But he hadnt looked wasted or dissipated. Hed looked vital and strong, successful and self-assured. She hated him for not looking like a man who had suffered.
Why on earth would Erin McCallnow Erin Kramerask her to represent her? Erin had to know that Johnna would not entertain fond feelings for her, that the betrayal in their past would forever stand between them.
As she turned into the entrance of the Delaney Dude Ranch, she once again consciously pushed aside thoughts of Erinand Jerrod. They belonged in her past and shed decided long ago that shed never allow anything or anyone the power to hurt her again.
Hed blown it. Hed waited nine years to come back to Inferno, nine years to see Johnna again, and hed totally blown it.
Jerrod McCain pulled into the trailer park where he had lived for the first twenty years of his life. And miserable years they had been, he thought as he pulled up in front of the double-wide trailer his father still called home.
He cut his engine, but remained in the car. Within minutes the exterior grew stuffy with the fiery end-of-day heat. Cracking open his window to allow in what little breeze there was, he stared at the trailer.
Few pleasant memories were associated with his time here. He knew there were trailer parks in other areas of the country where life was good and family values prevailed, where lawns were neatly tended and childrens laughter rang in the air.
The Inferno Trailer Park was not such a place. Rather it had been, and continued to be, a den of iniquity, a dark place peopled with miserable souls, bad choices and the torment of hopelessness.
Reluctantly Jerrod left his car. Although he knew the interior of the trailer would smell of booze and stale cigarette smoke, he also knew the air conditioner would be a welcome relief from the heat.
Ah, my saintly son has returned. Jerrods father sat at the small burn-scarred kitchen table, a bottle of beer in front of him. From the look of his red-rimmed eyes and the slur of his words, it certainly wasnt his first drink of the day.
Have you eaten today, Pop?
Not hungry. Mack McCain finished his beer and shoved the empty bottle
aside. Did you get all settled over at the church?
Jerrod shrugged out of his suit jacket and grabbed a skillet from the cabinet. Yeah, starting in two weeks, Im ready to begin converting the sinners of Inferno every Sunday morning. He withdrew a stick of butter and a carton of eggs from the refrigerator.
Mack leaned back in his chair and rubbed a hand across his grizzled jaw. Still cant believe it. My sona preacher. Wonder what your ma would have made of it. He frowned and stood unsteadily. Think Ill have me another beer.
Why dont you have some eggs and toast with me, instead?
Mack fell back into his chair. I suppose I could eat a little.
Dinner was a silent affair, and once again Jerrods thoughts returned to Johnna. Since coming back to town last week, hed driven by her law office a dozen times, cruised by the small house where she lived just off Main Street, to catch a glimpse of her. He should have spoken to her thenbefore Erin had been arrested, before he needed Johnna.
There had been a time when Johnna Delaney had been his lamp, the shining beacon that had pierced the darkness that was his life. Hed been nineteen and shed been eighteen, and neither had been prepared for the passion, the wealth of emotion that had exploded between them.
He shoved the thoughts away, not wanting to remember the Johnna of his youthso soft and warm, so sweetly giving. Shed been needy, and so had he. It had been a need greater than mere sex, stronger than loneliness. For a while they had assuaged that need with each other, and for a while it had been wonderful.
He cleaned up the dinner dishes, then realized his father had fallen asleepor passed outin his easy chair. Some things never change, Jerrod thought as he helped his father from the chair to the bedroom.
His father had been a drunk since the day Jerrods mother had walked out on them. Jerrod had been seven, and hed watched his father crawl into the bottom of a bottle and never crawl out.
Hed hoped things would change in the years hed been gone. Hed written his father often, sent money on a regular basis and hoped the man would find the strength to build a life for himself. Instead, Mack had merely continued to mourn for a woman long gone and a love that hadnt lasted.
You shouldnt have come back here, boy, Mack muttered as Jerrod covered him with the sheet. This place will suck the life from you. You should have stayed away.
Jerrod started to reply, then realized Mack had fallen back asleep. He left the bedroom, fixed himself a glass of iced tea, then stepped out the front door and into the simmering evening air.
The old wicker chair on the porch gave a familiar creak as he sank into it. He sipped his tea, his gaze focused on the trailer across the way. At one time it had been where Erin McCall and her mother had lived. During the time Jerrod had been away, Erin had surprised everyone. Shed finally made her way out of the trailer park by marrying Richard Kramer, one of the most affluent businessmen in town.