week. If Tom had tried them out, he’d been to the site recently.
“So he’s heard.” Kerri spoke before Wade had a chance to ask Tom the obvious question. “He’s forbidden from going to the site,” she continued. “We’re well aware of how dangerous construction sites can be.”
Wade winced, then felt like hell as Tommy dropped his chin, lowering his gaze to his lap.
“So, you’ve never been there?” He directed the question at Tom, willing Kerri to keep her mouth shut.
“I just told—”
“I’m asking Tom,” he interrupted her, his tone growing sharp. Too sharp.
Kerri scraped her chair back against the hardwood kitchen floor. “I think you’d better go.”
“You know a man was critically injured there today, Tom. If you saw anything at all, you should tell the police.”
He watched as the boy frowned, feeling like a bully for pressuring the kid, but growing desperate to get the admission he thought Tom might be withholding.
Suddenly, Tom lifted his gaze to Wade’s, his blue eyes far too serious for someone so young.
“The guy in the truck?”
“Tommy,” Kerri admonished.
Wade nodded. “Yeah, the guy in the truck. Did you see anybody else?”
Tom looked nervously from Wade to his mother and back.
“He’s not getting involved, Wade.” Kerri’s voice shook with emotion. “I won’t let him.”
Wade pushed back, standing toe to toe with Kerri. He gripped her elbows, holding her near. “If he saw something, he’s our only witness, Kerri. No one else was there. We can stop whoever did this.”
She visibly softened, and Wade thought she was a breath away from agreeing, when the emotional shutters returned to her stubborn gaze.
“No,” she said flatly. “You’re on your own.”
Disappointment and anger battled inside him. “If you’re afraid of retaliation, no one but the investigators on the case need to know. We’ll keep it out of the media.”
Fear shimmered in Kerri’s eyes. So he’d hit the nail on the head.
“Haven’t you brought us enough heartache?” She pulled free of his grip and moved toward her son. “Tom, honey, tell your Uncle Wade goodbye. You need to get cleaned up for dinner.”
Disappointment flashed in Tom’s eyes, but he did as he was told. After he’d moved out of earshot, Kerri spoke again.
“Your insurance will cover your loss, right? Leave my son out of this.”
“Is this what you want to teach him, Red? You want to teach him not to cooperate instead of trying to make a difference.”
Color flared in her cheeks. “Don’t ever call me that again.”
She might as well have slapped him.
Without another word, Kerri moved from the kitchen to the hallway to the front door, jerking the heavy wooden door open.
“We never had this conversation. If you care at all about Thomas and me, you’ll walk out of this door and you won’t come back.”
“Why did you go to the site? You know what he saw, don’t you?”
“He didn’t see anything, Wade. He dropped his skateboard and ran when the fires started. I went back for his board.” She slowly shook her head from side to side. “That’s all. You need to leave us alone.”
There was no denying the fury in Kerri’s voice, but Wade spotted more than anger in her eyes. He’d known the woman long enough to know she was bluffing.
“You’re lying.”
She bristled, but stepped nearer, so near Wade could pick up the soft scent of her soap.
“I will not let you drag my son into this. Is that understood? He saw nothing.”
“I don’t believe you.” He hesitated, searching for the right words. “I’d never let anything happen to him. Why won’t you trust me?”
One of her auburn eyebrows lifted, as if she couldn’t believe he’d asked the question. “Get out of my house.”
“The police think Project Liberation did this, but they need a witness.”
“Leave.”
Wade stepped out onto the front step, tensing as the door slammed behind him. He’d give her this round, but if she thought she’d won the battle, Kerri Nelson was in for a rude awakening.
IS THIS WHAT you want to teach him?
Wade’s words echoed through Kerri’s brain as she cracked open the top of her jewelry box later that night. The polished amethyst heart lay safely beneath the box’s velvet tray, still tucked into its pink drawstring bag, even after all of this time.
There had been moments over the years when she’d wondered if she’d married the right friend. Her school-girl crush had been on Wade, yet it had been John who had pursued her and married her.
Wade had never fought for her, never expressed an interest in her. She traced a finger across the smooth, cool stone. Except for this. He’d given her this on Valentine’s Day, just hours before John had asked her out for the first time.
She returned the stone to its bag, drew the satin ribbon tight and dropped it into the jewelry box, replacing the tray and closing the lid shut with a snap.
It didn’t matter now whether or not she had once cared for Wade. John had given her a son she loved more than life itself, a son so much like his father, her breath sometimes caught at the mere sight of his crooked smile.
She’d trusted Wade Sorenson years ago, and then he’d let her down, betraying her trust and her friendship.
Now he wanted her to trust him again—with Tom’s safety.
As Kerri clicked off her bedroom light and stared out the window into the Pinelands, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to trust Wade again. But one thing was certain.
She’d do whatever it took to protect her son. No matter the cost.
Hours later, after a sleepless night, she groaned at Tom’s words at breakfast.
“I want to help, Mom.”
Kerri looked up from the skillet and glared at her son. “No.”
“But Uncle Wade said I’m the only witness.”
And once the police knew that, chances were whoever set the explosions would know that, too. Kerri wasn’t naive enough to think the local law enforcement officers could keep that
