by Cora Seton
“It’s about the school.” Liam gestured to the booth, and Coach Latham sat down, blocking Noah’s way out. Liam went on to explain what they were doing and what they wanted from him. Noah, more uncomfortable by the minute, looked for a way to excuse himself but failed to come up with one.
“Well, boys, I guess I can jot down a memory or two,” Latham said when Liam was done. “But I got to say, this upgrade sounds like a great deal.”
Liam shot Noah a look that said he’d better jump in and seal the deal. Noah opened his mouth, closed it again, tried desperately to think of what to do and was grateful when the door burst open again and Virginia Cooper strode in.
“Where is she?” the old woman shouted.
The hum of conversation in the restaurant faltered, then surged again as people craned their necks to see what was happening.
“Olivia? You here?”
Noah half stood, his present predicament forgotten. Had Virginia gone right over the edge? He wondered why Virginia thought Olivia would be in the Burger Shack, but taking in the old woman’s appearance, he guessed this wasn’t the first place she’d looked. Her tidy bun had slipped to one side. Her face was flushed, her hands shaking.
“Coach, let me out, would you?”
Latham stood up, and Noah brushed past him.
“Virginia? You okay?” A glance over her shoulder told him she was alone. How had she even gotten to town?
“No, I’m not okay. She stole it! That girl just up and stole it, and I bet you put her up to it, you Turner weasel! After all my work—”
“Stole what?” Noah pulled out his phone but wasn’t sure who to call. Would Olivia even pick up if she saw his name? He couldn’t call her brothers. Cab? Maybe—
“My clock!”
Noah faltered. “Clock?”
“You know exactly what I mean, you stupid… Turner. My clock. The one your ancestors stole from my family. The one Jed wouldn’t give back.”
“You stole the clock?” Noah’s heart sank. Hell, Olivia had been telling the truth?
And he’d accused her of being a thief. Driven her away.
“Of course I took it. Didn’t you see my umbrella?”
“Umbrella?” He couldn’t keep up.
“I left its broken shards on the mantel so you’d know justice had been served.” She lifted her chin. “When I find Olivia, I’m going to—”
“Virginia, calm down. Liam, get her a glass of water or something.” Noah urged her over to their booth, where Coach Latham helped her into a seat. He hadn’t seen a broken umbrella, but Olivia had been carrying a purse—a normal-size one, not the tiny thing she’d carried at Camila and Carl’s wedding. Maybe she’d shoved the pieces in there.
Virginia sat down, still sputtering. “Don’t even bother to look for her when I’m done. You won’t find a trace of that ungrateful—”
Noah wanted to kick himself. He’d jumped to conclusions, hadn’t listened to a thing Olivia said.
He was such an idiot.
Would Olivia ever forgive him?
Liam came bearing a water glass and a look on his face that said Noah had to have lost his mind, but Noah didn’t have time to explain.
“Where have you looked for Olivia so far?” he demanded of Virginia.
“Everywhere! The grocery store, the hardware store, the feed store, Linda’s Diner, DelMonaco’s, even that foreign place.”
“Fila’s?”
“That’s the one.” Virginia sniffed. “She’s not at any of them.”
Noah went over the list in his mind, then nodded. It was a long shot, but he knew one place Virginia hadn’t looked. “Gotta go,” he said, already on his feet again. “Liam, Coach, make sure she gets home.”
“Are you out of your—?”
Noah didn’t wait to hear Liam out. He had to find Olivia and make things right between them.
“Looking for this?” Lance held out the key to the gun safe but lifted it high when Olivia grabbed for it.
“That’s exactly what I’m looking for.” She slammed shut the drawer she’d been pawing through, the one that usually held the spare key. They’d long ago figured one of them would be in the kitchen if the house was ever broken into. Someone was always in the kitchen.
“Finally come around and realized those Turners need shooting?”
“Not the Turners.” Olivia jumped up, but Lance held the key out of her reach. “Come on. I don’t have time for this.”
“Who?”
Olivia hesitated.
“You want these keys, you’re going to have to tell me.”
“Promise not to get involved. No matter what.”
Lance made a face. “Fine. I promise.”
“Devon Host.”
Lance gave her the keys and followed her into the study to the gun safe. He watched her fumble the keys into the lock. “What’s he done?”
“Beat the shit out of Caroline and stole her money.”
“So you’re going to kill him?”
Olivia got the door open and pulled out the shotgun. “I’m going to get her money back.” She gave him a quick recap of the situation as she locked the safe again and grabbed a handful of ammunition.
“Why the hell aren’t you getting Cab involved?”
Olivia turned on him. “You’re telling me to the get the sheriff involved? That’s rich.”
“Look, you aren’t me. You’ve got a future—”
“Lance, you’ve got a future, too. You’re a rancher, for God’s sake. With a ranch. How many people can say that these days? I get that it’s hard. I get you need more help. I’m trying. But right now I need to get Caroline’s money and get her out of here.” She pushed past him and made for the front door.
“I think this is a mistake.” Lance followed after her.
