Broken Shadows: Shadows Landing #5

by Kathleen Brooks

  “You don’t want to tangle with me, little girl,” Bernie spat, but now he sounded less sure of himself.

  “On the contrary, Bernie. I’m happy to tangle with you. Like Skye, I’m not afraid of men like you. You amuse me until you don’t and that’s when I stop playing. Don’t talk to my client. You’ve been warned.” Olivia hung up on him and smiled at Skye. “Well, that was fun.”

  Karri burst out laughing and broke the silence. “Barbed wire?”

  Olivia shrugged. “Skye wanted to know what I’d do to a man’s balls.”

  Granger shook his head as he looked at the women. “You gotta show some love to the balls. They’re sensitive.”

  Even Olivia laughed at that. “I’m heading back to New York. I’ll call you daily. Make sure to check your email. I’m sure I’ll have things for you to sign off on.” Her phone rang again. “Look, I bet this is your agent.”

  Olivia stood, and as she walked out of the bar, Skye heard her say hello to Jim. It was a strange feeling, having someone else fight her fight, but looking around she had a new team now—a team she could trust. And she wasn’t going to let them fight alone.

  14

  The door to the bar opened and a large, dangerous-looking man walked inside. He nodded to the table and went straight to the bar. His dark hair was pushed back from his forehead and his leather jacket looked broken in.

  Skye watched as the man leaned over the bar, wrapped his hand around the back of Harper’s neck, then pulled her to him. His lips covered hers in a hot and heavy kiss that left Karri gasping and Skye averting her eyes.

  “Are you staying for dinner?” Skye heard Harper ask a minute later.

  “Can we do a late dinner? I have knitting club in a couple of minutes,” the rumbling voice said. It was his comment, not the deep masculinity of his voice that caused Skye’s head to pop up.

  “Knitting club!” Skye stood up quickly as did Karri. “Excuse me, sir, where in the church does this knitting club meet?”

  “Sir?” Harper snorted. “Skye, this is my husband, Dare Reigns. Dare, this is Skye Jessamine and her friend Karri Hill.”

  Dare winked at Harper and then strode toward the table. It was then that Skye saw the tote bag with knitting needles sticking out of it hanging from his hand. “America’s Sweetheart is into knitting?”

  “We got bribed with apple pie to attend, but it sounds like fun,” Skye answered.

  Dare spun to look at his wife, clearly upset. “Why don’t I get apple pie?”

  Harper rolled her eyes. “You get casseroles, pies, brownies, cakes, cookies, and more from them. Plus, Aunt Marcy sends you your very own apple pie every month.”

  “But not Miss Winnie’s or Miss Ruby’s apple pie.” Dare looked as if someone just kicked his puppy. His face was long and his bottom lip threatened to roll out into a full pout.

  “Men and apple pie. You’d better hurry or you’ll be late. Then Miss Mitzy won’t make you those chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips that you love so much.”

  Dare winked at his wife and then motioned with his arm for Skye and Karri to follow him. “Let’s go, ladies. Knitting club is going to be a good one tonight.”

  Karri didn’t look convinced, and for that matter, Skye didn’t feel convinced either. How good could a knitting club be?

  Skye greeted Edie, Miss Ruby, and Miss Winnie, and then was introduced to the cat lady, Miss Mitzy, before meeting everyone else in the knitting club. She and Karri had just taken their seats when the women began to pull out their projects.

  Skye felt her brow crease as Karri leaned over toward her. “Are those what I think they are?”

  “They can’t be,” Skye whispered as she took in the half-completed knitted penises. Skye looked around and saw penises in all colors, and someone with matching male and female squares, but she didn’t know what they were. Then she looked over at Dare and saw a knitted nipple.

  “What kind of knitting club is this?” Skye whispered to him.

  “This month we’re doing erotic knitting.”

  “You’re knitting a boob?” Skye asked. Her head couldn’t wrap around what she was seeing.

  “It’s going to be a nursing cap for Ellery’s baby,” Dare said with a snicker as Skye put it together. When nursing, it’ll look like a boob and not a baby’s head. And then this is Harper’s Christmas gift.” Dare reached into his bag and pulled out a long soft pink scarf with a breast on each end. He wrapped it around his neck and the breasts fell right where they were supposed to be. “Think she’ll like it?”

