Meghan's Wish (Love and Danger) Read Online Free Page B

don’t know what you’re hoping to prove…” her voice trailed off as the figure came close to the camera, his baseball hat and 49ers jacket clearly visible in the frame.
    “Liam’s a 49ers fan, isn’t he, Meghan?”
    She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. She was watching the figure on the screen, with a coat and hat just like her husband’s, move in a hauntingly familiar way.
    “Is that his jacket? His hat?”
    She should know. She had bought the matching set for his birthday last fall. She was constantly kidding him that they would be threadbare in no time if he wore them as often as he did.
    Ricky was watching her. “That fire was on Friday. There was another one yesterday.”
    Oh, God. “Where?”  She felt sick.
    “Liam’s parents’ house. It was burned to the ground.”
    “Oh my, God.  Was anyone hurt?”
    He shook his head. “No, thank goodness. Chip and Lindsay weren't home.”
    “What about the kids?”
    He smiled without humor. “The kids are all grown up now, Meghan. You've been gone a long time.” He stared at her. “And I’ve missed you.”
    “Don’t.” She held up her hand. “There was never anything between us, Ricky.”
    He looked down at the phone in his hands. “I know you think I set Liam up, but I didn't.”
    “You lied about seeing him on Main Street with a gas can.”
    “You're right. I did. He wasn’t walking down Main Street with it, he was at the old mill with it.”
    “Oh, bullshit, Ricky.”
    He was quiet for a moment, just staring at her. “I followed you to the old mill that night.”
    A wave of violation rolled through her abdomen. “You bastard.”
    “I hid in the woods by the water. You were wearing a white shirt and a long pink skirt. Not what you'd worn to school that day.”
    “How dare you?”
    “I tried for years to get your attention, Meghan, but you only had eyes for Wheaton. It burned me up inside, to see you with him, to know what you were doing in there.”
    He said it like it was dirty, and Meghan could feel her cheeks flaming hot. Her arms itched to scratch his face, hit him with her fists for invading her cherished memories. “You had no right.”
    “After you left, I just sat there in the woods. I was devastated.” He swallowed, shaking his head. “Then Liam comes out of the mill, and I thought about hurting him. I remember I hated him for putting his hands on you. I hated him so much.”
    Ricky took a deep breath. “He walked to his car and opened the trunk.  He took out a red and gold gas can.”
    The world tilted on its axis. Liam kept a red and gold gas can in the trunk of his truck to this day, a leftover from that first car with the broken gas gauge.
    “And he goes back to the mill and starts pouring the gas all around it. I knew I should stop him, but I was scared of what he was doing, scared of what he would do to me if he knew I had seen him. So I ran,” he continued. “I ran as fast as I could back home. I didn’t even make it out of the park before I smelled the smoke.”
    Meghan felt her faith in her husband wavering like a leaf on a tree, caught up in a storm she hadn't even seen coming.
    Liam started those fires.
    “The next morning, I told Sheriff McDonald I had seen Liam with the gas can.” He met her eyes. “But I didn't want to tell him about the old mill, or that you were there, too.”
    ~~~
    2012
     
    Liam was in a bad mood.
    He climbed out of the cab of his pickup truck and into the snow-filled air, slamming the door behind him. He should be halfway to Boston right now to bid on a job, but his father had phoned and told him to come over right away.
    It was important, he said.
    Important to Chip Wheaton could mean he had another run-in with the sheriff, and it had come to blows like last time. Or it could mean he was sitting in a corner of his bedroom, terrified that if he walked out into the kitchen where his keys were, he'd climb in the car and go buy a beer or three bottles of whiskey.
    Liam strode up the