by Sandra Owens
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” His gaze shifted away.
“He knows about your secret daughter, doesn’t he?”
His face paled as he glanced around us. “This isn’t the place to have this discussion.”
“No problem. I’m going to drop Daisy off at the station. I’ll meet you in your office.”
“Not there either. Just follow me. You can bring the damn dog.” He threw a few bills on the table and walked out the door.
We ended up at the city park, sitting at a picnic table near the creek. There was no one else here this early in the morning, so I let Daisy off her leash, knowing she wouldn’t venture far.
Jim John leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What is it you think you know?”
That his secret wasn’t as secret as he thought. “Three years ago Moody somehow found out that you’d had a brief affair and that you have another daughter. Her name is Isabelle Bradley, and she’s ten years old. He’s been blackmailing you ever since.”
Jim John sucked in a breath, then blew it out. “How’d you find out?”
“Moody doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut. He told Jansen a while back, and Jansen told his wife.” Jenny’s father had hinted that Jim John had skeletons in his closet. He’d also hinted that since Moody and Jansen had been tight, Jansen probably knew. So I’d paid Mrs. Jansen a visit early this morning. I didn’t even have to ask her what she knew. Her life with Jansen came pouring out. The mayor’s secret had been among the many things she’d told me.
“What if she tells anyone else?”
“Gertie won’t say anything, but I have to wonder who else Moody’s blabbed to.”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen… my affair with Sarah.” He buried his head between his knees.
Ah hell. I was sitting in a public park with a crying mayor. It didn’t get any better than this. Daisy cocked her head at the grunting sounds coming from Jim John. She eased up to him and whined. When that got no response, she licked the side of his face. I seriously considered slipping away, leaving the two of them to their misery.
He lifted his head, pushing Daisy away. “I take care of them financially.”
Not my concern, nor was it my place to judge him. “I’m going to fire Moody.”
Panic lit his face. “You can’t. He said he’d tell my wife if I do anything he doesn’t like.”
“Maybe you should tell her first. How many other people do you think he’s told besides Jansen? Eventually your wife is going to hear. Better it comes from you.” I was starting to feel like a priest holding confession. “Think about it. In the meantime I’ll take care of Moody.”
Daisy brought me a stick, dropping it at my feet. I threw it, and off she went. He didn’t ask how I was going to deal with Moody. I sure would have, but then I never would have put myself in this position. “I’d advise you not to answer any phone calls from him from now on.”
“That’s actually a relief to hear.” Jim John stood. “I want to know when it’s done.”
I almost snorted. It sounded like he thought I was going to kill the man. “Sit down, Jim John. There’s something else we have to talk about.”
“I’ve heard enough bad news this morning.”
“Sit,” I said when it seemed like he was going to walk away. “We need to talk about Stephanie.”
He sat, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “I’m listening.”
“Her blood test came back. She was over the legal limit.” I hadn’t been here long enough to decide if he was a good mayor. His personal life and family were definitely screwed up, though.
He let out a weary sigh. “She almost killed that boy. Charge her with a DUI. Maybe she’ll think twice next time.”
I sure hadn’t expected it to be that easy. Even if he had ordered me to drop the charges, I wouldn’t have. Hopefully Stephanie would learn a lesson from this.
“We done here?”
“Is Stephanie home?”
“Yes. Probably still asleep.”
“I’ll send Gene Lanier and Sarah Griffin to bring her in. You might want to warn your wife. If we do it this morning, I can probably push things through, get her in front of a judge this afternoon. You going to cover her bail?”
“I should probably let her sit in jail tonight, but yeah, I will.”
He walked away, his shoulders slumped. The meeting had gone better than I’d hoped, but I was mentally drained. Mostly because I hadn’t been able to go to sleep after I’d gone back to bed, and I was missing Jenny Girl like the very devil.
