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“I’ll miss him when he goes,” Lucy said. “It’s honestly been nice to have him here.”
“There you go again with that nice word. I bet it’s been more than nice.”
It had but she wasn’t sure she even had a word to describe the last few days. Zack had come into her life, turning her sedate existence on its head.
And when he left, things would never be the same.
* * *
Zack’s life was still up in the air as to the future, but the present was pretty damn good. Last night with Lucy had been amazing, and the connection they’d had was something he’d never experienced with another woman. He could hardly wait to see her again, and that was a new emotion. Normally, he was the one wanting his space, needing time apart. With her, he simply didn’t want to leave her company. They were going out again tonight, and he was as eager as a schoolboy.
Pushing open the door to Tate’s bar, he immediately saw Cooper and Piper sitting in a corner booth. His brother Tate gave him a wave from behind the bar, and nodded to where his siblings were located. They’d planned to meet at the pizza place, but Piper had sent a text changing the location at the last minute.
“We ordered you some lunch,” Cooper said when Zack sat down. “We were starving, and we didn’t want to wait.”
It sounded like there might be an apology somewhere in that statement, but Cooper wasn’t one to go around saying he was sorry all of the time. He did, however, always admit to his mistakes. In Zack’s opinion that was a more important trait.
“I might forgive you depending on what you ordered for me.”
“The heart attack special. Bacon double cheeseburger and house fries. Plus a soda. You’re welcome. Admit it’s what you really wanted, but you would have ordered a grilled chicken and some salad while talking about your personal trainer back in the city.”
Zack wasn’t going to give in that easily. But it did sound delicious.
And I don’t have a personal trainer.
“What did you order for yourself?”
“The same. Extra cheese.”
I should have known.
“Then thank you.” He turned to Piper and gave her a hug. She had a stack of papers in front of her on the table. “How you doing, sis?”
“I’m fine. You should stop by my loft. I made chocolate chip cookies this morning, and some cinnamon rolls.”
Zack was a sucker for cinnamon rolls. He knew the bakeries in the city where he could get the best ones.
“I’m going to have to do that.” He tapped the papers on the table. “Are you writing a cookbook, too? If you aren’t, you should.”
“I am,” Piper agreed. “But that’s not what this is.”
Zack exchanged a look with his brother, who was wearing his usual slightly happy but enigmatic expression.
“Is it something that you want to show me?”
“Eventually.” Piper took a sip from her soda before continuing. “I have it with me because I spoke with Finn this morning. I want him to put a full-time detective on Mom’s disappearance since Sarah has been found.”
He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react. His sister was giving him an expectant look while Cooper was sitting across from them acting like they talked about murder investigations every day.
He might be right. We do talk about it.
“What did Finn say to your request?”
“He said that he doesn’t have those sorts of resources. I suggested Deputy Blake since he was on the job back then, but Finn told me that Blake is busy with Sarah’s case right now. I’ve worked on Mom’s disappearance a bit myself—”
“Wait,” Zack said, holding up his hand. “You’ve been working on it? What do you know about murder investigations?”
“More than most of the cops in this town before Finn came in and cleaned house,” Piper replied, her tone laced with bitterness. “I couldn’t have done any worse than they did. They botched it from day one. You know I’m right.”
