Shattered Justice

by Karen Ball

  His gaze met hers and held. “Well, then, I’d say we’re even.” He pushed away from the door frame. “So Friday night work for you? Say around five? I’ll make reservations for six, so we can just take our time and enjoy the drive. Sound good?”

  She nodded. “Sounds great.”

  With a tip of his head, he was gone. Leaving Shelby to sit there, staring after him. She lifted a trembling hand to her stillwarm cheek.

  So this was what it felt like to have a dream come true. Stunning. Unsettling. Exciting.

  And utterly, completely wonderful.

  “Aggie, I swear! If you don’t control that rat of yours, I will!”

  “Half Pint is not a bat!” Agatha Hunter wrapped her veined hands around the yapping, stiff-legged little dog on her lap.

  “Rat. I said rat!”

  “—and well you know it, Doris Kleffer. He’s a registered Chihuahua with a lineage, I daresay, far more distinguished than yours!” The woman’s white hair all but trembled with her indignation.

  Shannon bit her lips to keep from laughing out loud. She’d walked down to the store with Aaron, who had a list of groceries from Dad. When Shannon saw Miss Hunter and Miss Kleffer sitting in their chairs just outside the store, she told Aaron she’d wait for him out here. She wouldn’t miss sitting and listening to these two women. They were funnier than Saturday cartoons!

  Besides, Miss Hunter’s little dog, Half Pint, was adorable. Shannon remembered the look on her dad’s face when he first saw the dog—and when he discovered Half Pint was the famous ½ on the population sign for the town.

  “Only in Sanctuary,” he’d sighed.

  It was true. No place else was like Sanctuary. And no people were like the people who lived here.

  “Piffle!” Doris shot back at her friend’s assertion of Half Pint’s stature. “If that minuscule mutt is a real dog, I’ll eat my shoe.”

  “Moo shoo?” Aggie sniffed. “What do I care if you eat Chinese food?”

  Doris planted her hands on the arms of her rocker and shouted. “My shoe! I-will-eat-my-shoe!”

  “Shannon!”

  She jumped and went to stand beside Miss Hunter’s rocker. “Yes, ma’am?”

  “Please go get Miss Kleffer a shaker of salt.” She aimed a syrupy smile at the woman rocking next to her. “She’ll need it to season that shoe and make it palatable.”

  “Oh!”

  Ignoring Doris, Aggie lifted Half Pint and pressed a kiss to his little snout. “Pity we can’t make her tongue more palatable as well.”

  “Plah, plah, plah.”

  “Doris Kleffer, you just stop it right now. You always say that ridiculous thing when you know I’m right—”

  “Then I’m surprised you ever hear it. Since I can’t remember the last time you were right.”

  “—but no one knows what it means. Plah, plah, plah? I’ll bet you don’t even know what it means.”

  Shannon couldn’t help it. She was lost in giggles.

  “Now, Aggie, don’t change the subject. You know this all got started because your puny little pup was raising a fuss over nothing.”

  Agatha patted Half Pint’s trembling head and leaned closer. “Shows what you know. It wasn’t over nothing. It was over them.”

  Shannon and Miss Kleffer followed the other woman’s nod. When Shannon saw Jayce standing there, she smiled. “Oh, Miss Hunter, Jayce is a nice boy.”

  The woman’s long fingers waved in the air. “Not him, child. That other one.”

  Shannon didn’t recognize the large boy talking to Jayce. But apparently she was the only one.

  “Oh.” Doris sat back in her rocker. “Of course. Well, my apologies to Half Pint, Aggie. I don’t blame him for barking.” She aimed a glare across the street. “That boy is no good. No good at all.”

  “I don’t care how tall he is. He’s no good.” Aggie’s rocking punctuated her words. “Why, just last week he tried to kick Half Pint. Imagine. A boy that big trying to kick my little baby.”

  Shannon frowned. What kind of creep tried to kick a little dog like Half Pint? And why was Jayce with someone like that?

  Aggie patted Shannon’s hand and smiled up at her. “We need more children like you, dear. Sweet and kind. Like an angel on earth.”