“Come on, Daisy. We have a bad man to deal with.” I ran a critical eye over her as she trotted to me. Her ribs were still showing, although not nearly as badly as when I’d found her. It was her enlarged nipples that had me frowning.
“Anyone seen Captain Moody?” It was early afternoon, and the man had yet to show his face. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he knew he was losing his job and had made himself scarce.
“He’s not been around all day,” Kim said.
If I were still giving out points, Moody would have been deducted a truckload for an unexcused absence. I went to my office, got out my phone, and called him.
“This is your chief,” I said when he answered. “Be in my office at five.” I hung up before he could respond since I didn’t want to hear any excuses as to why he couldn’t come in. Next I buzzed Gene Lanier, telling him I needed to see him.
“Close the door,” I said when Gene walked in.
“Am I in trouble?”
“Not today, but Moody is. He’ll be here at five, and I’m taking his gun and badge. I want you in here as a witness so he doesn’t go making up lies afterward. You’re going to hear some things that you can never repeat, capisce?”
Gene nodded. “I can’t say I’ll be sorry to see him go. He’s bad news. But he’s not going to go away without a fight.”
I smiled. “Maybe not, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. You think we scared Stephanie straight?” I’d stayed away from that, making myself scarce when they’d brought her in. The mayor and I had to work together, and I wasn’t about to put myself between her and her father.
“I hope so. She seems genuinely sorry. Said she can’t sleep at night because when she closes her eyes, all she sees is Sean’s mangled body.”
“Hard way to learn a lesson. Let me know when her court date is.”
“Will do. Anything else, Chief?”
“No, just be back a few minutes before five.”
I got busy planning my meeting with Moody, half hoping he’d come at me so I could throw his ass in jail. If nothing else, it helped keep my mind off Jenny. For a while. But she was there in my thoughts, refusing to go away. I kept asking myself one question. What if I did tell Jenny I’d wait for her? What was the worst that could happen? She’d meet someone and fall in love. If that happened, I didn’t want her to feel guilty.
As far as I knew, she’d never been in love. I had. It was a wonderful and beautiful thing to love someone, until they didn’t love you anymore. Then it was like walking into a wasteland where everything was dead. But it didn’t have to be that way for Jenny.
The right thing to do was to let her go.
37
~ Jenny ~
How was it December already? I think the last two months passed so fast because of my time with Dylan. Time really does fly when you’re having fun, I guess. I’d only left him this morning, and already I was missing him. It was cowardly of me to take off, leaving a crappy note. I should have told him to his face that I needed time away from him, but I was afraid I’d admit to how I really felt about him. If he knew he was halfway to stealing my heart, he might try to talk me out of going, and I might agree. I think if that happened, the guilt would eat away at me for breaking my promise to Natalie.
It was finally starting to feel like winter. We’d had a few snow flurries this morning, but they’d melted before hitting the ground. I glanced out the window. The trees
were bare, the mountains an ugly brown. As soon as Autumn and Brian were married, I’d go. I’d even turned in my notice to Angelo. He wasn’t happy, but I’d never hid my plans from him.
Travel brochures I’d collected over the years covered my kitchen table. I sipped my coffee, staring at the budget up on my laptop screen that I’d made for my world tour with a sense of excitement and dread. My tips during leaf season had been exceptionally good. Adding the money my parents had gifted me toward my trip, I had surpassed my goal. That would mean I could travel longer than I’d planned.
That should make me happy, but it didn’t. Why did I have to meet the perfect man now? If Dylan had waited to walk into my life in a year or two, it would have been perfect. Would he even consider waiting for me? A year would go by fast, right? No, that wouldn’t be fair to him.
“Damn it.” I squeezed my eyes shut against the sting of tears. How did one choose between a promise made to the most important person in my life and love? Not that I loved Dylan yet… Okay, maybe a little. I just didn’t know. What if I gave up my dream, Dylan and I got married, and ten years later ended up divorced?
