her laugh.

"What's so funny?" He grumbled.

In her best Southern Belle accent, Kristin said, "Why, Heath Johnston, I do believe you are jealous."

That was it! She had distracted him enough that he looked at her and with a suspicious face, he briefly looked at her then back at the road a couple of times and said, "What? Kristin, that is the most--I'm not jealous!"

"I don't really want to go alone, but even if you're not going to go, I'm seriously considering it." Kristin was very upset at this point, even though yesterday she was in no mood for this sort of thing.

"What if your uncle says no."

"What's he going to do? Ground me?  Arrest Clark?" She put her hand on his shoulder and then said, "I know as well as you how the rules of jurisdiction work, and he's not going to get here in time to stop anything any way. Besides, yesterday I told Clark that I'm not in a good place. He knows just a little bit."

"You told him?"

Kristin cut off his surprise. "I told him I'm in a bad place for starting relationships because my last boyfriend's body was found in a warehouse."

"And he didn't run for the hills?" He chortled.

"I guess not." Kristin said, looking at her hands in her lap with great thought. She pretended not to hear any of the rest of the few things Heath might have said. She'd become very good at tuning things out in the last two or three weeks.

When they returned to Kathleen's house in Spring City, she was sitting on the porch swing with lemonade in her hand. "I have a late-ish lunch ready. Who wants a European-style meat and cheese lunch?"

"I'm down," Heath said, crossing in front of the car to let Kristin out, but not getting there soon enough to open the door for her.

"Did you say European lunch, Kathleen?" Kristin smiled a curt smile as Heath shut the car door, a motion not wasted on Kathleen.

"Why yes, dear. I have three kinds of cheese, two kinds of meat, grapes and sparkling apple cider." She took a breath and almost as an afterthought added, "Oh, and 'everything' bagels too. I hear those are popular."

Kristin marched up the stairs to the porch and looked into her eyes and said, "That sounds lovely. Give me a minute to put my stuff away and I'll be right there."

"Okay, dear."

Kristin went inside the house and Kathleen didn't waste any time grilling her grandson. "What happened, Heath?"

"What are you talking about?" He sat in the chair next to his grandmother.

"Don't you play coy with me, dear. You know what I'm talking about!"

Heath poured his head into his hands and sighed heavily. "I've got it really bad, Gramma.  And she's considering Clark's invitation to some game night and mocktails tonight."

Sparks light up Kathleen's face and she slapped Heath on the back.

"Ow! Gramma!"

"She got an invitation to Clark's game night?" she rubbed her hands together as her eyes sparkled. "How did she do that? Never mind. I'm not blind enough to see that he's attracted to her. Oh...they'd have beautiful babies!"

"GRAMMA!" Heath shouted.

"What, dear?"  She looked at her grandson as though she were a toddler caught in the cookie jar. Not just a hand, but her whole person. "Like I said before, I'm old, not dead." She giggled.

"Anyone with beautiful skin like Clark's and those beautiful features that Kristin has...mesh 'em together...well, you know that's a recipe for a perfect baby!" Kathleen got a giddy smile on her face.

"Gramma!" Heath tried to hush his grandmother. "We talked about this the other day."

"Oh. Right. I'm sorry, Heath, but it looks like you might have some competition." Kathleen said as she stood up to go get lunch.

Heath followed. "Why does everyone say that?"

Kathleen's eyes shot up. "Everyone?"

"No, not everyone, Gramma. Just the ones that count."

*****

After a nice lunch on the porch, Kristin cleaned up an put everything away for her hostess. It was the least she could do. "I want to help take care of the house I'm living in, if that's okay with you."

"That's fine, but don't let me get too comfortable with the idea. I need more to do than sit around and go to water aerobics to watch that hunk-a-hunk-a foreign swimming coach with all those Chris Pine-ish good looks!"

Heath groaned and rolled his eyes and Kristin laughed. "Kathleen, you are a treasure, for sure."

"Don't let it go to your head, Gramma." Heath said. "She's this nice to everyone.  And she's nothing but trouble."

*****

"As long as you give her a curfew and have her check in a few times, that should be okay." Captain Vanderson said. "I don't think she's in any danger where you guys are at." They continued to talk about the situation Heath looked over his shoulder to make sure no one showed up at his bedroom door.

"I just don't like the idea of her going out, Sir."

"She's an adult, and I think with the therapy she is going to go through, they'll tell her to get out anyway. So if it's her idea, she's more likely to go on her own, Johnston." The captain said. Back to last names. That could only mean Heath's opinion was only an opinion, and not under advisement.

"I understand, Sir." Heath took a hit of defeat.

"It's better on her terms than to force issues with someone who has PTSD."

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm not saying that I wholeheartedly agree with the way things are going to go down, as you say, but I do believe she is safe, and if this Clark guy is as big as you say he is, and seems to take a liking to my niece, then you probably won't have anything to worry about." Captain Vanderson left his personal suspicions out of the equation. He could feel there was more than just letting a legal charge out of his detective's sight, but he felt like it was none of his business. He trusted Heath and needed Heath to trust his niece.

The air seemed to get thicker when the captain said those last words, and Heath knew he was being unreasonable, all because of his own interest in his assignment. He instantly decided to call his parents when he got off the phone with the captain.

"There is one more thing I need to talk to you about, Johnston. Are you somewhere you can talk freely?"

Heath closed the door to his bedroom and said into the phone, "I am now. What do you need?"

*****

Kristin heard the bedroom door click closed just as she had started to walk down the hallway to talk to Heath. "Business stops for no man, I guess," she mumbled as she turned back to her room, resolving instead to go running, because she didn't have time to get a water workout in for the day.