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She didn’t have the time or energy to sort out a brooding war vet with trouble in his eyes and sin on his lips.
* * *
“IS THIS FOR your granny, Scarlett, or have you taken up knitting, too?”
Scarlett dropped the two skeins of yarn on the counter. “Me? Knit? You’ve gotta be kidding.”
Barbara, the owner of A Stitch in Time, rang up the yarn on her register. “You’re so artistic, you could probably do it.”
“Totally different kind of art, Barbara.”
“I like those pretty landscapes you do.” Barbara pursed her lips and stuffed the yarn into a bag.
Scarlett covered her smile with her hand. Barbara didn’t have to like her modern art—enough people did.
“Thanks, Barbara.”
“You know,” Barbara said, and shook her finger at Scarlett, “you should do some local crafts, like Vanessa Love does with those Libby Love frogs. Maybe something...Native American.”
“You mean like dream catchers and tom-toms?” Scarlett raised her brows. “Ah, no. I don’t do that kind of stuff.”
Reaching for her wallet, Scarlett glanced out the window just in time to see her cousin duck into Sutter’s Restaurant. “How much do I owe you, Barbara? I just saw Jason go into Sutter’s and I’m going to try to catch him.”
“That’ll be ten dollars and fifty cents. Your cousin is always at Sutter’s.” She cleared her throat. “Not that I’m spying out my window, mind you.”
“He’s dating a waitress there.” Scarlett put a ten on the counter and dug in her purse for two quarters. “Thanks, Barbara. You’re a lifesaver for finding that purple shade for me.”
“Anything for your granny, Scarlett.”
Scarlett tucked the bag beneath her arm and charged across the street to Sutter’s. Jason had been shirking his duty in checking up on Granny when Scarlett had been out of town and she planned to read him the riot act. He couldn’t dump all the responsibility on his sister, Annie.
The lunch crowd from Evergreen Software was thinning out, and Scarlett zeroed in on Jason lounging at the bar adjacent to the dining area. She waved off the hostess. “I’m going to the bar.”
She swung around to the side of the restaurant and snuck up behind Jason, tapping him on the shoulder. She grinned as he almost fell off the bar stool.
“Wow, cuz, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
She shook the yarn bag in his face. “It’s gonna be worse than that if you don’t start checking up on Granny more regularly.”
“She doesn’t want to see me. She’d rather see you and Annie.”
“That’s ridiculous and it doesn’t matter. She’s getting up there in age, and you need to check on her. You can’t leave that up all up to Annie. She’s busy with her new cleaning business.”
He shrugged, whipping his long hair back from his face. “Heard you found a dead body outside your place last night.”
“That’s a neat way to change the subject.” She perched on the stool next to him. “Yeah, some older guy—long, reddish-gray hair. I’d never seen him before.”
“And I thought your problems were over when that FBI agent killed Jordan Young.”
“Problems? The county sheriff’s department thinks someone dumped him on the road near my place and he made his way into the woods.” She folded her arms on the bar. “It’s not my problem.”
Chloe, Jason’s girlfriend, approached them, tucking a notepad into her apron. “Did they find out who the dead guy is yet?”
Scarlett rolled her eyes. “Does everyone know?”
“Of course.” Chloe snapped her gum. “It’s Timberline.”
Jason pinched Chloe’s hip. “I gotta go. Just popped in to say hi and, yes, I’ll check up on Granny more, Scarlett.”
“I’ll see you after work.” Chloe’s eyes widened as she stared past Jason’s shoulder. “Who is that?”
Scarlett jerked her head around just in time to meet Jim’s gaze across the dining room.
Jason growled. “He’s that racist SOB biker.”
Scarlett jabbed her cousin with her elbow. “Jim’s not like that. You’re talking about his father. What did happen to Slick Kennedy, anyway?”
