Chapter Fourteen
Drew followed the line of cars working their way into the high school parking lot and noticed Tina leaning against her dad’s late model Civic. Her tight little running shorts had distracted him all morning, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she knew it.
She glanced up when he approached.
“Hey,” he said.
“I thought you went home to shower?” she said.
“On my way.”
Her phone buzzed.
He glanced down at Tina’s phone, saw the same image on every sent section of her text messaging. “Is that the sheriff and that guy?”
Tina opened the image for him to see it clearly. “He’s really hot.”
Drew pulled his gaze from his coach’s ass in the picture to look at the man. “If you like ancient guys.”
“He’s not old.”
Drew rolled his eyes. “He is for you.”
Tina pulled her phone away from his sight. “Whatever.” She pushed off the side of the car and slid behind the driver’s seat.
Drew backed up as she started the engine.
He’d bet money she was still upset he hadn’t wanted to go to homecoming. You would think with prom around the corner she’d be a little nicer.
Mel refilled the coffee of the guests that had come down to breakfast. Because it was midweek, Zoe wasn’t in the kitchen cooking breakfast for Miss Gina. But she had planned the menu and tutored Mel in cooking something other than scrambled eggs and bacon. Not that her culinary efforts would ever give her celebrity status. Still, the banana pancakes and quiche made the guests feel like they were anywhere but home, eating the same old stuff.
Mel felt her phone buzz in her pocket but didn’t reach for it until after she’d cleared dishes from one table and refilled juice glasses at another.
She loaded the dishwasher once she returned to the kitchen and felt her phone buzz again.
A text from Brenda at Sam’s diner was out of character.
Mel clicked on it to open a picture. She squealed, fumbled, and dropped her phone in the dishwasher.
She muttered a curse and hoped the screen hadn’t cracked.
A sigh of relief was quickly followed by another tiny squeal.
Looked like Jo’s McHottie was in town.
Mel widened the image. Oh, the man was a perfect fit for her friend. Mel did a silent happy dance, quickly copied the image, and sent it to Zoe.
Once the image said delivered, she waited.
“C’mon, Zoe.”
Finally, a dot dot dot on the screen had Mel squirming.
OMG, he is soooo Jo!
I know! Mel texted back.
I need to go to the station.
Not without me!
They negotiated a time, and Mel hurried out the back door to find Miss Gina and share the news.
Luke dug his shovel into the wet cement and kept pulling air from the mix while Wyatt and Sam continued mixing bags upon bags to fill the hole.
His cell phone buzzed.
Wyatt, bent over a new bag, reached for his back pocket. He grinned.
Luke’s phone buzzed again. When he looked, he saw Jo being kissed by a man twice her size by the high school bleachers. “’Bout time,” he muttered to himself before returning his cell phone to his back pocket.
Sam reached for the small of his back and bitched. “How many more bags is this gonna take?”
Wyatt glanced around. “Five, maybe six.”
“Damn thing is a sinkhole.”
Luke nodded. “Sure as hell is.”
Jo parked in front of the station, like she always did.
Glynis’s car rested in her designated spot. She was early.
Gill stood in front of the squad car, looked down the span of the street. “What’s going on down there?” he asked.
“Pothole.” Jo waved when she saw Wyatt’s head pop up.
“Looks like a serious hazard.”
“They can take care of it.”
If Gill had more questions, he didn’t ask.
Glynis jumped the minute Jo pushed through the door, her hand moved behind her back.
“Morning, Glynis.”
Her help stared at Gill.
Blushing.
Gossip was already flying. Jo could feel it.
“Glynis, this is Agent Gill Clausen. He works with Agent Burton. You remember her, right?”
She nodded a couple of times. “Of course I remember. You two were partners?”
“Are,” Gill said. “We work together in Eugene.”
“Oh, that’s nice. Uhm, can I get you anything? Coffee?”
Jo smirked. Since when did Glynis play hostess?
“I’m sure I can find it,” Gill said. “But thanks for offering.”
“Oh, no problem. Any friend of Jo’s is a friend of ours.”
“Ours?” Gill asked, looking around the empty station.
