by S. M. Butler
“No promises, love,” Jordan replied.
Scott remained silent, though his eyes darkened.
“Great,” she said, sarcastically. “I have to go deal with something. I expect you to be wheels up in the next twenty-four hours.”
“Whatever, we’ll do it,” Scott replied. “Tell Nathan I said hi and that I miss him terribly.” He flashed a grin that Jordan could only describe as evil incarnate.
Was it Nathan that called Bridget? Why would she make that face? It was usually annoyance that Jordan felt when Nathan called. That look was something entirely different. Something deeper.
She pointed at him. “Stop. You’re being a child.” Scott just bared his teeth. It couldn’t even be described as a grin, that one. Bridget picked up her tablet and left the room, leaving the two of them alone. Jordan stared after her for a moment. A lot of things were starting to make more sense.
“Well, well, well,” Jordan said, sitting up in his chair after Bridget left. “Isn’t that interesting.”
“What?” Scott snapped.
“I’m understanding a lot more now. Why your sister is suddenly giving orders and Nathan’s letting her.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Your sister’s fucking Nathan.”
Scott’s hazel gaze darkened.
Jordan’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, and you didn’t know. Oops.”
Scott’s head turned a brilliant cherry red and that just made Jordan’s day. “Look, I don’t want to work with you any more than you want to work with me. Let’s just drop the small talk, do this and get it the fuck over with.”
Jordan chuckled and put his feet on the floor so he could lean forward over the table. “You do your part, and I’ll do mine. You try to fuck me over… I’ll put a bullet right between your eyes.”
“You don’t do guns.”
Jordan felt his entire body go cold as he met Scott’s gaze. “I’ll make an exception for you.”
Scott smiled back, as cold and calculating as Jordan had ever seen. Once upon a time, Muldoon had been the life of the party, between his friendly nature and the way he’d drawn even Jack into those damn computer games of his from time to time. Now, a ghost looked back at him, those hazel eyes dark and empty as he spoke in a chilling tone, “Funny. Maybe that’s exactly what I want you to do.”
9
One week later
Tessa’s salon in Jubilee didn’t have a sign. It hadn’t when their mother ran the place either. The whole town called it Gloria’s Salon, even though Tessa technically owned and ran it now. All five hundred and some change inhabitants of Jubilee missed Gloria, a testament to the legacy that she’d left behind in her death. Not that it was a good legacy.
Which was why Penny had made the trip. It was time to put the past away, lock it down, and move forward. Penny swallowed hard, the anxiety mounting as she stopped in front of the salon. It had been well over a year since she’d been in this town and she was not looking forward to the return. Somehow, she’d managed to get into town without the gossip mill finding out. But that wouldn’t be possible much longer if she stood outside this infernal place much longer.
She’d spent so much of her life in this salon. As a child, her mother had brought her here every day that she wasn’t in school. She’d played in the office, sat down at her mother’s desk and drawn in her sketchbooks. The artistic tendencies had been there even back then, overshadowed by Penny’s book smarts and the town’s plans for her life.
No one had seen the overdose coming. Mom had been so positive and upbeat. No one ever suspected it. The town looked at her and Tessa like they were spawns of the devil after that. Their mother had committed an egregious sin and certainly, the daughters she’d borne would follow in her footsteps.
As she stared at the salon door, she knew she’d have to go in there. She’d have to face that music soon. Eventually, one of those old ladies would see her standing there and her quiet slide back into Jubilee would end. She wondered if Tessa had even mentioned to anyone that she’d be coming in today. She doubted it.
She gripped the shoulder strap of the duffel bag she carried. It crossed her chest to make it easier for her to carry, but still she felt uneven, off kilter. Maybe that was just because of being back in Jubilee. This place sucked her entire soul out. Every time she looked at this place, the memories bombarding her were too much.
She drew in a deep breath. Maybe she could go to the house first…
“Penny, is that you?” a male voice asked behind her.
