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She’d only bought it on her solo shopping trip to Austin for two reasons. First, she’d had a Pretty Woman moment in the department store with a snooty saleswoman and Jen had wanted her to regret her big mistake. And second...okay, it was possible that there was only one reason. She’d been thinking about making the drive back to Austin to return it ever since she’d pulled in to her driveway.
“Want to tell us what you found out about Bobby’s trial?” Rebecca asked as she studied the menu. Jen was surprised Rebecca had been able to wait this long. She’d always been the caretaker in their little group, the one who encouraged Steph to go for what she wanted and Jen to trust people. Without Rebecca, there was no way Sarah would be sitting at this diner table across from Jen.
Rebecca’s new mentoring program must be taking up every spare minute. That and free-falling straight into love.
Jen kept one hand on the straps of her newest purchase and forced her attention back to her friends. Why was Rebecca studying the menu anyway? No idea. The thing hadn’t changed in ten years. There was no need to mess with perfection.
“What can I get y’all?” Sue Lynn asked. She brushed one loose curl back over her ear as she studied the modest crowd and waited.
“Burger. All the fixin’s.” Jen handed over her menu and tried not to roll her eyes as the other two dittoed her order. Sure, salads were on the menu, but Sue Lynn had the best burger in town.
After Sue Lynn walked away, Sarah covered her eyes with both hands. “The lawyer says, with Daddy’s cooperation, they might be able to keep him close to home. Nobody seems to think there’s any other option than the minimum sentence.”
“Even though he ran away,” Jen asked and immediately realized her mistake when Rebecca wrapped her arm around Sarah’s shoulders and glared at her. “I mean, of course not. He was a real pillar of this community before he...” What? Lost his mind? What would cause a man to steal from his own business? It made no sense to Jen. Hard work was what paid off. He was already doing very well for himself. Greed was the only answer. He deserved jail time. His fancy lawyer, the one Sarah would be paying for forever, would protect him.
But Sarah... His daughter loved him. Jen might see it mostly black and white, but his daughter would be all caught up in the gray area.
“Yeah, and he’s remorseful,” Sarah said with a twist of her lips. “Or pretending to be, anyway.” She shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t want to talk about him, either. I’ve spent enough time worrying about Big Bobby, the man who left me here to stew in his mess. Let’s talk about something else.”
Jen glanced at Rebecca, who seemed just as stumped for good conversation. Eventually, Rebecca waved her phone. “Did you guys see the updates on the HealthyAmericas Facebook page? The welcome-home banner those kids in Alto made for Steph and Daniel? It was sweet, right?”
Jen squinted at the tiny picture on Rebecca’s phone. If she recalled, Alto was one of the villages that Steph and Daniel and their medical team had to hike into because there was no road. That sounded awful, but the kids in this photo had beautiful grins. So did Steph. She was in exactly the right place.
“Cute.” Jen slid the phone back across the table and checked on her new purse again.
When she looked up, Sarah and Rebecca were watching her. Embarrassed to be caught staring, as if she was admiring her stupidly expensive purchase, Jen ran a hand through her hair.
“Are those tags? On your dress?” Sarah asked slowly. “Did you forget to remove them?”
Jen fidgeted and tried to shove the tags back inside. “I might want to take it back.” She’d been a little nervous all day because she couldn’t decide whether the long-sleeved knit dress with the cute, funky belt worked for her. Ripping the tags off equaled true love.
“And the purse? Should we ask Sue Lynn for a lighted display case?” Sarah drawled. “I mean, it’s pretty, but you’re watching it like you think it will get up and dance.”
“For the price I paid, it should.” Jen cleared her throat. “Not that I’m bragging.”
“This? Still?” Sarah asked. “You have millions. You could buy one of those for every day of the week and not feel the pinch. Instead, you’re dressed like the world’s worst shoplifter and guarding your purse like it’s a treasure chest.” There was no bitterness in Sarah’s voice, but it had to be hard to be in her position. Before her father’s fall from grace, she might have had money to burn, but now, she was struggling to afford a lawyer and keep a roof over her head.
“I should have left it at home,” Jen said. But it was a purse. How did other women do it, carry something that cost more than rent as if it was no big deal?
Watching Sarah and Rebecca exchange a worried frown reminded Jen she had a reputation.
No weakness.
“I could have reunited you with your hobo bag, the one with all the fringe, the one I picked up for almost nothing after you sold it.” Jen tried a smirk but it was clear neither woman across from her was buying it. Only after bluffing failed would she try the whole truth.
