by Emmy Grace
“What’s wrong with you?” she asks. “You look like Bambi trying to take his first steps.”
My mouth is dry and, for whatever reason, I’m filled with a sense of doom. Fear and doom. Both of which are totally unlike me.
“I don’t know. I just… All of a sudden, I just feel like nothing is going to be okay.”
“What? You’re just being dramatic,” Regina says, brushing off the comment.
“No, Regina, seriously. I don’t have a good feeling.”
To this, her brow knits and she pauses on her way around the car. “But it will. It always is. You’re Lucky Boucher, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“That’s the end of the story. No reason to feel doom or anything else like that. Everything will turn out fine. Just like always.”
She smiles in reassurance, but it’s not a bright smile that reaches her eyes. She’s shaken, too. She just doesn’t want to admit it.
“Regina, I would never want to get you into real trouble. You know that, right?”
“I know that. But you’re my best friend. We’re in this together. Thick and thin and all that.”
I try to return the quasi smile that she’s giving me, but like hers, it doesn’t reach my eyes. Nowhere near. “Yeah, thick and thin.”
We start walking slowly toward my carriage house.
“Whatever has you freaked out, stop it. Right this minute.”
“I just… Maybe I should do this one alone. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you. Or to anyone I love.”
I can’t help mentally including Liam in the short list of people I love. He’s definitely on it.
Regina stops a couple of feet from the porch and swings angrily toward me. “Now that’s just crazy talk. You are by no means doing this alone. Whatever ‘this’ ever happens to be, you are never, ever alone in it.”
My eyes mist. “I can’t ask that of you, Regina. It isn’t fair.”
“Fair? What does that have to do with anything? Lucky, you bring the light to everyone around you. It’s not fair that you have to be the strong, resilient, joyful one all the time, but you do it. And you never complain. You’re like the sun. The rest of us are just happy to be in your orbit.”
Maybe it’s hormones, but her words flip the switch on the floodgates, and I burst into tears. I drop my face into my hands and, seconds later, I feel Regina’s arms wrap around me.
“You’ve had a stressful year, Lucky. It’s all just coming to a head with this Gavin stuff. Like everything you were running for is catching up to you. But you know what this really is?”
“What?” I mumble from the material of her shirt.
She leans away and peers into my face. “This just means you’re fixin’ to get a clean slate. This is your place to start over, Lucky. This is the place where you’ll finally get your happy ending.”
“What if I don’t deserve one? What if—”
“Stop right there. There are no what ifs here. You deserve all the happiness in the world. Period. You had a bad start in life, but God’s giving you double for your trouble. You just have to make it through. And you will. You hear me?”
In this moment, I see the wisdom and love of someone much older than Regina’s nearly thirty years.
“When did you get so smart?”
“I’ve always been smart. I have to be to keep up with you.”
“I love you. You know that, right?”
Regina pulls me to her and hugs me tight. “Yep. Just like I love you.”
The storm door bangs, and we spring apart and look toward the house. Liam marches onto the toilet-strewn porch with Lucy-fur draped over his arm like a furious limp dishrag, and he deposits her in the grass. She hunkers down, pins back her ears, and gives him a nice, intimidating growl of displeasure.
“Fuss all you want, you lunatic. You’re grounded,” he grumbles, equally perturbed.
When he raises his stormy eyes, they flicker from me to Regina and back again. When they settle on mine, his expression changes ever so slightly. It goes from irritated to concerned, although to most people those two conditions look exactly the same. Like a glower.
Like Liam.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, stepping off the porch and walking straight to me. “What happened?”
I sigh. “Well, we were accosted by Gavin’s family, threatened by his fiancée, and then I accidentally told them he was dead. But we didn’t find his car. So, basically it was a terrible trip.”
Before he can respond to any of that, Regina pipes up. “And Lucky has it in her head that she’s all alone in this, or that she has to protect us all from her life or some ridiculous nonsense like that.”
If possible, Liam’s brows drop down even lower over his eyes. “Why would you ever think something like that?”
I feel my chin tremble, dang it.
“I just... I don’t know. I feel like trouble. Like all I ever bring is trouble. You’ve even said so.”
“You are trouble. But the best kind of trouble.” Liam steps closer to me, sliding his hands around either side of my throat to cup my neck as he stares hard down into my eyes. “You’re the kind of trouble everyone should have in their life.”
“That doesn’t even make any sense,” I mumble, fighting off a wave of emotion.
“Most of the best things in life don’t make sense. They just are. Kind of like the way I feel about you. I don’t know how it happened, or really when, but it did. And now it just is.”
My heart is hammering against my ribs as I gaze into Liam’s beautiful hazel green eyes. “Really?”
“Yes, really. As strange as it sounds, and as hard as I tried to resist, I can’t imagine my life without you in it now. You’re like a force of nature. A gorgeous, clumsy cyclone.”
“Does that mean I get another name? Like Florence or Hermione?”