  Shannon smiled and thanked the woman then went to sit down again. She pushed the rocker, setting it in motion, trying to focus on what the two women were saying. But her attention kept straying back across the street.

  She watched Jayce and the other boy talking, taking in the stiff set of Jayce’s shoulders. He didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked kind of mad.

  Just then the larger boy reached out, punching his finger into Jayce’s chest. Shannon jumped up. “Hey! Stop that!”

  Both boys turned, and Shannon felt the impact of their full attention. Though they were across the street, she could see Jayce’s eyes drop into a frown. Was he mad at her for speaking up for him? Boys could be silly about things like that.

  Jayce turned back to the other boy, grabbing his arm, trying to pull him away. The boy didn’t budge. He just kept his gaze glued to her. Shannon crossed her arms and stared back.

  You don’t scare me, she told him with her eyes.

  He smiled. But it wasn’t a nice smile. Not even a little. Then he took a step forward, toward Shannon.

  Her heart jumped. Okay, maybe he did scare her. A little.

  Jayce grabbed the boy’s sleeve, and his voice raised enough for Shannon to hear it. “Forget it, Marlin. She’s not worth it.” Jayce’s gaze raked over her, and though his voice dropped and she couldn’t hear the rest of his words, Shannon had to bite her lip to keep from crying.

  Jayce looked at her like she was a stranger.

  No … worse. A nuisance.

  She stared at the boardwalk, and when she looked up again, Jayce and the boy were gone.

  “Are you all right, dear?”

  Shannon turned back to the two women and realized they both were watching her. She shrugged. “I’m okay.”

  Miss Kleffer tsked, then looked across to where Jayce had stood. “You steer clear of that boy, child.” Her old eyes, when they returned to Shannon, were more serious than Shannon had ever seen. “He’s dangerous.”

  “Who is?”

  Shannon turned and saw Aaron standing there, a sack of groceries in each arm. “Nobody,” she mumbled, going to take one of the sacks.

  “That hulking Murphy boy.”

  “Did that creep give you some kind of trouble?”

  Shannon had seen her brother get steamed before. Plenty of times. And usually at her. But she’d never seen him look like this. Serious. Protective. She had the sense that if she said the wrong thing, he’d go hunt Marlin Murphy down and take his head off.

  Well … try, anyway. Marlin was almost twice Aaron’s size.

  “No. Don’t worry about it.” She bid the ladies good-bye and started down the boardwalk toward home.

  Aaron fell in step beside her. “Shannon?”

  She sighed. “He didn’t do anything to me. He was just on the other side of the street.” She hated to tell him this part, but it wouldn’t be right to hide it. “Talking with Jayce.”

  He stopped then fell into step with her again. “Jayce?”

  She nodded, feeling more and more miserable.

  “That doesn’t make sense.” Aaron’s brow was all wrinkled, telling her he was bugged. “He’s smarter than that.”

  “Jayce is really smart.”

  “So what would make him hang with a guy like that?”

  Shannon didn’t know. But one thing was certain.

  It couldn’t be good.

  NINETEEN

  “If it is your time, love will track you

  down like a cruise missile.”

  LYNDA BARRY

  “For when you grant a blessing to your servant,

  O Sovereign LORD, it is an eternal blessing!”

  2 SAMUEL 7:29

  CINDERELLA WAS A LIAR.

/>   So, for that matter, were Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Shelby had seen enough of life to realize happily-ever-after were just words to end a fairy tale.

  So why on earth was she sitting here, under a star-studded sky, looking out on a peaceful meadow and feeling for all the world like the Grimm brothers got it right? All of it.

  “You cold?”

  Oh. Of course. That’s why.

  She studied the man beside her. Relished the way those cobalt blue eyes gazed down at her. Savored the glimmer of tenderness in their depths as they roamed her face. His arm around her shoulders tightened, and she gave up.

  The Grimm brothers won. Fairy tales were real.

  Her capitulation started out with a simple dinner in Shady Cove, where she and Dan talked about everything, from her childhood and growing up in Sanctuary, to how he and Sarah met, what their life was like, and how he and the children were doing without her. It meant a great deal to Shelby that Dan could talk with her about Sarah—though she had to admit it was a bit imposing to hear how much they’d loved each other.