“It won’t be the first one I’ve made.” She faced him one last time. “Remember—you promised. Stay out of this.”
Noah’s heart sank when he scanned the library parking lot and didn’t see Olivia’s truck, but he persevered and went inside. Marta was nowhere in sight, but he recognized Caroline Selwich sitting nearby, bent over her phone. Wasn’t she a friend of Olivia’s?
She looked up as he approached, and his breath hitched when he saw the large bruise swelling one eye. Hell, how had that happened?
“Hi, Caroline,” he said awkwardly. “I’m looking for Olivia. Have you seen her lately?”
She nodded. “She was here about an hour ago.”
Noah knelt down beside her chair. “You look like you could use some help. Have you seen a doctor about that eye?”
“I’m okay.”
“You don’t look okay.” Noah’s phone shrilled, and he grabbed it from his pocket. It was a number he didn’t recognize, but he sure knew the name.
Lance Cooper.
He accepted the call. “Noah here.”
“Olivia’s in trouble.”
A chill traced down Noah’s spine. He got to his feet. “Where is she?”
“Caroline Selwich’s house. She’s going after Devon, Caroline’s boyfriend. Says he hit her.”
Noah turned, paced away and lowered his voice. “I’m looking at Caroline right now. She’s got a shiner like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Olivia says he took Caroline’s money. I promised I wouldn’t interfere.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Good.” Lance hung up. Noah faced Caroline. “I’m going to go get her.”
“I don’t know where she is—”
“I do. Sit tight. I’ll be back soon.”
This was no time for niceties, Olivia decided as she walked up to the front stoop of Caroline’s little moss-green house. With its white shutters and picket fence, it was cute as a button. Caroline kept the front yard neatly trimmed, and rose bushes edged the fence. It made Olivia sick to think of Devon taking it over.
She grasped the knob of the front door firmly, turned it, but it didn’t open.
Was Devon not even here?
Olivia cradled the shotgun, reached into her purse and pulled out her pocket knife. Her father had given it to her when she was six years old and taught her a little whittling, although she’d never been good at it. The knife itself came in handy all the time, though. It was sure handy now, she thought as she slit a hole in the screen big enough to step through.
Inside she found herself in a neat bedroom she guessed was a spare one. The door was open, and she listened for a moment before moving into the hall. Five minutes later she’d assured herself no one was home. Olivia wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. With Devon out of the way, she could look for the money, but if he’d taken it with him, she was hooped.
She kept the shotgun at the ready as she picked her way through the house again, opening drawers and looking through Devon and Caroline’s possessions, but finding nothing out of the ordinary.
She pocketed as much of Caroline’s jewelry as she could when she found a box of it in the master bedroom and stuffed in her purse a small photo album she found on her friend’s bedside table. Where was the money, though? Olivia tried to think like Devon would.
He’d claimed it as his own, which meant he’d put it somewhere he identified as belonging to him, too. Olivia looked over Caroline’s pretty bedroom. Not here.
She crossed to a window and spotted a shed in the backyard. She’d bet Devon had taken that over when he moved in. Back out in the hall, Olivia was headed for door when another room caught her eye. She carefully pushed the door open wider.
An office.
It looked like Devon had claimed this room. Papers were spread over the desk. A jacket had been tossed on a chair, and a pair of work boots Olivia was sure Caroline would never allow in the house lay on their sides on the carpet.
Olivia hurried to search the desk, leaning the shotgun against it and using both hands to paw through the drawers.
She didn’t find the money, but when she gave up in frustration and scanned the room a second time, she noticed the wooden box on the bookshelf near the window. It was handmade. Rough. Like a project a kid might complete in high school shop class. A kid who wasn’t very good at woodworking.
Had Devon made this himself once upon a time? She bet he had. It was locked with a small padlock, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. She looked around for a way to break it, and her gaze lit on a big stone studded with fossils. That would do.
She smashed the stone down on the lock and busted the box wide open.
Bingo.
Caroline’s lottery ticket and a slim stack of hundred dollar bills.
Olivia shoved all of it in her pocket, closed the box again, picked up the shotgun and turned to go. This was the most dangerous part. If Devon arrived home now, he’d catch her red-handed. She slipped through the house and out the back door, closing it carefully behind her, and made her way to the gate, going up on tiptoe to make sure no one was on the other side before she opened it and went through.
Almost there.
As she came around the house, she stopped, taking in two vehicles in motion on Caroline’s street.
A man in a silver pickup spotted her and quickly pulled away. Lance. He’d followed her.
Before she could fully take that in, a Ram pickup pulled in right behind her blue Chevy. The front window rolled down and a head poked out.
Olivia swore.
It was Noah.
“Olivia, are you all ri—”
Noah watched in shock as Olivia burst into a run, threw her shotgun through the open window into her truck, scrambled up after it and wriggled through the window herself, her boot-covered feet the last to disappear before a second later the truck’s taillights came on, the engine roared to life and she drove away.
