Chapter Four
“How’s your knee?” Jess asked as she joined Taryn in her living room early Monday morning. After a night of therapeutic knitting—thanks to the teachings of her late Grandma Suzanne—she still had a lot of lingering stress and needed a friend fix. Rick was at work so the women were alone. Mostly. A pair of kittens played behind the curtains. “I can’t believe Summer talked you into taking two of those furballs.”
Taryn had sprained her knee during a stakeout after chasing three auto-parts thieves out of a salvage yard. She’d tripped over a sweet-tempered Basset hound that moonlighted—unsuccessfully—as a guard dog, and twisted her leg, all while managing to get photographic evidence to nail the criminally inclined trio.
“I’m doing well.” She adjusted her leg on the coffee table. “And if I hadn’t taken Peanut and Butter, Gretchen would have taken four and she’s already racing toward crazy cat lady at a rapid clip. Six cats are over the top.”
“Peanut and Butter?”
“Rick named them. He thinks he’s funny.”
One of the kittens—the orange and white one—was halfway up the curtain before turning and leap-falling back to the floor. Both women smiled. The little felines were very cute.
“So what’s up?” Taryn said. “You look stressed.”
“You could say that. Mandy’s wedding went sideways in a big way.” She told her about the shooting, Darren, and the Ann Arbor detective. She left out the handsome part, but left in all the reasons she disliked him. “Wheeler thinks I was the target and not Tom because of bridal party placement in line.”
“Why?” Shocked, Taryn hung on every word. “We don’t exactly move in dangerous circles.”
“That’s what I said.” Jess sighed. “But when the flower girl dropped her flowers as Darren started shouting, the procession stopped short. If that hadn’t happened, I might have been hit.”
“Or that Tom person was the target all along.”
Ever since Wheeler put the thought in her head, she’d been unable to shake the notion that he could be right. But who would want to shoot her? “Again, that’s what I told Mr. Know-it-all. I guess we’ll find out once we solve the case.”
“It sounds like you and the detective have some sparks going.” Taryn lifted a brow. “Is he hot?”
Jess scowled. “He is not hot.” Lie. She had to cut off any match-making at the knees. “The only sparks between us will be when I zap him with my Taser.”
Taryn fell silent and watched the kittens bat a toy mouse around. After a minute, she turned back. “What about Darren?”
“What about him?”
“Are there any lingering feelings?” Taryn and Summer knew all about her failed high school romance. Many nights of bonding over chocolate goodies and wine left little in their lives they didn’t share. “He was your first love and first heartbreak.”
Truthfully, she’d barely thought about her ex. The shooting was her focus. “Darren is dead to me. Not only did he damage my trust in men, but he’s still stuck on Mandy. Why in hell would I feel anything but the desire to back over him with my car?”
Taryn’s eyes danced. “I see. I’m relieved that you don’t harbor any negative emotions for the guy.”
Sounds of shuffling footsteps on the porch turned Taryn’s head toward the pair of windows in the front of the house. The lace sheers kept them from seeing out, but shadowy figures showed through.
“What’s that?” Jess asked.
“The boys.” The boys or Taryn’s boys were Taryn’s neighbors, college students who made life in a college town interesting with their mischief. “They’re loitering.”
“Okay. Why?”
“They think you’re hot and are waiting for you to come out so they can gawk.” She shrugged, then yelled, “Boys! Go home!”
“Awww!” came a loud chorus of voices. The footsteps shuffled off.
“I love those little buggers,” Taryn said. She wasn’t much older than the boys, but once they realized she wasn’t going to date any of them, she’d become a surrogate big sister to the lot. “They keep life fun.”
Taryn’s laptop pinged. She flipped it open and grinned. “Summer’s calling.” Jess sat down on the couch beside her while Taryn answered her Skype.
Summer’s tanned and smiling face appeared beneath a tangle of blond hair. A row of tropical flowers sat on a shelf on the wall behind her. She yawned and waved.
“Hi from Maui.” Summer wore a barely-there white nightgown and a shell necklace. “It’s supposed to be a beautiful eighty degrees today with no sign of rain.”
Summer did like her random facts.
“Isn’t it something like three a.m. there?” Taryn said.
“Hey, what are you doing calling us on your honeymoon?” Jess scolded. “Isn’t there a law against letting real life intrude? It should be all sex all the time.”