  But as the evening progressed, that was less of a concern. When they got back to Sanctuary, Dan turned to her. “You ready to go home, or are you up for a little walk?”

  Gladness rippled through her that he didn’t want the evening to end yet. “A walk sounds great.”

  They strolled along the boardwalk. And though the stores were all closed, it was a warm August night, so Shelby wasn’t surprised to find folks sitting in the rockers, chatting. They’d met a number of people, stopping to talk, and the whole time Dan held her hand captive in his.

  At first that made Shelby nervous. But when she tried to pull away, mindful of not starting any rumors, Dan just smiled, folding his fingers around her.

  “Let ’em talk.” He tugged her hand into the crook of his arm.

  Tingles ran along her skin, and she was more than happy to comply.

  “Evening, ladies,” he said to Doris and Agatha when they approached the two seated in their rockers.

  “Hello, Sheriff.” Agatha peered at them then glanced at Doris.

  “Hello, Shelby.” Doris inclined her head. “Nice night for a walk.”

  “It is, indeed.” Dan looked up at the night sky. “God’s quite the artist, isn’t He?”

  “I should say so.” Aggie looked like the cat that got away with eating a ton of canaries. “And I swear, it’s almost as bright as daytime with that full moon up there.”

  “A perfect night for romance, don’t you think?”

  Shelby almost swallowed her teeth at Doris’s comment, but Dan just smiled. “Know what, Doris?”

  She leaned forward in her chair. “What?”

  “I was thinking the same thing.” He glanced at Shelby then back at the old woman. “You wanna take a walk with me, beautiful?”

  “Oh, you!” Doris swatted at him, but a pretty pink painted her thin cheeks. “Get on with you youngsters.”

  Laughing, Dan drew Shelby along. From there they walked to his SUV. He opened the door for her, helping her inside. Then before closing the door, he leaned against the doorway. “How about a drive?”

  Shelby felt like she was in a dream. And she hoped she didn’t wake up for a long, long time. “I’d love it.”

  He drove out of town, up Highway 62 to the north. Shelby relaxed back against the seat, smiling when his fingers closed over hers again. He pulled onto a side road, driving until they came upon a large meadow. Killing the engine and the headlights, he tugged on her hand.

  Shelby didn’t resist. She slid close, and when his arm draped around her, she knew she was right where she wanted to be. Not just now.

  But forever.

  “Well …” Dan’s deep voice was filled with regret. “I suppose we’d better head back.”

  She leaned her head against him. “Let’s just stay here.”

  “All night?” Laughter laced his tone.

  “No.” She let out a small sigh. “Forever.”

  His chuckle washed over her, the sound sweet and tender. She held on to that sound, hearing it over and over, letting it warm her as they drove back to town. When they reached her house, Dan opened her car door, then took hold of her by the waist and lifted her from the vehicle. For a moment he stood there, his hands at her waist, looking down at her. Then slowly, so slowly, he lowered his head and pressed a kiss …

  To her forehead.

  But far from being disappointed, Shelby was touched. More deeply than she’d been in a very long time.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She nodded, then walked to her front door and pulled it open. Slipping inside, she eased the door shut, leaning back against it as she listened to his SUV start up. She moved to the window, watching as Dan drove away.

  Knowing without an iota of doubt that her heart went with him.

  Dan stood outside his house, staring up at the stars. It had gone so well tonight. Better than he’d imagined. He felt so comfortable with Shelby. They talked and laughed and seemed to finish each other’s sentences. Just like he and Sarah used to do.

  Sarah.

  Dan waited for the stab of pain to come. But instead, what filled him was a quiet peace. Almost a benediction of sorts. As if something within him was finally letting go … saying good-bye.

  At least for now.

  Inhaling the crisp night air, he turned, going inside the house. He’d barely closed the door when the question came.

  “So? How was it?”

  Dan should have known his sister wouldn’t let him get past her without an inquisition. He came to join Annie in the kitchen. “The kids in bed?”

  “All tucked in and ready for you to come say good-night.” She held up an empty coffee cup, brows lifted, and he nodded.

  “Yeah, I’ll take some. Thanks.”