  Skye relied on all her acting skills to smile pleasantly and nod. Karri, meanwhile, couldn’t stop the “What are those?” that blurted out of her mouth.

  A gray-haired woman held up the anatomically correct male and female squares. “They’re potholders with nude people on them, dear. Do you not cook much?”

  “I’m a chef,” Karri sputtered back as she leaned closer to look at them. “Those are incredibly detailed.”

  “Thank you,” the little old lady said with pleasure.

  “You’re a chef? Here,” Mitzy said, handing over what looked to be a knitted dildo. “Just put this on the pot handle and you won’t burn your hand.”

  Skye pressed her lips together tightly as she tried to keep the laughter down.

  “It’s a penis,” Karri stated as she rotated it in her hand.

  “I’m glad you know one when you see one,” Mitzy said dryly as she went back to work on another penis potholder, but this one seemed to have a cat on the shaft.

  “I made these for my wine bottles,” Miss Ruby said lining up a series of flesh-colored penises that ranged from black, to tan, to beige.

  “Miss Ruby, why is the penis you’re working on green?” Skye asked, taking in the one color that stood out in the lineup.

  “I don’t exclude anyone in my wine toppers. That includes aliens,” Miss Ruby said with such surety that Skye had to bite her lip hard to stop the laughter.

  Miss Winnie rolled her eyes. “Ruby swears she saw a green alien coming out of the river last night. Now she believes in aliens.”

  “I’m telling you, Winnie, he was an alien. What else is green from head to toe?”

  “How do you know it was a he?” Skye asked and noticed that everyone, even Dare, was leaning forward with interest now.

  “I could see, you know, it. And it was green.”

  “What was this alien doing?” Dare asked Miss Ruby.

  Miss Ruby’s needles flew as she added to the shaft of the green penis. “It was like he was watching us to learn about us. He was in the shadows of the tall grass by the river. When he saw me watching him, it was like he just vanished. One second he was there and the next he was gone. I walked closer to see him, but there was no evidence he’d ever been there.”

  “Was there a boat nearby?” Dare asked while Skye shivered hearing Mitzy’s story. Something about it was creepy.

  Miss Ruby shook her head. “No boat and no car. Also, there was no spaceship that I could see. I think he teleported.”

  Skye saw Dare glance over at her and the creepiness factor grew. “You don’t think he was looking for me, do you?”

  Dare didn’t respond, but the tightening of his jaw and the texts he sent out didn’t make her feel any better. Even Karri looked a little worried, but Miss Winnie was showing her how to knit while Dare helped Skye get started on her scarf.

  Thirty minutes later, Skye was discovering the calming benefits of knitting. Her needles moved rhythmically as she listened to Miss Mitzy talking. “I told my son, bless his heart, that having a child of his own was payback for all he put me through.” Dare snorted next to her as he worked on knitting the nipple of his hat. “Well, I laughed and laughed when he asked me to watch J.R., my four year old grandson, last weekend so he and his wife could have a date night. Apparently J.R. had snuck out of his room during naptime and gotten into the glue. He smeared it all over the floor and walls. He then threw glitter on the wet glue and snuck ba
ck into bed. His mother’s hysterical screaming woke him up later. They asked him if he knew anything about it. With glitter covering his entire body, he batted his big brown eyes and said, “I made it for you, Mommy. Surprise! I love you.”

  The other grandmothers chuckled. Skye and Karri grimaced. Dare cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. Dare didn’t appear to be the glitter type.

  “So, they said they need a break,” Mitzy continued. “I tried to remind my son of when he was that age and he took Sharpies to the living room wall and furniture. Then he accused me of finding the glitter situation funny.”

  The women all made disapproving noises and shook their heads in a way that instantly made Skye feel bad for whatever was coming next in the story for Mitzy’s son.

  “That’s no way to speak to your momma,” Miss Winnie clucked. “What did you do?”

  “I told J.R. about penises and vaginas,” Mitzy said with a proud smirk. “J.R., bless that sweet boy, waited until they were in the middle of the grocery store to point at a woman and holler, ‘Vagina!’”

