Read The Other Side of Silence for Free Online

the stuff lying around, but not hide nor hair of Roger.  Of
course, Ned wouldn’t know him if he tripped over him, since he’s never met the
guy.  Still, he said no one was here.  Wonder what ol’ Roger was doing?”
    “I don’t know,” Sunny answered
absently, looking again at the barn, the cleaned and empty lawn.  “Doesn’t much
matter, though.  He finished the job.”       
    “He did that,” Scott agreed, making
no move to leave. 
    “Really, Scott,” Sunny said, turning
to him, finding herself impatient, “what were you doing in the house?  It’s not
like you live here anymore.”
    “Sorry,” he said, spreading his hands
out, the folder flapping open.  “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
    “I do,” she answered, bounding up the
stairs onto the porch and almost turning her ankle in her heels.   She tossed
her purse down on the rocker, bending to remove her shoes.  She’d probably ruin
her pantyhose, but she didn’t care.  “I really do.  You can’t act like it
doesn’t matter, because it does.  You haven’t lived here for more than two
years.  Pick a day and we’ll check to see if anything else of yours is here, so
you won’t have to worry about needing it sometime in the future.”
    She turned around in time to catch
Scott eyeballing her legs beneath the hiked hem of her skirt.  He raised his
eyes quickly to meet hers as she yanked the hem back into place.
    “Whoa, Sunny-girl, what’s up?  I
honestly didn’t think you’d care.”
    “I do care,” she said, picking up
purse and shoes and managing to manipulate the latch on the screen door.  “You
have another life, totally separate from mine.  It’s time you acted like it.”
    “I don’t want to act like it, Sunny.”
    Sunny stared at him.  “Jesus, Scott,”
she said and went inside.
    He followed, standing silently in the
kitchen as she deposited her purse on the telephone table.  A white envelope
with her name on it leaned against the scalloped wooden back.  She picked it
up, narrowing her eyes at the unfamiliar handwriting.
    “I saw that,” said Scott.  “Didn’t
touch it, I swear.”
    Sunny shot a glance at Scott over her
shoulder before slipping her finger beneath the haphazardly glued flap.  She
flipped through the bills, counting them.  Two hundred dollars and a receipt
for the paint.  Crap.
    “What is it?” asked Scott, coming
closer. 
    “Nothing,” she answered, closing the
envelope and returning it to the table.  Crap. 
    He made a noise, nothing concrete,
and then his hands came up and rested on her shoulders.  His thumbs began to
move, massaging the muscles to either side of her neck.
    “You’re tense,” he said.
    “Yep,” she answered tersely, moving
away from him.  “Care to guess why, Sherlock?”
    He laughed uncomfortably and followed
her, stopping right up against her when she paused.  His arms went around her
from behind.  Dropping her shoes to the floor with a clatter, Sunny took his
hands from her waist and set them at his sides.  She spun around.
    “Go home, Scott.  Go home now.  This
isn’t going to happen.  I don’t want it to happen.  Despite how I might act
sometimes, I actually like Kathy, and I’m not going to let it happen.  Go
home.”
    He sighed, his blue eyes taking on an
expression she didn’t much care for.  “This is home.  It feels like home to me,
Sunny.”
    “I don’t care,” she said, backing
away from him, “it’s not.  Not anymore.”
    For several seconds he said nothing,
and then he laughed again, no humor to the sound.  Lightning quick he bent and
kissed her, his mouth forceful on her own.  She shoved him away, wiping her
linen jacket sleeve across her lips where his tongue had tried to wedge
between. 
    “Sunny, please,” he begged, reaching
for her.  “I want you.  I want you back.”
    Sunny backed away, feeling the edge
of the table against her hip.  She crossed her arms over her breast, her hands
in