Aw, fuck. Busted.
She turned toward the sound of the voice. Axel Martinez strode toward her, but he wasn’t alone. The woman walking next to him she didn’t recognize, but they were obviously well acquainted. Their hands were clasped together as they walked, and her body leaned into him.
“Axel?” she said. Axel had been the subject of many of her middle and high school friends’ conversations. He’d been the local heartthrob, older man of mystery for years since he’d come to Jubilee, what was it… nine years ago? She’d have been around twelve, she supposed. She’d never been that into him like some of her friends. But she’d been more comfortable around him, because he was an outsider, one not born in this town or raised in it. He didn’t know her great-grandparents or her cousins or have any history with her mother. He’d treated her like she was a normal person, not this fucked-up spawn of a sinner who took her own life.
“Tessa didn’t say anything about you coming home this week. How’s school doing?” he asked, his face breaking into an easy smile.
“Good,” she lied. “It’s, um, good. On break now.” At least that part wasn’t a lie. She was on a break from school, after all. She just didn’t have to say it was a longer than average break. She glanced at the dark-haired woman next to him. Her hair was swept back into a French braid, which only accented her high cheekbones and the way her eyes swept away from the center of her face. Graceful was the word that came to mind. Lethally graceful.
“Oh, right, you guys haven’t met,” Axel said. He gestured to his companion with his free hand, not letting go of her hand. “Penny, this is Bea,” he said and smiled at the woman. “My girlfriend.”
Oh, the hearts of all her old classmates were probably all breaking right now. She smiled and nodded to Bea. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”
Bea smiled, but even Penny could tell it was an uncomfortable one, like smiling wasn’t something she did a lot. Based on the fact that there were zero laugh lines on her face, she might have believed she didn’t smile a whole helluva lot. “Hello.”
“Tessa didn’t tell me you were involved now.” She would have had to actually talk to her sister to know anything about Jubilee gossip, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. “How is the circle taking it?” The circle being the women that frequented the salon. They were all older women, some married, some widowed, and all horny as hell.
“It’s a newish thing,” he replied, pulling the woman into half an embrace, almost possessive in nature, but the woman didn’t seem to mind it. “So, you back in town for good?”
“Just visiting for a few days,” she told him. Just long enough to try and fail with Tessa again. Because inevitably, it would fail. Things with her sister were just too deep at this point, too raw, and had gone on too long.
He glanced at the salon with a thoughtful expression. “Now’s probably a good time to go see your sister. It’s craft afternoon at the Carter place today.”
Some things never changed. Sue Ellen Carter hosted the craft afternoon at the library, which all the circle attended religiously. Which meant Tessa would probably be in the office. There wouldn’t be anyone in there.
How much did Axel know about the relationship with her sister now? Did he know how anxious she was to see her sister? How much being in this town after being gone for so long hurt like a knife between her ribs? Everyone knew about her mother. In a town of five hundred or so, there were no secrets. Everyone acted as judg
e and jury.
But there was no judgement on his face. His girlfriend’s phone rang right as Penny was about to open her mouth. Bea pulled it out and cursed as she looked at the surface. “It’s Levi. I need to take this.”
A meaningful look passed between the two, secrets shared without needing to talk. Axel nodded. “I’ll meet you back at my place.”
Bea nodded and looked at Penny. “It really is nice to meet you. Please excuse me.” Her and Axel’s fingers lingered as she pulled away. The phone was barely up to her ear when she spoke into it. “What did you do now, idiot?”
Axel’s sigh beside her yanked Penny back to the present. His gaze was on his girlfriend as the woman picked up her pace, headed back down the road toward the garage. He glanced at Penny, smiling a little. “Bea’s really nice once you get her to open up a little.”
Penny wasn’t planning on sticking around long enough to get anyone to open up for her, but she smiled and nodded. “I’m sure she is. I guess, I should… go.”
