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After dinner, Murphy finally laid his cutlery on his plate and sighed, rolling up his sleeves as he leaned back in his chair. “Seriously, Sara, what’s in this? I’m not sure I’ve had anything that good in my life.”
Sara laughed as she pushed the last of the garlic bread closer to Murphy’s plate. Even after all these years, he always made her feel like a celebrity chef. “It’s nothing that complicated, really. Just bechamel sauce with some chanterelle mushrooms I sautéed in butter, chardonnay, and thyme. It’s the crispy sage on top that makes it special, I think.”
“Well, it’s delicious.” Jennifer smiled and smoothed a hand over her belly. “I highly recommend that every pregnant woman get themselves a chef for a sister.”
Sara laughed as she started to gather the plates, but Sam gestured for her to sit as she and Murphy stood to clear the table. “I already had it in the oven when you called, and I made way too much anyway. We’re cooking for more people now with Moxie, but she wasn’t hungry tonight.”
“Is she okay?” Sam put the plates in the sink and hit the button on the coffee maker. “I haven’t seen her since I dropped her off at the pickup basketball game this afternoon in town. I offered to drive in to get her in a couple of hours, but she wanted to walk back.” Sam pulled four mugs out of the cupboard and handed them to Murphy. “I should probably be checking in on her more, but I got snowed under some paperwork at Lake Haven.”
“She’s fine, I think. She just probably wanted some time to explore.” Sara dropped her voice, glancing up the log stairs to the office door that was still closed. “I was telling Mary about her this afternoon, and she said Moxie has already been into the store, so that’s a good thing. Everyone needs a little Mary in her life.”
“Gospel truth right there.” Jennifer nodded as she took the cream and sugar set Sam handed her and placed them in the middle of the table. “Moxie is your foster placement, right? I can’t believe we haven’t talked about this yet. Tell me everything.”
Sara nodded. “Last night was her first night with us, and I almost screwed it up. She had a panicky moment when she walked into her room, and her stuff wasn’t on her bed.”
“I’ll have to tell you the story another time,” Sam said, lowering her voice to a whisper and glancing up the stairs. “But everything she owned was shoved into this beat-up plastic trash bag. I promised her it would be in her room when she got to our house—”
“But I wanted it to feel like home,” Sara cut in with a sigh. “So I unpacked all her clothes and washed them, then put them away in the dresser.” She leaned back in her chair and glanced at the coffee maker as Sam poured the steaming pot into a carafe. “When she realized that no one had taken her stuff, that it was just clean and put away, she just stood there for a moment. Then she sighed and put her hand over her chest like she’d been holding that same breath all day.” Sara paused, her voice more thought than words. “When I took her a sandwich a few minutes later, she’d fallen asleep on the bed, still wearing the same thing.” Sara paused. “She looked exhausted and pale, like she hadn’t slept in days.”
“I can’t wait to meet her.” Jennifer stirred a spoonful of brown sugar into her coffee. “To be honest, I can’t believe you guys haven’t gone this direction before now.”
“I guess I just never thought about it.” Sam winked at Sara and took an almond-dotted amaretto cookie from the plate in the center of the table. “That’s what happens when I’m too busy trying to knock up your sister.”
Everyone laughed at that, and it was a moment before any of them realized Moxie was coming down the staircase. She stopped short when she looked up and seemed to realize that Sam and Sara had guests over. When she finally spoke, her voice was low and tentative. “Um…Sam?”
“Hey, Moxie.” Sam pushed her chair back from the table. “Feel like eating yet?”
She shook her head, her slender shoulders almost lost in the black Adidas hoodie that would have been too big for Sam at nearly six feet. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had people over. I can ask later.” Her voice faded as she turned, her footsteps as silent as her thoughts.
“Wait, do you need to talk alone? We can do that.” Sam stood and nodded toward the chairs around the fireplace, her voice gentle.
“But while you’re here, this is Sara’s sister, Jennifer, and her husband, Murphy. Murphy works with me down at the station.”
Moxie stopped on the stairs, motionless, then turned slowly around. “So you’re both cops?”
The air shifted, and all eyes were on Moxie as Sam pulled out a chair at the table for her. She sat, tucking a glossy lock of hair behind her ear and looking steadily at Jennifer and Murphy. Sam didn’t even try to hide her smile; it was exactly how she’d stared Sam down over the barrel of the gun in Moxie Java.
Moxie took a few seconds, as if to choose her words, before she started talking, tugging at the hair elastic around her wrist. When she finally looked up, she spoke directly to Sam, her voice hesitant but determined in the same breath. “I have a friend from my neighborhood in Boise, another foster kid. Her name is Kylie. She told me a few months ago that she was getting transferred to my caseworker, and since then, she’s been in two different placements.” She looked at her wrist again, and this time, Sara watched as Sam noticed the fine white scars across them. “And in both, she’s had the same trouble with, like…her bedroom door at night.”
Murphy shook his head, and Jennifer held her gaze with kind eyes. Even though Sam was the only one with the backstory, Moxie’s meaning was clear.
“I just got an email from her, and now she’s headed somewhere else.” Moxie faltered, glancing at Sam. “It’s the same place that deputy thought he was leaving me before I met Sam in Moxie Java.” Moxie traced the grain of the table with her thumbnail.
Sam nodded, glancing across the table at Sara before she spoke. “Actually, it may help us going forward if everyone knows what happened. Is it okay to tell them?”
Moxie nodded, then locked eyes with Jennifer and Murphy, leaning forward on the table as she spoke. “Or how about I just save us some time and give you a highlight reel.”
“God, I love this kid already.” Murphy laughed, settling back in his chair. “Go on, Moxie. Hit me with the highlights.”
“Okay.” She pushed up the sleeves of her hoodie and leaned back in her chair. “The Boise deputy who was supposed to take me to my new foster placement in McCall tried to leave me at this massive house on the lake that didn’t feel right. I made him leave and take me to town, and when I told him I wasn’t going back to that place, he took out his gun and put it on the table like a threat or something. By the time Sam walked in, I was up front with the gun, and everyone in there was scared to death, me most of all.” Moxie took a breath, her voice softer, unsure. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I know it looked like I was robbing the place, but I didn’t want money or anything. I just knew that if he left me there, something bad would happen again, and I figured nothing was worse than that. Even jail.”
“So…” Sam pulled a notebook out of her pocket but dropped it back in as soon as she caught the look on Sara’s face. “The place he took you is here in McCall?”
Moxie nodded. “Remember when I told you he was so angry because he thought I would jump at an offer, and I didn’t?” She shook her head as if to clear the memory from her mind. “I just refused to let him leave me at that house. He didn’t know what to do, and both of them were pissed off.”
“Wait, who is them? There was more than just that deputy?” Sara got a small plate from the cupboard, dished up some lasagna and salad, and pushed it down the table.
Moxie pulled it toward her and picked up her fork. “You really want me to eat this, don’t you?”