A hysterical-sounding laugh burst out of me at having us already married. After what he’d been through, the last thing he probably wanted was another wife. In which case, there really wasn’t a future for us, just some good times until he moved on. Should I risk my dream on the slim chance that Dylan and I could find something special that would last a lifetime?
My phone rang, Autumn’s name coming up on the screen. “Hey.”
“What’s wrong?”
“You got that from one word how?” I heard Autumn’s snort in my ear and couldn’t help grinning.
“Because I know all your heys and that wasn’t a happy one. I just finished my last appointment, so I’m going to swing by Mary’s, get us some of her mouthwatering chocolate cheesecake slices. Be there in twenty. Have me a glass of wine poured.”
She hung up before I could protest. Autumn was an interior designer, a good one. She’d helped me make my tiny apartment cozy on very little money. There was no one I’d rather pour my heart out to right now than her, unless Savannah was here, too, to join us.
“Let’s call Savannah,” I said as soon as Autumn walked in the door.
She handed me a white paper bag. “Cheesecake and wine first, then we’ll call her. Mary said, ‘Tell Jenn the answers are in the stars.’ I just dug my nails into my palms to keep from going bug-eyed on her. What does she know that I don’t?”
“I don’t know how to read the stars.” If only I could, then maybe I’d be able to see a future with Dylan. My lips quivered. “How does she even know I need answers?”
“The woman’s spooky, that’s for sure.” Autumn wrapped her arms around me, giving me a bestie hug. “Whatever this is, we’ll figure it out, okay? As soon as we eat.” She eyed the cheesecake slices as I put them on a plate. “That’s at least five pounds right there that I shouldn’t touch if I want to fit into my wedding gown, but you mean more to me than a dress.”
God, I loved her. Without Autumn, I’m not sure I would have survived losing Natalie. My parents had been wrapped up in their own grief, and I hadn’t wanted to add to their sadness. Savannah had been there for a few days, but then she’d left for New York. It had been mostly Autumn I’d turned to. She had held me, cried with me, sometimes rocking me like a baby during the hardest days of my life. I burst into tears, suddenly missing my twin with a bone-deep ache.
“Oh, sweetie, you’re thinking of Natalie, aren’t you?”
Unable to speak, I nodded.
She picked up one of the glasses I’d filled with wine, handing it to me. “Drink up, then start talking.”
I downed half the wine. Setting the glass back on the table, I buried my face in my hands. Somehow, between sobs, I managed to tell her how torn I was between Dylan and my promise to Natalie. “I don’t…” I peered at her through watery tears. “I don’t know what to do. I could love him, Autumn. Like I’ve never loved another man. But I promised Natalie I’d go to all the places we dreamed of going together.”
“Sweetie, the two of you were barely out of high school when you made that promise. Loving a man forever wasn’t even on the horizon for either of you to take into account. If Natalie knew what Dylan meant to you, she’d be the first to tell you to go for it.”
“Maybe.” I blew my nose into the paper towel she handed me. “I don’t think he can ever love me like he loved his wife.”
Autumn’s eyebrows lifted. “Whoa. Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know,” I wailed. Maybe I did know. It had been the pain I’d seen in his eyes when he’d talked about her. “I’m such a hot mess.”
“Tell me this. If he asked you not to go, what would you do?”
“He’s not going to ask that, so it doesn’t matter.” Would I stay, though? Maybe. Probably.
“If he does, you need to ask yourself one thing. If you gave up your dream…because it was that along with your promise to Natalie, right?”
“That’s true. Wanting to travel the world has always been more than just my promise.” I glared at her. “You were supposed to go with me in her place.”
“And I would have if I hadn’t met Brian. He’s my soul mate, Jenn. Choosing him was the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” She took my hands in hers. “Can you honestly say that if Dylan did ask you to stay, that you’d never resent him for it someday?”
Tears pooled in my eyes again. “I don’t know. What if he’s my soul mate but I’m not his?”