Axel’s gaze softened and Penny was reminded of why all the high school girls had crushed so hard on him. “She’ll be glad to see you, Penny. Tessa’s always talking about you.”
“And not including curse words?” Penny laughed, but it fell flat. She let out a soft breath. “Thanks.”
“No problem. Tell your sister I said hi,” he replied. He glanced down the sidewalk where Bea was striding away. “I better go catch up with her. Later.” He jogged down the sidewalk to his girlfriend. His arms slid around the woman’s waist, even though she was on the phone, obviously not happy with whoever she was talking to. Then they continued walking down toward the garage.
For a moment, jealousy burned inside her chest. It wasn’t over Axel. It was the way the two had leaned toward the other, almost reflexively. Like part of them required contact with the other to live. If Penny was honest with herself, she craved that feeling, of being loved and wanted like that. But that was stupid. Love didn’t work that way. It didn’t work that way for her mother, or she’d still be alive.
She stared at the salon entrance.
Right. No more excuses not to go in.
The little bell above the door dinged, announcing Penny’s entrance as she pushed open the wooden door. The place smelled of fruit and shampoo as usual, the scents assaulting old memories of running around this place as a child.
The waiting area was small, three chairs against each wall, for a grand total of six. Then the counter, with a computer sitting on it. That was new. Her mother had always used that piece of shit old register that barely opened half the time. And right next to the computer was a credit card reader and a small receipt printer. All additions brought on by necessity rather than desire. The walls were still a pale blue color, still chipping from the years of humidity in the place. The mirrors were clean, though a few had water spots here and there.
As expected, the place was indeed deserted. Her footsteps echoed across the white laminate floor as she made her way back to the office. If she turned and left now, Tessa would know she was here and left, thus creating a whole new complication between them. And though Penny was attempting to do the right thing here, by coming home and trying to make things right with Tessa, inside she was a jumble of anxiety and fear and anger and all kinds of weird emotions.
Penny paused outside the open office door, just out of sight, though she could see Tessa in there. Her sister was sitting at the desk, typing on her laptop. She swallowed that bundle of nerves inside her throat, forcing it back down into her chest where her heart was pounding away. Wasn’t this scene right out of the Jubilee playbook? Tessa had done what was expected of her, as a fourth generation Jubilee inhabitant. She’d followed in Gloria Lawson’s footsteps. Meanwhile, Penny was the heretic.
“I figured you’d go back to the house first,” Tessa said without looking up. Her light brown hair, like Penny’s, was pulled back into a messy bun, with little wisps of her bangs falling loose from where it was bunched to frame her face. Her nose was just a little bit longer than Penny’s, though they both favored their mother’s looks. The older Tessa got, the more she took on Mom’s features. Ten years separated them in age, maybe even caused a little bit of the friction between them. They’d never been that close to begin with, not with all that time between them. It just seemed to get worse once their mother was gone, once Penny had begun to distance herself.
“I knew you’d be here,” Penny said. She pulled her bag off her shoulder and set it just inside the door as she stepped inside the office.
Tessa glanced up at her for the first time, her dark eyes spearing Penny like a knife right through her chest. “That’s why I thought you’d go to the house first.”
The office still had the same paint on the walls, the light blue with the white clouds sponged all over the wall in a random pattern. A couple paintings of brightly colored sunrises over water hung on the wall. All of them done by their mother. Penny supposed that might be where she’d gotten her artistic desires. But their mother had done what was expected of her and taken over the salon from her mother. Ranch towns and all that only had room for ranchers and those that supported ranching. Art wasn’t a career. It was a hobby.
Tessa had been so much like their mother, but unlike their mother’s obnoxiously clean tendencies, there were stacks of paper and boxes all over the place. The filing cabinet was open, three folders sticking up like they were saving a place. It looked lived-in, used.
How much time did Tessa spend here now?