“Yeah,” Taryn interjected without letting Summer answer. “You should be rolling around naked in the sand with that hot husband of yours.”
“Are you in the bathroom?” Jess said, noticing that Summer was leaning back against what looked like a Jacuzzi tub. The flowers were on a shelf above it.
“Did that, and yes,” Summer cut in with a laugh. She glanced toward what Jess assumed was the bathroom door. “Jason is sleeping, and making love on the beach is fun while you’re doing it, but requires several showers afterward for sand removal.” She grinned and leaned in. “I’ve been taking a lot of showers.”
Jess and Taryn laughed. Summer was beaming. She told them about hikes to waterfalls and scuba diving among the reefs. She and Jason had gotten a basic certification at the hotel and were hooked. “Seeing fish up close is so much fun. I have tons of pictures to show you guys.”
“We miss you,” Jess and Taryn said.
After a few minutes of playing catchup, Summer’s expression turned serious. Her eyes shifted to Jess. “How are you doing, Jess?”
Jess knew what she was getting at. She puffed out a breath. This conversation was long overdue. “There is something.”
Taryn and Summer went silent.
“I should apologize for keeping secrets from you two.” She hadn’t been the best friend over the last couple of months. Secrets strained relationships. “I didn’t want to say anything until I had news. I found a lump in my right breast.”
Summer gasped. Taryn reached for her hand.
“It turned out to be a cyst, but my aunt and grandmother died of cancer. I worried that I might carry the BRCA gene.”
“Honey, you should have told us,” Summer scolded gently and touched the screen. Jess joined her fingertips with hers.
“We would have been there for you,” Taryn said.
Jess regretted not sharing. “It was a long couple of weeks between total panic and finally discovering that the lump wasn’t cancer. I’m not a BRCA carrier. It was made worse by not having a hand to hold. I should have leaned on you both.”
“We have strong shoulders,” Summer agreed, flexing her tanned and freckled pair.
“I’m sorry for that.” Jess squeezed Taryn’s hand. “I’ve gotten so used to being on my own that I felt I could handle this alone. I didn’t even tell my parents.”
Taryn scowled. “No wonder you were so cranky.”
Jess nodded. “I was. Angry. Surly. Terrified.” She glanced between her friends and remembered how she’d distanced herself and retreated into a mental shell. After losing her grandmother to cancer, she’d thought to spare them that pain. Thankfully, they’d stayed put. “Thanks for sticking with me.”
“Always,” Taryn and Summer said in unison. They all laughed. It felt good to have such loving and loyal friends.
Jess and Taryn stayed away from talking about the shooting. Summer would hear everything when she returned home. Why spoil her honeymoon?
“How’s Irving?” Summer asked, moving on.
A distant male voice came over the feed before they could answer. “Babe, are you on your computer?”
Summer grinned. “Crap! I’ve been caught. Coming, Love Monkey!” she shouted and giggled when he groaned.
“Love Monkey?” Jess snorted.
“I’m going to pay for that,” Summer said. “Can’t wait. Aloha!” She signed off.
Taryn closed her laptop and flopped back on the couch.
“I’m jealous,” Jess admitted as rain tapped on the roof. “Sun, fun, and unlimited sex.” She stretched out her feet next to Taryn’s and tapped her friend’s foot with her toes. “My health scare made me reevaluate my life. I’m tired of dud dates and microwaved soup for one. I want something real and solid.”
Wheeler’s face popped into her mind. She stomped it back out. There were lots of men in Ann Arbor. She’d already scratched the detective off her list.
“You’ll find someone,” Taryn said.
Jess grunted. “I was thinking about a dog.”
Having struggled to find her own happily ever after, Taryn chuckled and nodded. “They are less work.”
They talked more about men, the shooting, and Taryn’s knee. They laughed at the kittens and talked about the best breed of dog for a single woman. Jess felt better as she left her friend ninety minutes later and headed to the office.
Something stung the side of her head. Ow. Her hand whipped up to rub the spot as she glanced around for the culprit. In the dim light of the drizzling rain, she saw nothing to cause alarm. She was alone in the mist.
With one last look around, she let it go and climbed inside. Firing up the vehicle, Jess felt as if her life had hit a turning point. But how?