AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Luc was such a Sexist. Overprotective. Butthead.
But she was getting used to that.
It was best for Pen that they be in Finley Creek now. Everything she’d done for the past eighteen years had been with that thought in mind. She didn’t have a single regret. She wasn’t beingkeptby her older brother—hewas helping herkeepPen. Give her baby sister the future Pen deserved.
Helping Zoey help Pen feelsafein the world.
That was worth Zoey swallowing her pride more than anything.
“Hey, I need to talk to my assistant here,” Zoey told Pen. “Then…want to grab dinner at Mamaw’s with your sister?”
“I can’t. We’ve kind of already made plans with Jo-Jo tonight. There is this new band, and they are playing at the auditorium, and Jo-Jo met the drummer during orchestra practice. He has two friends she said were really cute and could actually string words together coherently and…”
And Pen wanted to go. A band, hot guys, and her two besties. Of course. Zoey got it. “Just be careful. Don’t let anyone buy you drinks, that kind of thing.”
“I’m almost nineteen. No drinks ever.”
Sydney was twenty-two, but she didn’t drink either. She was definitely responsible enough to keep Pen out of trouble. “Just take your bodyguards and have fun. But first, I need Sydney for a few minutes. Across the street.”
“Did you find something?”
“I’m not sure. I have some names I want Syd to track down when she can.”
“Great. I’m going to go shower.” Pen shot them both a smile. “Don’t leave without me. Did you see the guitar player, Syd? Seriously broad shoulders, and wow.”
As soon as her sister bounded up the stairs like a happy puppy, Zoey turned toward Sydney. Who was shaking her head and snickering.
“What?”
“I did see that guitarist, actually. He looks remarkably like Tucker Barratt. But don’t tell her I said that. I’m waiting to see how long it takes her to realize it. As long as Jo-Jo doesn’t tell her, anyway.”
Oh, that was good. Hilarious. Pen and that particular man they knew through Melody and Houghton sniped and snarled like rottweilers whenever they got too close. Zoey laughed, then turned serious. “I need you to do something for me. I have a list of names from the Garrity Medical Clinic. I finally made it through the files.”
“I’ll see what I can find. It might take me a week or two, though. I’m still digging into those photos.”
“However long it takes. I just want answers. So we can put this behind us and move on.”
“No other choice, you know. Just keep going on. One day at a time.” Sydney shook her head, a look in her eyes that Zoey recognized far too well.
Zoey hugged the redhead. The younger woman was getting better. Healing. The hurt would never fully go away, but there was hope now that Sydney would one day be happy again.
Wasn’t hope all any of them really had, when it came down to it?
“Any particular name you want me to focus on?”
“She wanted to be buried with her father. I have a list of names of potentials in that graveyard who would have been around the right age to have fathered her. Find their children for me. We’ll go from there. If we can just find someone who may have attended the church at the same time she did, I’d be happy. It would at least be another direction to look in.”
“Aye-aye, Captain Zo-Zo. Your wish is my command. But for tonight, there is a hot band guy with my name on his lips. At least for dinner, anyway. I’ve had my fill of celebrity boy toys. They are just too much trouble.”
“Have fun—and keep my baby sister out of trouble, will you?” A thought occurred to her, as she imagined Sydney, Pen, and the irrepressible Josie Connors out there somewhere together with three young guys. “And keep Jo-Jo under control if you can. That girl is going to get into trouble someday. Trouble her brother-in-law won’t be able to get her out of, mayor of Finley Creek or not.”
“But that is what makes Jo-Jo so much fun. And while we’re out being young and living…free, such that we can with two bodyguards shadowing our every move, why don’t you go find yourself a sexy man of your own? You deserve a night out once in a while, too, you know.”
“I think I’m going to stay home. I have a list of names of my own to go through tonight.” Finding those answers mattered.Thatwas where her focus was going to be. Even if Murdoch Lake had just popped into her head instantly. Nope. Wasn’t going to go there. She’d spent three days deciding just that. “Once I know all of Denise’s secrets, then I’ll worry about all that other stuff.”
“Can’t spend your entire life alone. Or so I’ve heard. Me, I’m rather looking forward to it. At least for a while, anyway. I’ll probably get married and have five babies someday. I’m thinking when I’m thirty. Thirty sounds like a good number.”
“I’m thinking thirty-five actually. Thirty is a bit too close.”
