Page 109 of Hometown Hottie

He shook his head at me, though, the lines on his face seeming deeper tonight than they had been even on Sunday. “Thank you, but I won’t take up too much of your time. I need to get back down to the station and get started on the paperwork.”

“Whatever you need,” Dad said, his voice gruff and tired. “Go ahead.”

The sheriff nodded at him, then had quick conversations with Carson, Ryan, Mom, and Dad. He jotted down notes and told them he’d be contacting them with more questions, and then he came to sit down across from me.

His dark eyes intently focused on mine, and my pulse spiked. As he regarded me for a long moment without saying anything, I swore I saw suspicion shining back at me. I frowned and the sheriff cocked his head in response.

“You’ve been having some money troubles around here, am I right?”

Ryan tensed and Carson reached out to grab his shoulder when he started forward. Both of their faces were suddenly set in hard scowls, and Dad’s head reared back like he’d been smacked.

“What is the meaning of this, Joshua?”

He exhaled deeply, glancing at my dad with an apologetic shrug. “I’m sorry, George, but it needs to be asked.”

I felt like a freaking criminal, but I held his gaze evenly when he looked back at me. “All of that has been sorted out, and not by setting fire to the bakery. Realistically, burning down the bakery would only set us back more. It’s been an extremely lucrative business and the money we’ll get from the insurance won’t cover the very real losses we’re going to suffer every day that I’m not open.”

“How do you know that?” he asked. “How do you know how much your insurance will cover?”

I let out an incredulous, humorless laugh. “Because it’s my business, Sheriff Dawes. There’s nothing I don’t know about it. I realize that you have to ask what you have to ask, but with all due respect, you’re wasting your time if you’re going to keep going down this road.”

He gave me another long look before he nodded. “I’ll look into it and call you if I have more questions. How does that sound?”

“Fine,” I replied, doing my best not to snap at an officer of the law. “Is there anything else?”

“Did you leave anything on in there this afternoon?” he asked.

Once again, the question really pissed off Ryan and Carson, and both of them surged forward. Only a hard look from my dad stopped them from interrupting. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair repeatedly, honestly trying to remember if I’d shut everything off this afternoon like I always did.

“I have a routine, sir,” I said honestly. “It’s the same thing every day and I never vary from it. Part of that routine is a final round to make sure everything is off. The stoves. The ovens. Everything. Between the safety issues and budgetary constraints, I just can’t afford to do it any other way.”

The sheriff made another note and stood up, giving me a final nod. “Alright, then. Thanks, folks. I’ll be in touch again in the morning.”

“Sheriff?” Carson took a step forward with his jaw hard but he forced himself to be polite. When the man looked back at him from the door, he continued. “Why did you start with that question? The one about the money troubles, I mean. A cash flow problem doesn’t start a fire.”

“No, it doesn’t,” the sheriff agreed easily before looking at me again. “People who have cash problems sometimes do, though. The fire department has noticed something suspicious. It might be arson, but we’ll know more in the morning.”

With that, he left. Mom and Dad hugged me goodbye before they followed, both of them looking completely wiped out after all that. Once they were gone, Ryan glanced at Carson and tipped his head toward my porch. “Can we talk?”

“Sure,” Carson said, sending me a confused look before he followed my brother out the door.

I had no idea what Ryan wanted to talk to him about either, so I couldn’t help even if I wanted to.

My brother’s voice filtered in from outside once they started their private little chat. It was quiet enough around here tonight that I heard most of it. “Look, I don’t like it, but I’m worried about Nova and I want you to stay with her.”

“Me? Why? I mean, I will if she’ll let me, but why don’t you stay with her?”

Ryan muttered something I couldn’t hear, but I caught the last part. “—angrier at me than at you. If I stay, I’ll only make it worse.”

A few seconds later, he strode back into my cottage, eyes cloudy with worry when they met mine. “If it’s okay with you, Carson is going to stay here tonight. Make sure everything’s okay.”

I jerked my chin in a nod, still sitting on the sofa where I’d been with Mom and not really knowing what to do or say about any of this. “Sure. That’s fine. I don’t need a babysitter, but I’m too tired to argue.”

“Good.” He crossed the distance between us quickly, pausing for a second before he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Try to get some sleep, sis. We’ll figure it all out tomorrow. Don’t worry, okay?”

I grumbled something in response, but not even I was sure what I’d said or what I’d meant to say. Instead of trying again, I merely waved at him. He left and Carson came back in, shutting the door behind himself.

“Can I make you some tea?” he asked, clearly a little uncomfortable as he hovered right near my door, not coming any closer but looking directly at me. “Earl Grey, right? You’re upset. That’s what you like when you’re upset?”