Free This Heart of Mine by Brenda Novak Page B

seen the contrast between the real Phoenix and the monster they’d created in their minds, he understood that everyone’s negative comments and opinions had fueled fears in him that might not be well founded. “I
didn’t
want her to come back. I wrote her and told her as much.” He didn’t say that was one letter he wished he could
un
send. “But Whiskey Creek is her home as much as ours. She can come here if she wants, and there’s nothing we can do to stop her.”
    “So you’ve made up your mind? You’re going to support a relationship between her and Jacob?”
    “If that’s what he wants, yes—unless she does something that seems...wrong.”
    “By then it might be too late.”
    “That’s the chance I have to take.”
    “When they’d
both
be better off if she’d just move somewhere else?”
    He thought of the shopping he and Kyle had done. His mother would not be happy if she learned that they’d helped Phoenix, but he didn’t regret it. Giving her those things had felt right.
    “How would they
both
be better off?” he asked. “She has nothing to start over with. At least if she stays here she’ll have a free place to live until she gets on her feet.”
    “That dump out there isn’t even sanitary. A normal person wouldn’t want to stay there.”
    He felt slightly defensive. “She’s doing what she can to clean it up.” She’d told him as much.
    “Either way, the Mansfields won’t put up with her living in this town.”
    Riley scooted forward but rested his arms on his knees. He didn’t want to come on too strong. “There’s nothing the Mansfields can do.”
    “Of course there is,” she said.
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I’m saying someone should warn her. Maybe that’ll make her think twice about burdening us with her presence.”
    He’d been uncomfortable with this conversation from the beginning, but now he was downright concerned. “
Warn
her? Really?”
    “Yes! I’ve heard Corinne say that Buddy won’t allow it. You know how close he was to Lori. They were thirteen months apart and did almost everything together growing up.”
    “I know he’s angry that his wife left him last year. He always seems to be out causing trouble now that she’s gone. But Phoenix has nothing to do with his current misery.”
    “How can you say that? She’s at the root of it. He’s never been able to get over Lori’s murder.”
    “So it’s also Phoenix’s fault that he goes from job to job? That he’s currently making minimum wage working as a clerk at the hardware store and living with his parents?”
    “You can’t judge him!”
    Although Riley had spent a lot of time around Buddy through the years—thanks to the friendship between families—he’d never cared for him. Buddy had always been an egotistic braggart. “But he can judge others.”
    “In this instance, I think he’s got the right. Anyway, he wrote Phoenix before she was released. But either she didn’t get his letter, or she ignored it, like yours.”
    Riley felt his muscles tense. Buddy was six feet four inches tall and weighed probably 230 pounds. A single blow from his meaty fist could cause significant damage. Even with a bat, Phoenix would never be able to defend herself. “What did Buddy say in that letter?”
    “I don’t know. It’s not as though Corinne read it to me. But it was something to the effect that she’d regret it if she came back here.”
    No wonder Phoenix had reacted the way she had when she’d heard them on her porch last night. She must’ve thought the Mansfields were coming for her. “He’d better not hurt her,” Riley said.
    His mother frowned at the firmness in his voice. “
I
have no say over what he does,” she responded.
    “Then maybe
he
should be warned.”
    “About...what?”
    “If he hurts her, he’ll answer to me.”
    His mother’s mouth dropped open. “You’re taking
her
side? Coming out in opposition to my best friend’s son? When
he’s
the one who’s