“I think two names is plenty for you. Besides, Lucky isn’t just your nickname or your state of being. It’s what everyone around you feels. Just to have you in their life. Lucky.” He says the last on a whisper as his thumbs make soft strokes along the angle of my jaw.
“Uh, I’m going inside before clothes start coming off,” Regina says, interrupting the moment. “Blech.”
Liam rolls his eyes and I grin.
“I need to find a Cajun word for someone who has terrible timing,” Liam says. “We could give Regina her own nickname.”
I giggle. “I’ll look into it.”
Liam bends to brush his lips over mine, back and forth before he applies just a tiny bit more pressure and then pulls away. “Feel better?”
His words are a warm breeze on my mouth.
“Much. If we were alone, I’d probably be feeling much, much, much better.”
I watch Liam’s jaw tighten, see his pupils dilate. “Maybe after we get to the bottom of this stalker thing, we can go away for a couple of days. Just the two of us.”
My stomach flutters. “Just the two of us?”
He nods. “Just us.”
“Alone?”
His lips curve into a tiny grin. “All alone.”
“That sounds…delicious,” I say, wrapping my arms around his neck as he slides his around my waist.
“No case to solve, no people to interrupt, no rules about kissing.”
“Not that I’m complaining, but you just kissed me.”
“That was a peck. Or do you need me to remind you what a real kiss feels like?” His eyes dart to my mouth and he licks his lips.
I swear, I think my ovaries go up in flames just thinking about what a real kiss from Liam Dunning feels like. We’ve waded very slowly into this thing between us. We’ve been very careful, very tentative. And what little time there has been between cases we’ve spent more or less learning each other.
But something tells me that we’ve reached a new level.
Something tells me that after this case is over, the gloves are coming off. And Liam’s next words confirm it.
“How about this? When this case is over and you’re cleared, which you will be, I’ll take you up into the mountains to celebrate.”
Liam starts to sway back and forth. It’s a slow, gentle almost imperceptible movement. Hypnotizing. Mesmerizing.
“The mountains?” I ask dazedly.
“Mmmm hmmm,” he murmurs in a sexy rasp. “Up where there’s nothing but you and me, and trees and cold nights and fireplaces.”
“That sounds like heaven,” I moan, reveling at the friction of his front rubbing against mine.
“Oh, it will be. And do you know what I’m going to do in front of that fireplace?”
Suddenly I’m breathless. Like, there’s no air in the whole world kind of breathless. “What?”
“I’m going to peel off every scrap of material that’s covering all this smooth skin,” he explains, dragging his fingertips over the bare skin at my lower back, the sliver that’s exposed between my jeans and my sweater. “Then I’m going to lay you down on the softest blanket I can find and kiss every inch of you. Every. Single. Inch.”
He says each word quietly and I feel them a touch. Like his touch.
“Liam?” I ask.
He dips his head and presses his face into the curve of my neck. “Yeah?” I feel the vibration of his words skitter over my skin as he uses one broad palm to press my lower body ever so slightly into his.
And I nearly whimper with the yumminess of it.
“If you don’t let me go in about two point one seconds, there’s a good chance I’m gonna jump your bones.”
I hear a breathy huff of husky laughter that sends a chill down my spine. “I’m not the one that would regret that.”
“I wouldn’t regret it. Trust me.”
“Have you forgotten that your family is inside?”
I gasp and jerk away. “I…”
His eyes are light with humor now. “That’s what I thought.” He tips his head toward the house without looking in that direction. “Twenty bucks says one or all of them are at the window watching us.”
I glance at the long stationary French doors that replaced where the carriage doors used to be. Sure enough, I see Beebee and Momma Leona on either side of the first one, and Regina looking on from between them.
“Bunch of pervs,” I mutter lightly.
“Freaks,” he adds.
I sigh. “I guess that’s probably my cue to get inside before I really give them something to look at.”
“Up to you. I won’t argue if you decide to teach them a lesson.”
“It would scar them for life. And Regina would probably spend the next five years giving me pointers.”
“You don’t need pointers. You’re doing just fine on your own. Trust me.”
There’s need in his voice, and it warms my heart to know he’s into this as much as I am.
I pull away and reach for his hand. “Come on, mountain man. Let’s get in there before somebody hurts themselves from straining to watch us.”
He sighs loudly but comes along. Grudgingly. “If we must.”
Before we can make it inside, however, my phone rings. I take it out and my belly knots when I see who’s calling.
It’s Clive.
And it’s probably not good news.
8
“Hey, Clive,” I say by way of answering the phone.
“Just got m’self a disturbing phone call. You wouldn’t happen to know what that’s all about, would you?”
“Uhhhh. Disturbing how?”
“The mother of that young man called and said she knew he was dead. That she’d had a run-in with his ex and she’d mentioned it. Is there another ex of his running around here, or was she talking about you?”
“She was talking about me. She practically assaulted Regina’s car and I was scared and…and…it just came out.”
“Well, this changes things. You know that, right?”
My shoulders slump. “Yeah, I know.”
“You and Liam had better step to it with figuring out who’s to blame. There’ll be a lot of eyes on this thing soon enough.”
