by Eryn Scott
Except in that moment.
Just with one look, Hadley knew Luke wanted her to come with him to talk with the Henleys.
She shook her head. Heck no! She sent him a scowl, hoping her actions were subtle enough to escape Deborah’s attention as she moved into the horrid mistakes people make with drapes.
When she looked back at Luke, he was holding up two fingers, almost like a peace sign. He curled them down twice, looking almost like he was using air quotes. Hadley knew otherwise. It was their secret, childhood sign for a double dog dare.
Seeing it again brought back so many silly memories that she couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of her. Deborah caught it, but the woman was blindly entrenched in the world of home interiors and seemed to assume Hadley had found something she’d said about drapes hilarious and said, “It is funny! Isn’t it?”
Hadley suppressed a grin and shot a glance back at Luke one more time. Rolling her eyes, she reluctantly nodded, telling him she accepted. After all, they’d taken an oath to only use the double-dog-dare gesture when completely necessary. She pretty much had to. And when Deborah dropped him off a few minutes later, Hadley knew the hand he held up in a wave was him telling her he’d come pick her up in five minutes.
For the remaining time in Deborah’s car, Hadley tried to focus on her words. They parted at Hadley’s house, her slipping out of the passenger seat and waving to Deborah.
“I’m sorry the place didn’t work out today, dear.” Deborah’s forehead wrinkled. “But we’ll find you something, I promise.
Hadley waved a hand. “No worries. I’ve got time,” she said, pushing down the feelings of worry that she definitely didn’t.
Turning her back, Hadley headed toward her home, but she didn’t go inside. Instead, she settled onto her lime-green love seat and waited for a moment until Luke’s truck pulled up where Deborah’s had just dropped her off.
He rolled down his window as she stood and walked over.
“You’re a liar,” he said, propping his arm on the door as he leaned out of the window.
Cocking an eyebrow, Hadley said, “I am?”
“A few months ago, you told me you couldn’t read me. I’m sorry to break it to you, but you just did, Hads.”
She laughed, climbing up into the passenger seat of the truck, feeling like she was back in high school. “It was some sort of time warp, I think. Once you brought out the dare it felt like we were thirteen again.”
His lips pulled into a smirk that was so quintessentially Luke, Hadley felt her lungs pull tight with nostalgia.
“But you’re right,” Hadley added after Luke put the car in drive.
Luke glanced over at her, a question written in his knitted brow.
“You’re getting easier to read again,” she said. “You’re coming back.”
His eyes squinted up as he grinned. “I’ve been back for months, actually.” He watched the road.
“You know what I mean.”
He paused, then dipped his chin. “Yeah, I do.” After a quiet moment, he said, “You are too, coming back.”
Hadley cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not the one who left.”
Luke’s smile faded, his jaw muscles tightened in his cheek. “You did, Had. You weren’t—” His voice cut out, and he shook his head. “I think a part of you knew… about Tyler… long before.”
Hadley’s heart ached as she realized he was right. She’d spent so many nights wondering how she’d missed the clues, asking why she hadn’t noticed this or asked that. But there was a part of her that had always known she never fully had Tyler’s heart or his attention.
Before either of them could say anything more, however, Luke pulled onto Main Street, and the time for talking about the past seemed to have done just that, passed. Pulling up near the orange-and-white striped awning of the Main Street entrance to the Henley Family Grocer.
While it was difficult to avoid the sole grocery store in town, Hadley had done her best to get everything she could at the farmers market and Hal’s Food N Stuff minimart. In fact, over the last four months, she could count on one hand the number of times she’d entered the Henley Family Grocer.
The white tile floors reflected the florescent lights. Their sneakers squeaked as they walked inside. In all of her excitement about the case, Hadley didn’t stop to think why Luke wanted her there with him until they were scanning the aisles for Mister or Missus Henley.
“Wait.” Hadley pulled Luke to a stop in the cereal aisle. “Why am I here with you, again?”
Luke blinked. “To help me figure out why they’ve got a secret garden.”