“Hey!” Noah yelled after her. He turned his own truck back on, put it in gear and floored the gas pedal. “What the hell, Olivia!” he called out the window, although he knew she couldn’t hear him.
He looked back, wondering if Devon had been chasing her, but no one followed her out of Caroline’s house, so what had she been doing with that shotgun? And why had she run away?
He had to let up on the gas almost as soon as he floored it. In the middle of town, traffic just didn’t go that fast. Olivia didn’t stop long enough for him to catch up to her, but she was obeying the traffic laws. When she turned into the library parking lot, he breathed a sigh of relief.
By the time he parked his truck, she was already racing inside the building—without her shotgun, he was glad to see. He followed her inside and caught up just as Caroline put her purse down on her chair and threw her arms around Olivia.
“Thank you,” she said. “I was so worried. I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
“It’s nothing,” Olivia said.
“I was worried, too.” Noah gave a hard look at another patron who was watching the proceedings. The man turned back to browsing the stacks. “Olivia, what were you doing back there?”
“Caroline needed something. I went to get it.”
“Alone? Armed?”
“Everything’s fine.”
Noah couldn’t believe her nonchalance. “Lance called me. He was afraid you’d get hurt. What did you need to get?”
“Lance called?” She huffed out a breath. “He followed me, too. After promising he wouldn’t.”
“He thought you were in danger.”
“Well, I wasn’t. Like I said, Devon wasn’t there.” She opened her purse. “I found some of your jewelry, too,” she told Caroline. She handed her a tangle of necklaces, bracelets and more, and Caroline gasped. “And this.” She pulled out a small photo album.
Caroline took it from her. “It’s my parents’ wedding album. Thank you!”
“I thought it had to be special,” Olivia told her.
“What about Devon? You need to call Cab,” Noah demanded, still trying to calm down. When Olivia had appeared around the corner of Caroline’s house with a shotgun, his heart had nearly stopped.
“We will. Right now.”
“We will?” Caroline didn’t look at all sure about that.
“We will,” Olivia confirmed. “It’ll take time to work things out and get him out of your financial affairs, but you have what’s important, right?”
A smile tugged at the corners of Caroline’s mouth. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Noah decided he’d never understand women. How could a pile of jewelry and a photo album be worth risking your life?
“Olivia—”
“Look, I know I took a chance, but it paid off, so just leave it, all right?”
It wasn’t all right. He could have lost the woman he loved. “What would you have done if Devon had been there?”
Olivia grinned. “I would have done the world a favor and shot him.”
Thank God for libraries, Olivia thought as she pushed a metal cart laden with books between the aisles. This felt like coming home in an even more visceral way than it had to open Thorn Hill’s front door when she’d moved back three years ago. The smell of the books, the dust motes dancing in a beam of sunlight, the murmuring of a patron asking Marta for help.
Why hadn’t she volunteered earlier?
Shelving books ordered her mind and gave her something to do while Cab interviewed Caroline at one of the tables in back. Soon they’d have to go to the station, and then probably to the hospital to get Caroline’s eye checked out, but for now Olivia was in her favorite place—
With her favorite man trailing her.
Noah hadn’t let her more than three feet away since he’d followed her here. She figured he was suspicious about what had really happened at Caroline’s house, but as long a
s Caroline had her lottery ticket and cash tucked away in her purse, all was well. She could start again, whether or not she was unable to untangle Devon from her old assets. Olivia wasn’t sure if Caroline would have to sell her house and split the proceeds with Devon since he was on the title. That would be a crying shame, but at least Caroline had only owned the place a few years and didn’t have much equity in the property.
Equity. Caroline had to explain the term when she first mentioned it to Olivia a year or two back. Olivia didn’t know much about buying and selling property. There were a lot of things she needed to learn. Olivia was determined to start. She was ready to grow up. Ready to make something of herself. Volunteering at the library was the first step. She and Marta had talked it over, and Marta agreed she could start right away—while she was waiting for Cab to talk to Caroline. Through all of it, Noah had stuck close.
“Why did you run from me?” Noah asked again. He’d already put the question to her twice.
“Like I said, I was afraid what would happen if Devon came home. You’d have stepped in. Maybe gotten hurt.”
“You could have gotten hurt.”
“I had a shotgun,” she pointed out. “Besides, I got away before Devon came home. If I was thinking straight, I would have called a locksmith and gotten the locks changed on Caroline’s house, though.”
“How did you get inside? Did she give you her keys?”
“Something like that.”
“Olivia—”
“Noah, this is between me and Caroline, okay? You need to back off.”
“Did you break into her house?”
“She sent me to get her things.” Olivia bit back her exasperation. “I was helping my friend.”
“But sometimes—”
“Are we seriously going to do this again? I didn’t take your clock—I was returning it!” In all the excitement she’d forgotten Noah thought she was a thief. She spotted something down the row—something out of place. Olivia pushed her cart toward it, grateful to leave Noah behind.
“I don’t know where I put it. I can’t find it anywhere!” A woman’s voice pierced through the quiet of the library.
“I’m sure we’ll find it if we look for it,” Marta assured her.