Perfect Partners

swear it. It’s the right thing to do. You’ll see.”
    “I said I was thinking about it,” Joel growled. “I didn’t say I was committing myself to it. Do you mind telling me why you’re so determined to save that rinky-dink town?”
    Letty released him and took a step back. She was surprised at the question. “I’m doing it for your sake, of course.”
    “My sake?” Joel swung around to confront her. His face was rigid and his eyes were harsh. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    Letty cocked her head, uncertain how to explain it to him in terms he would accept. “Destroying the entire town would be too much for you to carry around on your conscience,” she said gently. “Don’t you see, Joel? Your plan goes beyond simple justice. It’s overkill.”
    “I can handle my own conscience, Letty.”
    She touched him placatingly, willing him to think his vengeance through to the logical conclusion. “Think what will happen to all those families who depend on Copeland Marine for their livelihood. You know yourself what happens when people are thrown out of work. Look what it did to your father.”
    Joel’s jaw clenched. “Damn it, Letty…”
    “Joel, listen to me. I’ve read a number of articles on the stress induced by unemployment. The rate of domestic violence jumps up. Crime goes up. So does divorce. Suicide rates increase.” She saw him flinch at that, but she did not stop. “Yes, suicide, Joel.”
    “Christ, Letty, you read too damn many articles.”
    She kept pushing, sensing that he was listening, even though he did not like what he was hearing. “A wave of unemployment in a small community like Echo Cove will be devastating. Families will get sucked down into poverty. They’ll wind up on welfare, and some of them may never get off. Do you really want that kind of thing on your conscience?”
    “Stop worrying about my conscience.” Joel grasped her shoulders and brought her close to his rigidly set face. “Do you hear me, Letty? I’ll worry about my own goddamn conscience.”
    “You haven’t done a very good job of it so far,” she said. “You’re still carrying around the burden your father stuck you with fifteen years ago. You’re still feeling responsible for his death, aren’t you?”
    “I
was
responsible for it.”
    “No. No, you were not, Joel Blackstone.” Letty flattened her palms against his chest. “You have carried his last words around with you for fifteen years, and you blame yourself for everything that happened. But you are not to blame, damn it. And it’s time you realized it.”
    “If I hadn’t screwed Diana Copeland, my father would be alive today. That’s the bottom line here, Letty. Don’t try to pretend it isn’t.”
    “You were a young man in love, and Diana Copeland was a willing partner. You heard her a few minutes ago. She admitted she encouraged your affections because part of her wanted you to rescue her from her father’s domineering grip.”
    “Letty, that’s got nothing to do with this.”
    “The heck it doesn’t,” Letty retorted. “It has everything to do with it. You did not kill your father. By all accounts he was a very ill man. He never fully recovered from the death of your mother, and he was not equipped to handle the stress of getting fired.”
    “He blamed me,” Joel said through his teeth.
    “Well, he should have blamed Victor Copeland,” Letty declared. “Copeland was the one who fired him without just cause. You’re not responsible for another man’s vicious or criminal behavior. Joel, listen to me. Chances are that what happened to your father that night was an accident. It’s true, it might have been suicide. You’ll never know the answer, and that may be hard to live with.”
    “Goddamn hard.”
    “I understand. But you must not continue to torture yourself with guilt. Go ahead and have your revenge on Victor Copeland. Copeland was grossly unfair when he punished your father for your actions. You’ve got a right to even the score. But let it end there.”
    Joel’s hands dropped from her shoulders. He shoved his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know if it will ever end, Letty.”
    “Some things don’t,” she admitted. “But you can contain them. You can keep them from obsessing you. And that’s what this elaborate scheme to crush Copeland Marine is, when you get right down to it. An obsession. You’ve got better things to do with your life, Joel.”
    He shot her a savage glance.