Free Twisted Innocence (Moonlighters Series Book 3) by Terri Blackstock Page B

they would think if they knew the father of her baby was wanted for murder, and that she feared he would intrude on her life and disrupt everything. Would they treat her as kindly?Or would they welcome her into their midst, then whisper behind her back?
    She didn’t know, and she was too tired to puzzle it all out. Instead of forcing herself back in among them, Holly slipped into Juliet’s bedroom to nurse her baby.

CHAPTER 16
    T he conversation Juliet had overheard at the shower didn’t help Holly’s case when she asked her to babysit that night. “Are you going to the Dock with those girls?” Juliet asked point-blank.
    Holly grunted. “No, Juliet. There’s a lawyers’ convention starting in town, and maybe I can earn back some of the money I lost in the mugging.”
    Juliet wasn’t buying it. “So you promise me you’re not going out drinking with your friends?”
    Holly raised her right hand. “I promise I’m not going out drinking with my friends.”
    “Because you’re breastfeeding, you know. Plus, I don’t mind sitting while you work, but it’s another thing if you just want a night out. It’s been a long day and I need to focus on my kids tonight.”
    “Juliet, it’s not just a night out, okay? It’s important.”
    Juliet hesitated, then sighed. “All right, but will you be home by eleven? If you can get Lily before I go to bed, it’ll help me. We have church in the morning.”
    “Absolutely.”
    Juliet took the baby, held her to her shoulder. Lily kept her knees up and rooted toward Juliet’s face. Holly almost couldn’t bear to let her go.
    “So have you had any luck with the police?” Juliet asked.
    Holly’s heart jolted. “What police?”
    “About the mugging. Have they found the couple yet?”
    Holly let herself breathe. “I haven’t heard from them since the report. People like that, they’re probably off the grid.”
    “You mean homeless?”
    “Maybe. And by now they’ve probably already smoked away every penny of the money I made.”
    As Holly went back out to her car, she realized she hadn’t given the muggers much thought. The threat of Creed Kershaw coming into Lily’s life was a much greater threat than someone beating and robbing her mom.
    How had her life come to this?
    After working the airport for three hours, Holly went back to the restaurant where Creed had worked. She found Brittany’s car and parked a few spaces down, waiting for the bartender to come out when she got off work.
    As she waited, Holly thought back over today’s shower, wondered what her friends were saying about her, and what the church people were saying about her friends. She leaned her head back on the seat and thought about the lifestyle she’d led until Lily’s conception. She’d gone from one drinking binge to another, had hangovers every morning. It didn’t seem so attractive now.
    So why did she long for her friends’ companionship? Why did she wish she could go out with them tonight . . . just this once?
    Her friends’ lives weren’t really working either, but they couldn’t see it. Chaos was no way to live. Drowning pain, numbing feelings, snorting out regrets, and then creating more regrets . . . it was a cycle that was hard to break. It had taken Lily to make Holly break it, but she knew she could easily be drawn back in.
    One invitation at a time, she told herself. No would get easier to say.
    At nine o’clock, the side employees’ door opened and she saw Brittany walking out, her purse tight under her arm as she crossed the dark parking lot to her car. Holly gave her a chance to pull out, then followed.
    Come on, girl. Show me where he is this time.
    This time Brittany didn’t go to the bar to meet her friends. She drove farther out toward the beach, a few miles west on Gulf Coast Highway. Holly had looked up Brittany’s address earlier, and she didn’t live in this area. Maybe . . . just maybe . . .
    Brittany pulled into an RV park where recreational vehicles and