“Yeah, but they hate me. This isn’t a good idea. I think you should talk to them alone.”
Luke caught Hadley’s flighty gaze with his. “Had, I’m counting on the fact that they hate you. You’re part of the plan, babe. I want them flustered so they’ll be less likely to lie. Don’t worry, I’ll get rid of you at the first dirty look.”
A mixture of anger at his use of the nickname and worry about seeing the Henleys rendered her speechless, so Hadley nodded and followed Luke the rest of the way down the aisle. His eyes lit up and he came to an abrupt halt, moving back by the cereal to hide.
“Okay, Jack sighting. I’m going to start talking to him and then you come up after a minute. Say hello, try to start a conversation.” There was a sparkle in Luke’s eye as he recounted the plan.
“That’s the dumbest plan ever.” Hadley crossed her arms over her chest.
“It may be dumb, but it’ll work.” Luke winked, then touched his finger to the tip of her nose. “Trust me.”
10
After Luke walked away, Hadley strained to hear from her hiding place by the bagged cereals. The plastic crinkled as she slid along the shelf farther toward the end of the aisle.
“Hey, Jack! How are you?” Luke did a great job of sounding pleasantly surprised.
A thump came next, which sounded like Luke slapping a hand onto the older man’s back, or possible enveloping him into a tight hug.
Just as Hadley was about to emerge from her hiding place, Luke said—louder than was necessary, which meant he wanted her to hear—“Sarah! You came out of nowhere. So good to see you.”
Hadley pressed her eyes closed, tight. She hadn’t run into Tyler’s parents for months and still wasn’t sure if she was ready. But she also wanted the information about the garden on their property, so if Luke thought her making things awkward would help that, it was worth a shot.
Opening her eyes and exhaling her worries, Hadley walked out from the cereal aisle and just about bumped straight into Luke’s back. She hadn’t realized how close he was standing.
“Sorry,” she said, flailing to avoid running into him and stumbling off to the right. Once she found her balance, she sent a fake look of apology toward him. With one last deep breath, she steeled her courage and looked where the Henleys stood.
The cold, angry faces glaring at her weren’t a surprise. Even the awkward way Jack cleared his throat wasn’t enough to unnerve her. But when Sarah, someone whom she used to consider a mother, curled her lip and glared at Hadley like she was the human equivalent of freezers full of spoiled food, she began to doubt the plan.
“Oh, uh… hi there.” She smiled, or maybe it was a cringe. “Hey, Luke.” For some reason, in the moment, Hadley went with the whole glad to have you back routine. “How are you liking being back home?” she asked.
Luke’s amused grin seemed completely real, unlike her forced questions. “It’s great.” Luke bobbed his head.
“Why do you want to know?” Sarah asked with a sneer. “Are you going to run him out of town too?”
Hadley balked. “Sarah, I—”
Luke settled a hand on her arm, turning to point her in the other direction. “Maybe you should… go.” He winked at her, to let her know she’d done what he needed.
“Right.” She sighed as she shot one last, sad look over at Sarah and Jack, then headed back down the cereal a
isle, stopping when she was just out of sight so she could still hear.
“Have you heard from Tyler lately?” Sarah asked, her tone softening.
Hadley’s spine stiffened, and she leaned closer to hear Luke’s answer.
“Uh, yeah.” Luke must’ve known she would still be listening in, because his voice was awkward and clipped. “Sounds like he’s doing well.”
“He calls us when he can, but he’s so busy. I’m not complaining; it’s just hard when we’ve been used to him living here in town.” Without seeing her, Hadley knew Sarah was spinning the simple gold band on her right ring finger. She always did that when she was worried.
And even though Hadley knew she hadn’t been the reason Tyler moved away—though having him live elsewhere was much easier for her, so she wasn’t complaining—her heart still hurt for Sarah and the rest of the Henleys. If Hadley felt like she’d lost touch with the man she’d married, she couldn’t begin to imagine how his family felt about this new, city-dwelling version of their favorite son, cousin, brother, etc.
“We’re glad to have you back in town, though,” Jack said.
