Ava walked into the back of the store to find her dad sitting next to Janna at her workbench. He didn’t often come into the store anymore, having retired from the business years back. For a year or so after her mom died, Ava worried he might go downhill fast. He didn’t get out as much and seemed to have lost interest in doing anything. Then he started going to a senior center in town a couple of times a week, and that seemed to help.

He still took the bus there three or more days a week to play cards and hang out with the men he called “his buddies.”

“Dad, what are you doing here?” She brushed a kiss to his cheek.

He tipped his head toward Janna. “Just visiting my girl, here. And I thought I’d just be around for closing.”

Ava pressed her lips together, resisting the urge to say more. He must have heard about the assault on the jewelry store employee in the latest robbery.

“Can you give me a hand out in the showroom with one of the displays? I could use your advice on the best way to highlight a few of the new bracelets Janna made.”

Her father nodded, most likely seeing through the ruse. So long as Janna didn’t see through it, they’d be okay. Janna was anxious enough about the world without knowing there was a threat that was hitting closer to home than usual.

He followed her out to the showroom where Carlyle, their only full-time employee, was cleaning some of the glass cases. It was close to closing time, and they likely wouldn’t have a lot of customers between now and then.

“Dad,” Ava said, turning away from Carlyle and speaking under her breath. “You know the robberies are targeting smaller stores? They likely won’t target a store with a guard present and an alarm system.”

“You sound like you know a lot about these robberies.”

She could feel her cheeks flush, though she didn’t know why.

“A friend of mine is on the police force. He came by to make sure we had a good security system in place.”

“He?” Her dad’s brows went up. There was a time in high school when he would have been all over any guy who wanted to date her. Right now, her dad didn’t have protection etched on his face. He looked hopeful. That said something about Ava’s love life, or lack thereof. Her own dad looked ready to push her on the first man she’d mentioned in God knew how long.

She raised her hand, palm out to put a stop to any ideas he was getting. “We’re old friends. Nothing more.”

“Why haven’t I heard of this old friend?”

Ava shrugged. “We dated in college.”

Her dad’s face clouded. He always regretted the fact she’d left college to come home after his heart attack. He had tried a number of times to get her to go back, telling her she needed to experience college instead taking care of an old man while she got her degree online.

She hadn’t agreed and the point was moot now. She was well past the age when she wanted to go back to college on campus.

“Are you dating now?”

She huffed out a laugh. “I thought the nothing more part covered that. We’re not dating. Just friends.”

She ignored the part of her that wished like hell that wasn’t true. John had made it clear he wouldn’t marry again.

Who says you need marriage?

The little voice in her head wasn’t necessarily wrong. Yes, she wanted marriage and a family of her own someday, but with the amount of time she put into the store and taking care of her dad and her sister, was that really realistic?

Would a man ever understand that she might need to drop everything to run and help Janna if her sister was having a bad night? Or that she might need to sleep up at the main house some nights? Or that she would never feel comfortable moving out of her small converted garage house because she couldn’t stand the idea of moving away from Janna and her dad?

She shook her head, clearing out the thoughts clinging there. “Anyway, John said they’re targeting small shops in lower end parts of town. We’re probably safe from this.”

Her dad nodded. “Just in case, I’m going to start spending time here toward closing time. We can tell Janna I’m getting lonely at the house.”

All the robberies had taken place at the end of the day. Ava would guess it had to do with having a full register, although that was a little silly when she thought about it. Most of their business was credit cards nowadays. Maybe they were hitting shops then because there were fewer customers to worry about.

She hugged her dad. “Okay, you sit with Janna, and I’ll help Carlyle close up out here.” She nodded to where one of their guards was standing by the door. “Marco will walk us all out when we’re ready to go.”

He went back to the workroom, leaving Ava to finish closing out the register and shutting things down for the night. It was too bad she couldn’t shut down the thoughts in her brain. She couldn’t stop thinking about John and whether he might be interested in something that was more than friendship but less than headed-toward-marriage. Because she suddenly very much wanted something less than headed-toward-marriage with him.