“Only one way to find out. Talk to him, tell him how you feel.”
“I’ll think about it.” I probably wouldn’t, though. The thought of Dylan never loving me like he had his wife was a brick wall I couldn’t tear down. And did I even want to try? “Do you think you only have one soul mate in life?”
“No, but I do think you love each one differently.”
I laughed through my tears. “That makes absolutely no sense.” I poked holes in the last half of my cheesecake. “We were just going to be a fling, you know? I’m not supposed to be sitting here talking about soul mates and crying over the thought of leaving him.”
Autumn put her hand on my wrist, holding it still. “Stop killing your cake. You can’t leave until after my wedding, so spend the time between now and then with him, see how it goes. Nothing says you have to step on that plane when it takes off.”
I smiled at my friend through watery tears. “I love you, you know.”
“I know. Let’s see if we can run down Savannah. Then I need to head home and get ready for my first appointment in the morning. A couple retiring here from New York bought the Miller house and want a complete redo. I hope Brian can love a bald woman because I have a feeling I’m going to pull all my hair out before I’m done with them.”
“You’ll be brilliant as always, and she’ll be thrilled with it when you’re finished.”
Autumn laughed. “I love your faith in me. Call Savannah.”
I picked up my phone, putting it on speaker.
“’Lo,” a sleepy voice said.
Autumn and I exchanged glances. It was midafternoon. Savannah had never been one to take naps. “Hey, Savannah.”
“Jenn! Is Autumn with you?”
“I’m here,” Autumn said. “Sounds like we woke you.”
There was silence, and we heard the rustle of bedsheets and a man’s voice. “Oops,” I whispered to Autumn.
“Hold on a sec.” A few moments later we could hear a door close. “Hey, you two. This is a great surprise.”
Yet it didn’t sound like she was all that happy to hear from us. When she’d first arrived in New York and we would call her, she would scream when we called, and would excitedly tell us everything going on in her life. Now we couldn’t get any details out of her when we called.
“How’s the wedding planning going, Autumn?”
“Everything’s pretty much done. We can’t wait to see you. It�
�ll be like old times, the three of us together again.”
“About that—”
“No!” Autumn and I both yelled together.
“You listen to me, Savannah Graham,” I said. “If I have to come to New York and drag you home for Autumn’s wedding, I will. You know I mean that.” How could she even consider not being here for Autumn? “You’ve had the date for almost a year now. That was plenty of time to work it into your busy schedule.”
Autumn put her hand on my arm, shaking her head, but I didn’t care if I was upsetting Savannah. I was the maid of honor, but Savannah was Autumn’s only bridesmaid. She damn well was going to be here. She’d promised.
Someone banged on the door in whatever room Savannah had gone to, and we heard muffled voices. She must have been holding her hand over the phone. Even though the man’s voice was muted and we couldn’t understand the words, he sounded angry.
“Listen,” Savannah said, coming back on the phone. “I have to go. I’ll call you soon.”
“Savannah…” She was gone.
Autumn stared at the phone, a frown on her face. “Something’s not right.”
“Yeah, she’s definitely not the Savannah we know and love. At least we’ll be able to see for ourselves how she is when she gets here.”
“I just wish we knew what was going on with her,” Autumn said, glancing up at me with worry in her eyes.
So did I.
38
~ Dylan ~
Moody was late, of course. “You got those restraining orders ready for me to sign?” I asked Gene while we waited for my captain to show his face.
He handed me a manila folder. “Here you go. I hope he doesn’t decide to shoot us both.”
“A distinct possibility.” I laughed when Gene paled. “Good thing I’m a faster draw, huh?” I wouldn’t put it past Moody to make some dumbass move, so my gun was sitting on my lap, hidden by my desk.
“Here he comes,” I said at hearing Moody’s voice down the hallway. I glanced at my watch. “Ten minutes late. The man knows how to push my buttons.”