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Cade
Mine in Sweetbriarmeant nothing when her other ex-husband was on his way here to be with her. To be fair, it was my own damn fault for not throwing down and declaring what I wanted from the get-go. I had never been afraid to be direct with any woman—only Charlotte. I had wanted to avoid scaring her off, avoid putting too much pressure on rekindling our relationship.
Now it was coming back to bite me on the ass.
But as the only woman who held the power to hurt me, it made sense how I behaved toward her. My heart was in her hands, and it terrified me. I’d lost her once before and the thought of not having her in my life tore me up inside.
I was on duty for the rest of the night, so having a few beers at Holloway’s to unwind and think this over was not something I could do right now. Instead, I headed back to the station to meet up with Trevor. Hopefully he had information on Sweetbriar’s newest visitor and current thorn in my side.
I found Trevor in his office. Paperwork was the bane of our existence, and he was catching up on a mountain of it. His laptop was open, and a huge cup of coffee was in his hand.
“Hey,” he greeted when he spotted me. “I thought you’d still be at Vi’s. I was about to text you what I found out, which was a big nothing. I followed him to the Mountain Breeze Motel. Howard Winthrop really is an attorney from Pennsylvania. His ID checks out—clean record, owns his own home, divorced, no children, good credit. I found nothing amiss. On paper he’s upstanding and his room is paid up until the end of the week.”
“Damn it. I—”
“Hey, I get it. If he’s hiding something, we’ll just have to wait until whatever it is plays out. Don’t stop trusting your gut. Your instincts have never been wrong.”
“Thanks, man. I still want to keep an eye on him. Something is off, I just know it. And let’s keep Charlotte on our radar too. She’s not telling me something, and I have a bad feeling about it.” What I couldn’t get a handle on was where these suspicions were coming from.
I was frustrated that my logic was clouded by her presence. I couldn’t seem to see past my fear of potential heartbreak. Was the bad feeling due to Trent and her relationship with him? Was that what she was hiding from me? Was it simply jealousy I felt, or something more?
“How are things going with her?” Trevor interrupted my spiraling thoughts, and I was grateful.
“Her ex-husband—the other one—is coming for a visit.” I sat in the chair across from his desk.
“Shit. I’m sorry, man.”
“I was at Vi’s book club and a text popped up on Charlotte’s phone. He called her ‘darling’. I read it and just got up and left. I told her I had to go back to work. I feel like an ass, but I—”
“I mean, you did have to come back here tonight, so that’s not a lie. But you didn’t at least let her explain first?”
I shook my head. I had definitely messed up tonight. “Well, it was in the middle of the Q and A, and it was crowded. I couldn’t exactly have a deep conversation at that point—”
“That makes sense. But you need to talk about this stuff with her, Cade. Quit reacting and running.”
“You’re probably right,” I hedged.
“I’m totally right.” His smile was understanding. “I almost lost your sister because I was a stubborn fool. Keeping your feelings to yourself is never a good idea. It’s like putting off the inevitable. You should know this. You were there for the worst of what happened between Rose and me.”
“Yeah, and I’m still sorry for punching you.” At one point, he’d broken up with her for what he thought was her own good. Rose was devastated, and in classic big brotherly fashion, I took it out all over his face.
“Don’t be.” He chuckled. “You knocked the sense back into me and it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”
“Sure did.”
“Want to grab a drink at Holloway’s after shift? I’m buying. The kids are at my parent’s place for the night. And Rose is at book club, of course. She’s staying to help Vi clean up after.”
“I should probably try to get ahold of Charlotte and apologize for running out on her.”
“Rose said she’s sticking around the shop after it ends too.”
“Sounds good. Then I’ll catch up with her after, or tomorrow morning first thing, if it runs late.”
“Good. Be proactive and send flowers. That sort of worked for me with Rose.”
“Good idea.” I pulled up the Sweetbriar flower shop’s website on my phone and placed an order to arrive in the morning. “I don’t want to interrupt her again, anyway. They were asking her some pretty intense questions that I don’t think I want to be around for. I got the sense that me being there was making it worse for her. Which reminds me, I need to read the latest Adaline book. I guess there’s a new character sort of named after me. She wouldn’t really do that . . . would she?”
“According to Rose, yes she would.”
I grinned. “I need to dig up my copy and read it for myself.”
“Maybe it will give you a clue, detective.” His smirk was only sort of infuriating since I deserved it.
“I guess it’s my turn to take all the shit.”
“Now that you put it that way, I’ll try to come up with more to bust your chops with.”
“Thanks a lot—”
My dad at the door interrupted us. “I need you both to head to the hospital. Old man McMillon was just held up in his house. He’s hurt and shaken up, but he’ll pull through.”
“Shit, that’s terrible. He’s got to be at least eighty years old,” Trevor remarked as he stood.
“As horrible as that is, it’s not the worst part.” Dad’s face was stone. “Whoever it was took his phone, laptop, and the keys to all his properties. It’s all hands on deck tonight. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of this.”
“Damn.” I was glad I’d already put Charlotte on our radar. But I’d check on her myself tonight to be sure.
“We got this. Let’s head out. Meet you there.” Trevor took off, but I lingered to ask my dad a few more questions.
“Do you think this could have anything to do with Charlotte and the crash?” There was no logical reason for me to tie the two events together. Bethany Rhodes had been in the other car and she definitely had nothing to do with what had happened tonight—I had seen her lurking at Violet’s book club, and no one could be in two places at once—but my mind still wouldn’t let it go.
“I don’t see how. But it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on her. She’s with Vi at the shop now. If it’s like every other book club meeting they’ve ever had, they’ll go for a few more hours at least. She’ll be fine while she’s there. Are Matt and Quinn still doing extra patrol on her street?”
