A Home Come True

“I hear Dinah’s been looking for good help lately.” She smiled sweetly.

“Since you hired Debbie Jordan right out from under her nose? Yeah, we know.” Jen snorted. Devious.

“Debbie was necessary for my mentoring program’s expansion. I did Holly Heights a favor. Again.” Rebecca’s smug smile was contagious. For a half a second, she’d stumbled when the town turned on her and Cole, the ex-convict who’d stolen her heart, but now she was gaining new ground. “Moving the program out of the high school is going to be the best thing to happen to my volunteers since I started the thing. And Renita? She wants a business degree and to be an entrepreneur. The girl is already working as a babysitter, saving money for college. I’m going to get her a scholarship that will let her pick the school. And in the meantime, she’s going to be running Dinah’s Shop-on-in three nights a week. Maybe she can do something about the weird collection of clown dolls Dinah’s got in the window right now.” Rebecca wagged her head. Like she thought she was hot stuff.

“Poor Renita.” Sarah wrinkled her nose. “You did warn her about the proximity to Cece, didn’t you?” Dinah was Cece’s mother and they were tight. She’d run the Shop-on-in, the Holly Heights version of the weird little-bit-of-everything store, ever since Jen could remember.

“I did. Renita’s smart. She can handle it.” Rebecca straightened in her seat. “Hey, there she is.” She pointed at a thin girl with awesome braids who was walking...

“And there’s Hollister.” The three of them watched the couple out on the sidewalk. They couldn’t hear the conversation through the glass but it was easy enough to see the second Hollister realized they had an audience. His flat stare wasn’t friendly. It wasn’t exactly hostile, either, but Jen could appreciate his caution.

“No monster should look that good in a uniform,” Rebecca said softly.

Jen whipped her head around so fast a sharp pain caught her off guard.

Sarah yelped, “What did you say?”

Rebecca shushed them. “Settle down. He’s good-looking. Only a fool would argue with that.”

Doing her best not to let the relief show that someone else had gone first and said what she’d been thinking, Jen narrowed her eyes as if she had to study him to come up with an answer. “Tolerable. He’s tolerable.”

Rebecca held up a hand and waved. Jen smacked it. Then all three of them leaned back so that Sue Lynn could slide their plates in front of them.

“I can’t believe you’d admit something like that,” Sarah muttered. “The personality of a junkyard dog. You like that?”

Rebecca shrugged. “I’m falling for a guy who’s been in prison and resembles a large green superhero. It’s not like anyone would hold my judgement up as a fine example.” Then both Rebecca and Sarah turned to Jen.

Sarah’s glare was ferocious. “What do you think?”

Jen thought he was handsome enough to give an A-list movie star a run for his money. But she normally didn’t go for that sort of thing. “Doesn’t matter. Only his wife’s opinion counts. Got it?”

Sarah slumped back and repeated, “Someone actually married him?”

All three of them turned to look out at the man on the sidewalk. He was watching them so closely that Jen had the feeling he knew exactly what their conversation was about and he disapproved. Mightily.

Of course, he was a cop. He had experience with confessions.

She could feel the heat of embarrassment creeping up over her cheeks.

The guy was good at his job, clearly.

“I think he’s coming in,” Rebecca whispered before she took a huge bite of her hamburger. All three of them tried to pretend they were engrossed with the food in front of them when he paused at their table.

“Ladies, I wanted to let you know that, thanks to the tip I received,” he glanced at Rebecca, and Jen had to wonder if she knew what Hollister was talking about, “the Austin police department has tracked down a kid who visited the trailer park where Eric Jordan and Mike Hefflin live. Goes by the name of Red. They were able to tie him to a pawnshop outside of town where your laptop was found. They don’t have him in custody and there’s not much chance we’ll be able to do much to recover the cash he took from the shelter break-in, but I thought you’d like to know.”

With the new developments in her father’s case, Sarah must have been distracted from the break-in at the animal shelter. The thief had stolen the money they’d raised with their big event, as well as all the small electronics he could carry.

At least Hollister was still working that case.

One point in his favor was that he’d ruled out Rebecca’s new love, Cole, as a suspect almost immediately, even with his record. Unfortunately, he’d focused a little too much time on Eric Jordan, who was thriving as an assistant to the shelter’s veterinarian. Since Rebecca had also hired his sister, Debbie, to help her expand her mentoring program, they were all invested in the outcome of this investigation.

Sarah frowned. “A phone call next time. The fewer minutes I have to spend with you in person, the better.”

Hollister patiently tipped his head. “I’ll let you know when they track Red down. He’s often here in Holly Heights so you might be on the lookout for a kid about twenty, bright orange crew cut.”