“Thank you,” Luke replied. “Actually, that’s part of the reason I wanted to talk with you. Deborah showed me the property you two are selling out on Meadowvale, just past Barry’s place, but I’m interested in the wildflower garden in the woods behind the house.”
“Oh, that’s not ours,” Sarah said quickly. “I mean, we’re renting it out to someone.”
“But don’t worry, we told him he could only use it until the place sold.” Jack cleared his throat. “Not that it’s an issue anymore.”
“Why?” Luke asked.
“Well,” Jack lowered his voice. “It was Charlie. He approached me after we denied him at that first town council meeting, asking if there was anything he could do to change our minds about letting him be a part of the market. I told him he might have a better chance if he could claim his flowers were grown in town.”
“And when did you find out he was using pesticides on the flowers?” Luke’s voice was low, but Hadley could tell he was trying to keep his tone nonthreatening.
“What?” Sarah scoffed. “Luke, you know we wouldn’t allow any—”
“After the bees died.” Jack interrupted his wife.
“Jack?” She sounded incredulous. “I can’t believe you kept that from me.”
“By then the damage was already done. I promise I didn’t know about it before then. I even went to apologize to Barry, offered to pay him for the damages to his colonies, but he would have none of it. All he wanted to know was who was responsible.”
“And did you tell him?” Luke asked.
Nothing but silence followed. Frustrated and needing to know the answer to the question, Hadley leaned around the endcap of the aisle to see what was happening. In her haste, Hadley knocked over the cardboard stand holding a new kind of granola. The bags went skidding across the bright, linoleum tiles, a few stopping at Luke’s feet and one smacking into Sarah’s sneaker.
The three of them glanced over at her and every expression on their faces made her want to die. The Henleys’ because the accident only seemed to deepen their anger with her, and Luke’s because his smirk told her it would be a long time before he let her forget this.
“I’m so, so sorry.” She scrambled forward, righting the cardboard display. Gathering the bags in her arms, she attempted to reset them.
Luke helped her, grabbing the ones that had slid the farthest. After setting the last one upright, he wrapped an arm around Hadley’s shoulders and said, “Good seeing you two, but I’m going to escort Miss James out of the store before she does any more damage.”
She wanted to glare at him, but Hadley was too embarrassed to look up from the floor. She gave a sheepish wave and let Luke be her eyes as he rushed them down the aisles. A summer breeze cooled her hot cheeks as they walked outside.
“Well, that was terrible.” She covered her face with her hands.
Luke chuckled. “It wasn’t all bad.”
Letting her hands drop, she finally met his gaze with a withering one of her own.
“What? We learned an important clue. Charlie was the one responsible for killing so many of Barry’s bees. And Barry refused money, but wanted the name of the person who’d sprayed the pesticide? That sounds like a man out for revenge to me.”
Hadley shook her head, turning back toward Luke’s truck. “Barry’s not one of our main suspects.”
“He’s not?” Luke’s eyebrows lifted skeptically. “Pretty sure he should be. A man is killed with bees after he poisons a good portion of the colonies owned by an intense bee lover. Sounds like a Stephen King novel, sure, but it seems to check out to me.”
They reached the truck and Luke unlocked it. Once they were inside, Hadley said, “Sweet, kind Barry? I don’t buy it. Plus, we’re looking into some woman up in Cascade Ridge. I think she’s our killer.”
“Wait, you’re seriously not even considering Barry?” Luke turned to look at her instead of putting the key in the ignition. “And what about Leo? The man flat out threatened Charlie the day before he turned up dead, and he was furious about Charlie encroaching on his market space.”
“Leo brings huge vases full of flowers to the hospital up in Cascade Ridge whenever he can. He regularly puts fresh flowers on every gravesite in the Stoneybrook Cemetery. He made the flowers for my wedding. I’ve known him my whole life.” Hadley buckled herself in. “I refuse to believe he had anything to do with Charlie’s death.”