“The town. I mean . . . I’m not speaking for the whole town, but, well . . . oh, I don’t know what I’m saying. Welcome to River Bend.”
“Thank you, Glynis.”
Jo thought the woman was going to faint for all the color that reached her cheeks.
When Jo moved into her office, and out of earshot of Glynis, she said, “You’re going to turn a lot of heads today. Keep your ego in check.”
“I’ll try.” Gill stepped into her office. The size of the man took up quite a bit of space. “How much of this has changed since your dad was alive?”
The question took her off guard.
“Not a lot. He was efficient and wasn’t afraid of computers and technology. It wasn’t like I had to come in and update his world.”
“His world,” Gill repeated.
Jo moved around her desk, glanced at the mail from the previous day that she needed to follow up on. “It felt like his world for the first year.”
“I would think it still feels like his place.”
Jo glanced around the same walls, the same art . . . the same paint. “Sometimes. Little changes around here.”
“That should make it easier to investigate a ten-year-old case.”
She narrowed her eyes. Hope filled her chest. “Is that why you’re here? You think there’s something to look into?”
He stepped close enough for her to smell his mouthwash . . . or maybe that was hers.
“I’m here to see you. Your dad’s case is a side note, and my case is an excuse.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
He was smooth, she’d give him that.
The bell over the front door of the station rang, and Jo heard her best friends greeting Glynis.
“And so it begins.”
“What?”
Jo didn’t answer, she simply painted on a smile and stared at her office door.
Mel ducked in first, with Zoe close on her heels. Mel looked like she’d run from Miss Gina’s kitchen before clearing the breakfast dishes. If Jo wasn’t mistaken, there was flour on her cheek. And Zoe . . . in rare form, was wearing yoga pants and a T-shirt. An outfit Jo had seen many times because of their BFF status, but an outfit Zoe didn’t wear outside the comfort of her own home.
“Hey, Jo,” Zoe said.
Neither of them looked at her, both had their eyes on Gill.
“Oh, my God. Could you two be more obvious?”
Mel walked forward, extended her hand. “I’m Mel, this is Zoe. We’re Jo’s best friends. You must be Gill.”
Gill shook Mel’s hand. “I guess it’s a good thing you have my name right.”
Jo rolled her eyes.
“She described you perfectly,” Zoe told him.
Jo wanted to crawl under the table. “I did not.”
“You said big and mmmm!”
Gill laughed, moved in to shake Zoe’s hand. “I think I’m gonna like your friends, JoAnne.”
Mel glanced at Zoe. “He calls her JoAnne. Isn’t that cute.”
“For the love . . .” Jo said. “How did you guys find out he was here so fast anyway?”
“Mel texted me,” Zoe said.
“Brenda from the diner texted me, and her daughter, Tina—”
Jo sighed. “I get the picture.” She turned to Gill. “Tina is one of my runners that saw you at the school.”
“Ah.” He shrugged.
“I’m sure half of River Bend has a picture of you two kissing.”
“Kissing?”
Mel pulled her phone from her back pocket, showed the image to Jo.
Jo slapped a hand to Gill’s chest. “I’m blaming you,” she told him.
He looked at the photo, wasn’t fazed. “Not my best side, but I’ll take it.”
“You’re killing me,” Jo said, sliding into her chair. The day was going to be shot, and the calls would flood in.
“I’m guessing your town sheriff doesn’t have many men kissing her around here.”
Zoe leaned against the desk. “Not since she was eighteen.”
“Even then it was more like Waterville and not River Bend. Right, Jo?”
Jo didn’t answer. “Are we really having this conversation?”
Mel waved her off. “You’re a federal agent?”
“I am.”
“And you live in Eugene?” Zoe asked.
“I do.”
“Eugene isn’t that far,” Mel started.
Jo stood, slapped her hands on the desk. “Okay, enough.” She walked around the desk, shoving her friends with both hands toward the door. “I love you both, you know that. But get out of here. You’re embarrassing the hell out of me.”
Zoe looked over Jo’s shoulder. “I can make dinner tonight.”
“Get. Out!” Jo shoved until they’d both cleared the door and closed it behind them.
Gill stood by her desk, laughing. “Big and mmmm?”