“Fine. And you’ll leave Eric alone?” Sarah snapped. “The kid’s doing well at the shelter. I don’t want him distracted.”

“Eric’s still our best connection.” Hollister braced his hands on his hips. “We’ll question him, roll through the trailer park to make sure Red doesn’t turn up, but at this point, I don’t think Eric’s involved. The other kid, Mike, might be a different question.”

The silence at the table was immediately uncomfortable.

“I’ll ask Cole to be watching the basketball hoop in the trailer park. If Red shows up, he can give you a call,” Rebecca said with a cautious glance at Sarah and a quick smile.

Jen didn’t say a thing. Yep, this close, there was no way to argue about how handsome Hollister was. And his devil horns didn’t show.

“Guess I’ll let you get back to your dinner,” Hollister said. He studied Jen’s face and then leaned down. “When you have a minute, I’d like to talk to you about...something else.”

Shocked, Jen immediately choked on the French fry she’d been nonchalantly nibbling. The feeling of his hand resting gently between her shoulder blades was reassuring. This officer of the law would not let her die from junk food inhalation if he could help it. When she could breathe without coughing, she picked up her drink and sipped. “About what? Talk about what?”

“Math.” He tapped the table. “But I don’t want to take up any more of your time. I’ll see you in the neighborhood.”

He turned to go before she could tell him that she was entirely too busy for whatever he had in mind. Then she saw Cece Grant barreling toward them and knew she had bigger problems than whatever Hollister wanted. Her pulse started pounding, the immediate fight-or-flight response to the former bully hard to ignore even after all these years.

You aren’t a kid anymore. No weakness. The fast beat of Jen’s heart was distracting, but she’d learned to control the flush of pink that came along with the burst of adrenaline.

Instead of beginning with polite conversation like any normal human being, Cece immediately gave a tiger growl as she stopped in front of their table. “That is one prime bit of man right there.” She narrowed her eyes as she studied them. “Let’s see. Sarah’s managed to snag the most eligible normal bachelor in town already, and Rebecca has tumbled for the least eligible bachelor in town.” Cece tsked her amusement. “That must mean it’s Jen’s turn.” She laughed as if she was telling the most amusing joke.

She can’t hurt you anymore. Act like you have no fear.

Jen waited for her to quiet down. “Did you want something?” Sarah and Cece would trade insults like cocktail party chatter. Rebecca would bend over backward to make sure everyone got along.

If she was still sixteen, Jen would have grabbed her plate and sped for the door. There was no way she’d get cornered like this.

But now, she was a grown woman. She had more money than anyone else in this town, even compared to Rebecca because she wasn’t determined to give it all away. She didn’t have to be nice to avoid Cece and she didn’t have to put up with her either.

Learning to tolerate Sarah instead of trembling in fear had required squaring off against her as many times as it took to conquer the fear. Acting like a frightened little girl was no longer an option, even if she still felt like one inside sometimes.

Cece sighed. “Oh, I forgot. You didn’t have all the training in the social niceties the three of us had, did you?” She patted Jen’s arm. “I guess your mom was slinging hash those days.”

If her mother had been behind the counter of Sue Lynn’s that evening, Cece would be wearing a full bottle of ketchup at this point. Fighting for family was easy.

Jen retaliated and said, “I guess I’m fortunate to have that explanation to offer. What’s your excuse for bad manners?”

Cece stepped back. Had she managed to catch her by surprise? Nice. The boost to her confidence made it easier to enjoy her French fries.

“You guys are so much fun. I don’t know what I’d do without our joking banter.” She slipped a pamphlet on the table. “Guess what? Halloween is coming!” She did a cutesy kind of bounce and Jen could feel the snarl forming on her lips. “We’ll be doing our usual trick-or-treat with the businesses around the square, but you all must enter the best-decorated house contest.” She flipped open the map and tapped the smiling jack o’lantern at the corner, right over her home. “Not that you’ll win. This little guy has marked my place for the past three years, but it’s nice to have new blood in the competition. However, there is an entry fee and since you, Sarah, don’t have a house per se, that knocks you right out of the running. Sorry.” She made a moue as if she was so sad about that. “But Rebecca, you’ve always been a popular stop on the tour. Kids go crazy over your pumpkin cookies. I’m sure I would, too...if I ate sugar.” She winked at Sarah and Jen felt the hamburger take a dangerous turn in her stomach.

“You’ve never had a shot at this, have you, Jen? It’s an expensive competition, but the kids love it so.” Cece pursed her lips. “You would make an excellent witch. You should work that into your theme.” She flipped her sleek bob. “The red hair, you know.”