“I’m so sorry, Clive.”
“Not to worry, lucky lady. Things will work out just fine. They always do.”
I can hear the gentle, wrinkly smile in his voice and I’m strangely comforted. Both Regina and Liam gave me their version of a pep talk, but for whatever reason, Clive’s quiet certainty makes every muscle in my body relax just a little.
He’s right. Things do always work out just fine. And I refuse to mentally sift through all the reasons why this time they might not. As of this second, I’m choosing hope.
Hope.
Optimism.
Faith.
“Anything from Tamala yet?”
“As a matter of fact, she did find something interesting. You wanna come on back and talk to her yourself?”
“You’re still back there?”
I glance in the direction of the quarry, like I can see them through the house and over the hill.
“Sure are. This young feller was hooked up to something much more powerful than a strand of Christmas lights.”
“Like what? A car battery?”
I don’t know why that’s the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe my brain’s just going up to the next largest battery I can think of.
“No, something like the type of juice you’d find at a power substation.”
“Does Salty Springs even have one of those?”
“Sure do. Out off of highway sixteen.”
“Liam probably knows. I’ll have him take me.”
“Good enough.”
“We’ll go right after we decorate the tree. It’s sort of family trad—”
Liam starts shaking his head. I mouth the word “what.”
“It’s done,” he whispers.
“Completely?”
“Yeah.”
“Even the new box Regina and I got at the hardware store?” He nods. “I didn’t even see her take them in.”
One side of Liam’s mouth curves into a sexy grin. “You were distracted. It happens.”
He’s right about that.
“You there?” Clive asks in my ear.
I startle. I’d forgotten I was even on the phone with him.
For real, Liam Dunning might be damaging my brain. It hasn’t worked exactly right since that first night he kissed me. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be drooling and staring into space within the month.
“I’m here. Sorry. Liam and I will head out there shortly.”
“Look for tire tracks while you’re there,” he suggests.
“What kind of tire tracks?”
“Any kind. Tamala noticed some back here. My guess is that they belong to the vehicle of whoever dropped his body behind your house.”
I inhale in happy surprise. “That could be just the break I need.”
“That’s why I wanted you to look for tread at the substation.”
“You’re a pretty sly old dog, Clive.”
“Why, thank you, Lucky.” I can practically hear the “aw shucks” expression on his face.
“I’ll keep you posted. You do the same with me, k?”
“You betcha.”
When we hang up, Liam is still watching me. “So?”
“Looks like he was electrocuted at the power plant substation and then transported to the quarry in a vehicle. Maybe we can find out who’s behind this right fast and get on with this mountain vacation you promised.”
“I’m okay with that,” he concurs.
I take his hand. “Come on. Let me at least go in and chat with Beebee and Momma Leona really quick before we go. They traveled a long way to spend time with me. I hate to keep running off. Besides, I need to use the bathroom.”
He comes along behind me, and I hear him mutter, “This ought to be interesting.”
We walk back to the house, and inside it’s like a party. Someone, ostensibly Regina, has turned on the Christmas music, which is blaring from the
speakers. Someone, also ostensibly Regina, has made cranberry mimosas as well, and Beebee is already getting happy. Any time she drinks, she gets even louder and even more boisterous, and she’s already pretty much a nine on a ten-scale of each.
When Beebee spots us, she raises her voice above the music. “I think it’s about time the two of you tell me what’s going on.”
I school my expression as much as I possibly can. I don’t have to worry about Liam’s. He’s probably wearing his usual frown.
“We’re decorating for Christmas. What else is there to know?”
Beebee starts shaking her head as she narrows her eyes on me. “You can’t fool me, chère. You oughta know better than that. Now tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know what you—”
“Annabelle Boucher,” she cautions in “the tone.”
I gulp.
Yes, I’m nearly thirty years old. Yes, I’m a grown woman, living on her own, states away, who can make her own decisions and take care of herself. Yes, I’m all of those things, but a person never outgrows Beebee’s censure.
“It’s nothing you need to be—”
I’m interrupted by Momma Leona’s loud gasp. “Are you investigating a murder?”
I feel panic coming on. My eyes dart from one to the other and back again. “Uhhhh.”
“Tell us all about it,” Momma encourages, her face wreathed in a pleasant smile.
“It’s an ongoing investigation. I can’t really do that.”
“Sure, you can,” Beebee interjects. “You’re not a cop, so you can tell us what you know. That’s not against the law, now is it?”
She has a valid point.
Dang it.
“But this one is… It’s…” I bumble along. I’m a terrible liar for one thing, but even more so when it comes to Beebee. Too many years of her and her all-seeing stare, I think.
She gives me the look. The look that every person in my high school was familiar with. Granted, my entire graduating class was only eight-one people, but still. They all knew Beebee. And they all knew better than to try and fool her. “What are you hiding?”
“Beebee, can’t you just let this one be?”
“Child, how long have you known me?” It’s a rhetorical question. In other words, no. She will not be letting this one be.