  She poured the rich, dark liquid and handed him the mug. “Okay, answer my question.”

  “Annie …”

  She held up a hand. “Listen, I came all the way up here from Medford to be with the kids so you could stay out nice and late—”

  “And I appreciate that.”

  “—and all I ask by way of payment for my valuable time are a few juicy details.” With that she planted her elbows on the counter and leaned toward him. “So spill!”

  Holding back a grin, he held the coffee mug over her head. She eyed it, then him. “Do it, and I’ll set my dog on you.”

  The shepherd was curled up on the couch, snoring to beat the band. “What’s she gonna do? Drool me to death?”

  Annie slapped at his arm. “Avidan Timothy! If you don’t tell me how your date was …”

  He let the threat hang in the air for a second as he sipped his coffee. Then he turned toward the living room. “Great.”

  She scampered from behind the counter, on his heels. “Really?”

  Dan glanced over his shoulder. “You’re squealing.”

  “I can’t help it!” She plopped down on the couch. Kodi shot awake, then, seeing it was her beloved mistress, stretched out so she was lying across Annie’s lap. Annie didn’t seem to mind a bit. She grabbed the dog and hugged her. “Uncle Danny’s got a girlfriend! Isn’t that exciting?”

  “She’s not a girlfriend, Annie.” He sat in his chair, breathing in the scent of his coffee. “Not yet.”

  “Ooo, I can’t wait to call Kyla.”

  “Sure you wouldn’t rather just wait for the evening news?”

  “Ha ha. Listen, I told you when you moved to Sanctuary that Shelby was something special. And Kyla had said the same thing whenever she came to visit you. So you can’t blame me for being pleased that you finally admit we were right.”

  “Those words never escaped my lips.” And they never would. Admit his sisters were right? Ha! He’d never hear the end of it.

  Annie gave Kodi a gentle shove off of her, then stood. “Well, time for this pumpkin to head back to the patch, bro. Go tell your kidniks good night, and I’ll see you later.”

  He se
t his coffee down, engulfed his sister in a hug, and went to do as he was told. He tapped his knuckles on Aaron’s door.

  “Come in.”

  Dan opened the door and went in to sit on his son’s bed. “Hey, buddy. You look wide awake.”

  Aaron fingered his quilt. “I couldn’t sleep.” He kept his gaze on the quilt. “Didja have fun?”

  Was that apprehension in Aaron’s voice? “I did.”

  Aaron was silent for several seconds, then his eyes met Dan’s. “Are you in love with Miss Wilson?”

  He should have known that was coming, should have read it a mile away. But the question took Dan by total surprise. “I … well, I mean … uh …” He clamped his mouth shut. He sounded like an idiot.

  “Yeah.” Aaron’s word was weighted with weary understanding. “I know what you mean. There’s a girl at school who makes me feel that way, too.”

  They sat in silence for a moment. “Aaron?”

  “Yeah, Dad?”

  “Would it bother you if I was? In love with Miss Wilson?”

  He looked down at the quilt again, plucking at the fabric. “It did at first. I mean …” Heavy sadness filled the look he lifted to his father. “She’s not Mom.”

  “No.” Dan shook his head. “She’s not.”

  “But then, no one is Mom but Mom. And you won’t find anyone just like her, because there isn’t anyone out there like that, you know?”

  He did, indeed.

  “So I’ve been thinking about it. You and Miss Wilson seem like good friends. And I like Miss Wilson, so it’s a good thing if you and she get to be friends. Like you and Mom were friends. Not the same but kinda.”

  Dan stared at his son. When had Aaron grown so wise?

  “I love you, son.”

  Aaron smiled up at him. “I love you, too, Dad.”

  “You ready to get some sleep?”

  Aaron’s grin peeked out. “Can I have some hot chocolate first?”

  Dan chuckled. “Only if you share.”

  “Okay, but I get the little marshmallows.” Aaron pushed the quilt back and slid out of bed.

  Dan caught him and pulled him into a hug. “I’m glad you’re my son.”

  The boy hugged him tight. “Me, too, Dad.” He pulled back with a grin. “I always said you deserve the best.”