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Of course, she’d risked bunches herself when she’d written to Calen.
Emmy blamed her risky behavior on youth and the fact that the holidays made you think all things were possible. Movies likeIt’s a Wonderful LifeandA Christmas Carolegged you on. Once January reality set in, though, most of those holiday possibilities just seemed like pipe dreams.
Or in her case, a Texas-sized mistake.
Calen took a deep breath and reached for the Daddy letter just as his phone dinged. Because Emmy was sitting right next to him with her back against the sofa, she saw the name on the screen. Deputy Mick Webster.
Mick would be manning the sheriff’s office, so maybe something else had gone wrong. Or maybe the deputy just wanted an update since Calen had told him about the mail bag before he’d left the office.
“Tell me bad news didn’t come in fours,” Calen snarled when he took the call. Even though he didn’t put Mick on speaker, Emmy heard the deputy speak.
“Yeah, it did. Or rather fives,” he said, causing Calen to groan. “But I guess you could say the fourth one is just a continuation of bad news number three about all those letters and such your dad didn’t deliver. How many moredid you find?”
“Too many.” Calen was still snarling. Now, he put the call on speaker and began to put the small packages in a separate pile.“What’s wrong?”
“Word’s out about the mail,” Mick said, and this time it was Emmy who groaned. Well, that hadn’t taken long, less than two hours since she’d shown up atCalen’s office.
“How the hell did that happen?”Calen demanded.
Mick readily supplied the name of the dispatcher. “Junie. She has better hearing than she lets on. Anyway, she claims she only told one person, but it’s all over town. Folks have been dropping by and calling. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten any callsabout it yet.”
The words had barely left Mick’s mouth when Calen’s phone dinged with another call. “Sasha,” Calen grumbled when he saw the caller’s name. He didn’t answer it but rather stayed on theline with Mick.
“Folks are curious about the letters,” Mick went on. “And pissed off Waylon did something like this. I suspect some are worried, too, because there might be some secrets and such in those lettersand packages.”
“Secrets and such,” Calen repeated, eyeing the Daddy letter again. “Yeah, there could be.” He dragged in a long breath. “What’s bad news number five?”
“There was a problem with the mistletoe ball,” Mick said.
That caused Emmy to frown. The Mistletoe Ball wastheholiday party in a town jammed with parties and other seasonal celebrations. But despite her sour mood over the cheating anniversary, the ball was important since it raised money for her favorite cause, children’s literacy.
Thanks to the proceeds, the town library would be able to add dozens of books to the children’s reading area. Some might think that’d be competition a bookstore owner wouldn’t endorse, but Emmy just wanted the kids to read, whether they got the books from her or elsewhere.
“Not a problem with the party but the actual ball,” Mick went on. “The big, mirrored disco one that hangs over the dance floor. It fell, probably because of all the lights and mistletoe that had beenstrung on it.”
“Did anyone get hurt?” Calen asked.
“Just minor stuff. Pieces of the ball flew off and nicked a few people. Including the mayor,” Mick added, a smirk in his voice. “He was bent over at the time picking up something he dropped, and a sharp bit of the ball smacked him in the butt. Tore right through his pants and nicked his left ass cheek.”
Even though her ex, Owen, had remained as mayor, his name was pretty much mud, and folks were not expecting him to be reelected the following year. It was petty of Emmy to be happy about that, happy about the butt nick as well, but she had earned some petty points after whatOwen had done.
“You need me down at the civic center?” Calen asked.
“Nope. I’ve got it. You just keep dealing with the mail. Oh, and when you do come across secrets and scandals, give me the details,” Mick added with anamused chuckle.
Calen, who was clearly the opposite of amused, made a noncommittal sound and ended the call. He also ignored the next incoming call after grumbling, “It’sSasha, again.”
Emmy didn’t want to know why his ex-fiancée was calling, but it was possibly to complain about Owen’s butt injury. Maybe Sasha thought Calen could have prevented it. Or had arranged for it to happen. There was plenty of bad blood among the four of them, but Calen wouldn’t have done that. Emmy wouldn’t have arranged it either, but she would have had a good belly laugh since Owen had exposed that very butt cheek on the same night he’d been caught cheating with Sasha.
Calen’s phone continued to ding with more calls and texts. Emmy didn’t see who these were from, and Calen didn’t respond. He just sat there eyeing the letters, no doubt considering the firestorm their discovery was causing in the community. The firestorm it was causing in him too, because although Waylon hadn’t been the friendliest sort, she’d never known him tobreak the law.
She glanced at Calen, trying to figure out how she could help him. Hurting for him too. Of course, Emmy was also worrying about the Daddy letter and the one she’d taken from the mail bag before Calen had even gotten a chance to see it.
Did that mean she, too, was breaking the law?
Maybe. After all, once she’d put the letter in the mailbox, it was no longer hers but rather the property of the post office until it reached its destination. And that destination was the house where Calen had lived.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, drawing her attention back to him. Calen was studying her. “I mean other than the obvious.”