“Can we not do this, Tessa?” Penny asked. “I don’t want to fight with you. I came home to be with family.”
“Right,” Tessa snorted derisively. “Because you’ve cared at all about your family in the last year.”
“Tessa—”
“How is school?” Tessa shot at her, even knowing the answer.
“Tessa—”
“Yeah,” Tessa replied as she looked back at her laptop. But she didn’t start typing away again. She simply stared at the thing.
“Maybe I should go stay at the inn,” Penny said quietly. Suddenly, she was regretting coming, regretting agreeing to stay in her old room in their mother’s house, which incidentally, was Tessa’s now. Such a good daughter Tessa had been.
“No, I’m sorry,” Tessa replied quietly, shaking her head like she’d had to shake thoughts out of it. “I didn’t ask you here to rehash old stuff. Please.”
An awkward silence fell over the two of them. There wasn’t much to say, was there? They’d exchange pleasantries, then snipe at each other until one or both of them got fed up with it. Then they’d fall into that pattern of ignoring each other after that. It had been that way since Mom died last year. Trying to connect with Tessa, to make their relationship anything like it used to be before their mother’s overdose… well, it was damn near impossible sometimes. Tessa just wasn’t who she used to be. But, Penny supposed, she wasn’t either, was she?
“Tess—”
“Joe invited us to Christmas,” Tessa announced, completely deadpan. But her voice faltered as she added, “You… I’d like it if you came.”
“Who?” Penny frowned.
“Joe Hannigan?”
Penny blinked in surprise. Sheriff Hannigan invited them for Christmas? When had Sheriff Hannigan become “Joe” to Tessa?
“Or not,” Tessa added. “It’s no big deal.” A blush crossed Tessa’s cheeks.
It was so a big deal. There was something between the good sheriff and Tessa going on and this was the first Penny had heard of it. Maybe it would be good for Tessa. She’d been a little more than a robot since their mother’s death. She worked a lot, from the looks of things in this office.
Penny considered the timing. Tessa had been pretty insistent on her coming home for Christmas. Now this invitation to spend it with another person? “You and Sheriff Hannigan…”
Penny let the sentence drift away as Tessa blushed again. Holy shit. This was serious. She glanced down and noticed the small golden
ring on her sister’s left hand. On her ring finger. “It’s serious?”
“I… I…” Tessa cleared her throat. “Yes.”
“Oh,” Penny breathed out. “Okay. You never mentioned it…”
“I meant to tell you before…” Now it was her sister’s turn to let the sentence drift into the air.
“N-No, it’s fine,” Penny stuttered out as she lifted her bag back to her shoulder. “Christmas with… Joe sounds good. Um, I’m just… I’m going run my stuff over to the house then.”
Tessa didn’t meet her eyes as she went back to staring at the computer again. “Yeah, that’s good.”
The silence that fell between them was awkward on so many levels. Not only was their dead mother standing between them, but now there was this new relationship with Sheriff Hannigan. Except that it wasn’t new, was it? She was wearing a ring. They’d been seeing each other for a while, and she hadn’t even mentioned it to Penny. Until now. When it was unavoidable. If Tessa hadn’t told her, someone else in the town would have. Or maybe she might have walked in during an unfortunate moment.
She shook her head of that thought. No need for nightmares. “I’m going to go.”
“Penny…”
“It’s fine, Tessa,” Penny snapped out. “You’re allowed to have a life, you know.”
“But—”
“I kind of wish that you’d considered that I deserved that, too,” Penny bit out in a rushed whisper. Then she turned on her heels, gripped the bag across her chest and ran out of the salon.
Penny stared down the quiet street, toward the nearby neighborhood where the house she’d grown up in was located. Though she couldn’t see it from where she was, she knew exactly where it was. Like their mother’s memory, that house served as its own ghost. Another barrier between her and her sister.
Their mother had been the glue between them and with her gone, the two of them had lost any kind of connection.
10