“Handbags by designers whose name I can’t even pronounce might be too advanced spending for me at this point,” Jen muttered.
“What I could do with that money,” Sarah said with a pout and all three of them laughed, but Jen wondered if there might be some honesty behind Sarah’s words. Did she think she was more deserving than Jen?
“This is stupid. We can talk about something other than the shelter or shopping,” Rebecca said. “We’re all there all the time, but there’s a real world happening, as well.”
In about two seconds, conversation would turn to Will or Cole. There would be lovey-dovey gushing, and Jen would have to take her chances on jumping out the window.
“Had a chat with the enemy on Saturday.” Jen raised her eyebrows as both Sarah and Rebecca leaned forward.
“Are we talking about...” Rebecca craned her neck to make sure no one was listening “Cece?” All three of them studied the crowd as if whispering her name could conjure her up.
Then Jen shook her head. “No, Hollister. The one true enemy.” Cece had been another bully in high school but she was no match for Sarah Hillman. Sarah was twice as smart and nearly as vicious, even if she only sharpened her wit now on Cece.
Sarah and Rebecca leaned back.
“Oh, that guy,” Sarah said with a curl of her lip. “What was he doing? Lurking somewhere, I bet. He’s a lurker.”
Rebecca tipped her head to the side, her nose wrinkled, but she didn’t argue.
“He was going home. He’s my neighbor.” Jen sipped her Coke and watched their jaws drop. Having a chance to surprise either one of them was so satisfying. In this group, she was often outsmarted and outniced, but she’d hardly ever been surprised.
“Your neighbor,” Sarah squeaked as if she couldn’t believe the horror. “There goes the property value! Do you hear screams at night from whatever innocent bats he manages to catch and torture?” She jabbed her straw into her glass and sniffed.
“What are you babbling about? Innocent bats? I...” Jen held out both hands and frowned at Rebecca.
“Tell us more.” Rebecca nodded. “We can do this conversation justice.”
Jen studied Sarah to make sure she wasn’t going to lose it completely. “He lives across the street. A lot of people live there, actually. I think it’s his mother, his wife, his daughter and...a sister? A brother? I’m not sure how they can all be related.”
“Someone married him?” Sarah was horrified. That much was clear. She was shaking her head so hard that Jen was afraid something would rattle loose.
“Someone very pretty. And the little girl? A-dore-a-ble. She had the cutest shoes. I’d steal them if I didn’t have feet the size of small boats.” Jen held her leg out to Sarah to show off the boots she was wearing. “Remember these beauts?”
Sarah stopped shaking immediately and narrowed her eyes at Jen. “Rubbing my nose in my consignment shop sacrifices never gets old, does it, you redheaded meanie?”
Jen laughed. “Redheaded meanie. You are getting soft in your old age. And no, it does not. I liked your old style, when you had more money than sense. Nowadays, you’re all jeans and T-shirts.”
“Wash and wear. It’s practical.” Sarah tossed her hair. “And I can find you one man who will swear I make it look good.”
Since that man was her stepbrother, Jen was already feeling a little queasy at the direction of the conversation.
She turned to Rebecca, who was the only one who could pull it back at this point.
“I’ve met a Hollister, too. Renita. She came in to my office to talk college planning. A high school student planning her future? She’s a guidance counselor’s dream.” Rebecca pursed her lips. “His sister? If so, there’s more to this family than you imagined, Sarah. She’s so smart she’s giving her trig teacher flat-out fits and since he’s a chauvinist windbag, I’m a huge fan of hers.”
“You weren’t going to tell us this?” Sarah asked.
Rebecca shrugged. “You don’t react well when Hollister’s name comes up. For good reason.” Rebecca made a face to stall Sarah’s angry response. “We won’t argue he’s a troll. Okay? It’s just... Well, his sister seems great. She has no interest in animals—” Rebecca waved one hand at Sarah and Jen as they immediately stiffened “—not that she dislikes them, because I asked whether she might like to volunteer at the shelter, but she’s more into business, taking over the world, that kind of thing.”
Jen knew Sarah would share her disbelief at hearing that anyone wasn’t head over heels about animals. They exchanged a pitying look and Sarah said, “So where are you sending her to work? The hospital? Because I can tell already she’s one of your kids.”
Rebecca sipped her drink. So innocent looking with her blond curls and guidance counselor’s uniform of khakis and shirt with the school mascot on the pocket. Jen knew better. The girl had tricked Stephanie into taking a flight to Peru, where she fell in love with Rebecca’s brother all over again. She was devious. That was why they got along.
“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.”