Luke’s face hardened. “Just because you know and love these people doesn’t mean anything, Had. Good people get angry too. Good people make mistakes and bad decisions. Don’t be so naive to think you know everything about people just because you’ve known them for a long time.”
The statement stung. Hadley knew she had the tendency to trust too blindly, but having Luke point it out felt so much worse, somehow. She covered up her pained expression with disregard.
As quick as she’d been to hide her emotions, the deep lines between Luke’s eyebrows told her he’d still seen the effect of his words.
“I’m sorry.” He shoved his key into the ignition and sighed. “That was a crappy thing to say, Had.”
Hadley smiled over at him. “It’s okay. I—you’re right. I’ll make sure to include Barry and Leo on my list of suspects. I’ll let Paul know right away what we learned about the connection between Charlie and Barry’s dead bees today.”
Returning her not-so-convincing smile, Luke started the car and pulled onto Main Street. They spent the five-minute drive in silence. When he stopped in front of her house, Luke put a hand on hers.
Flinching at his touch, Hadley resisted the urge to pull her hand away. Instead, she glanced up at him.
“Sorry about the Henleys. I didn’t know they’d be so rude to you, or I would never have asked you to come with me.”
She shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m getting used to it.”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t just be easier to tell them what happened?”
Hadley shook her head. Tyler was Stoneybrook’s golden boy. Her ex had been their star quarterback, had taken the team to win the championship two years running. He’d bagged their groceries during his teenage years and had charmed every one of them with his handsome smile.
Part of Hadley knew there were many Stoneybrookians who wouldn’t even believe Tyler had cheated on her. But even if they would believe her, Hadley didn’t want to have to be the one to break it to his family. If Tyler wanted to tell them, it was up to him, but Hadley wasn’t about to be the one to make them see their perfect son in anything but a glorious light.
“Ty needs to be the one to make the decision, not me,” she said, hoping that would close the topic for good.
“You’re a bigger person than me, then,” Luke said.
“Not just more naïve?” She cocked an eyebrow at him, throwing his previous comment back at him as well.
He laughed. �
��I guess I deserve that. But seriously, you’re a good person, Had.” His blue eyes locked on to hers. “I’m sorry Tyler took advantage of that.”
Speechlessness hit Hadley about as intensely as Luke’s apology. It wasn’t like he could’ve controlled Tyler’s behavior as his best friend any more than she could’ve as Tyler’s wife, but it was nice regardless. And as much as Luke liked to joke around, liked to mess with her, she could tell he meant what he said.
Which meant maybe she could read him like she used to.
“Thanks, Luke. See you around.” She opened the door and slipped outside before she said anything else, because she didn’t quite trust herself in that moment.
As she walked to her house, she wondered, did the fact that she could read Luke Fenton again mean he was changing, or was she?
11
Once Hadley got inside and heard Luke’s truck pull away, she texted Paul and Suze and invited them over for dinner.
“You had me at dinner,” was Paul’s reply.
Suze, slightly more discerning, asked, “Does this have anything to do with three people asking me about why you’ve been hanging out with Luke Fenton today? Post Office Pete seems to be under the impression you’ve been looking for houses together…”
Hadley should’ve figured it would get around town. In fact, it was probably Deborah who’d started spreading the rumor. Texting back to let Suze know she would fill her in about all of it at dinner, Hadley started prepping for the meal.
She’d picked up some chicken from Hal’s Food N Stuff the other day—scary as it sounded, the little market was locally sourced, and the meat came directly from Fenton Farms down the road—and she decided to try out a new recipe, jerk chicken kabobs. She still had a jar of her honey-sweetened peach chutney left over from last summer and wanted to use it up before making a new batch next week. Hadley also had a ton of summer squash, mushrooms, onions, and carrots from Hal’s as well.
Setting to work, she stuck the wooden skewers in a water bath as she began washing and chopping up the lot, spreading the pieces on a baking sheet. Sprinkling some of the jerk spices on the veggies, she stuck them to roast low and slow in the oven while she cut up the chicken, seasoned it, and arranged it on the soaked skewers. After a quick check on the oven, she headed outside to the barbecue.