  Skye gasped as she choked on a laugh.

  “Then,” Mitzy continued with glee, “he saw a group of college boys and screamed, ‘Penis, penis, penis!’ as he pointed to each of the three boys. The horror in my son’s retelling was glorious.”

  “I think I like being called a dick better. Penis is too formal. What about you, Fox?”

  Skye saw Karri’s head snap around and Skye followed to see who had just spoken. There stood Sheriff Fox and Agent Castle. Neither looked horrified by the story. Actually, they looked amused.

  “Dick is a much more versatile word. Dickhead. What a dick. Don’t be a dick. Just doesn’t sound the same with penis.” Granger managed to say that with a straight face and Skye had to give him full props for that.

  “I find the same to be true for vagina as well,” Mitzy said, not even looking up from the dick potholder she was making. “But I couldn’t very well teach my grandson to say pussy as he points to a woman. That’s just bad manners. Although, I did tell him to call his cat a pussy just to irritate my daughter-in-law. Gives me joy every time he calls, ‘Pussy! Here, pussy, pussy.”

  A strangled choking sound came from Dare as he tried to cover it up with a cough. Karri covered her face with yarn as her shoulders shook. Skye turned to pound Dare on the back and used it as a cover for her own laughter. When she looked over Dare’s shoulder, she saw Castle and Fox struggling. Their shoulders were shaking, their faces were red, and finally Granger just turned to face the door as he bent over and dragged in deep breaths as his whole body shook with laughter.

  Miss Ruby nodded her head. “That was smart of you. She deserves that. It’s not right not to let the grandmother pick her own name.”

  “Pick your name?” Skye asked, still struggling for composure after the pussy incident.

  “That’s right. When my grandson was born, I couldn’t wait to be called Mimi. I’ve been planning it ever since my son got married. Then, out of nowhere, I go to meet my grandson, and my daughter-in-law looked up at me from the bed holding my grandson and says, ‘J.R. meet your Gaga.’ She didn’t even let me pick what to be called and then stuck me with that name.”

  “Bless your heart,” Miss Winnie said with a sympathetic shake of her head. “A horrible name to be saddled with. I’m sure you’re not tolerating that, though.”

  Mitzy shook her head. “Of course not. I had him calling me Mimi before he was eighteen months old. Mimi doesn’t play that game. However, I invited her to join our knitting club even though she hasn’t been gracious in defeat. It’s why I wanted to have Skye here. I want to say Skye Jessamine knitted with me when my own daughter-in-law said knitting was only for old Gagas.”

  A chorus of angry “Bless her heart,” echoed around the room. Skye suddenly felt angry for Mitzy and strangely protective of the stranger.

  “I’m sorry,” Granger said to Mitzy and for once didn’t sound so serious. Instead, he sounded heartfelt. “I’ll pull Karen over the next time she’s in town. A ticket should piss her off.”

  Mitzy’s sad frown turned into a smile. “You’re such a sweet boy, Granger.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. Now, why we’re here is because we heard there was an alien sighting.”

  Miss Ruby repeated her story and held up the green penis. “It was about this size and color.”

  Castle cleared his throat and dropped his voice. “Today has been a very strange, very anatomical day.”

  “We looked at where you told Dare you saw him in the park. From that vantage point, he could have a clear view of Main Street,” Granger said, trying to stay on point.

  “That’s right.” Miss Ruby nodded her head. “I told you, I think he was observing us.”

  Castle, Dare, and Granger turned to look at Skye and she knew then the creepy feeling she’d gotten was telling her she’d been found. “Do you think they know I’m here?”

  “I think they’re trying to figure that out. My guess is Lenny gave them Trent’s name and they’re here to watch the town to see if they see you,” Castle told her. It made sense, but now the safety she’d felt was gone and it hadn’t even been a week yet.

  “You think some Hollywood guy sent an alien to find Miss Skye?” Miss Ruby asked, setting down the green knitted penis.

  “I think they sent a person dressed in a dark green wetsuit to find her. My guess is there was a boat a little offshore. They didn’t want to tip their hand and let Skye or Trent see them, which is what’s really worrying me. I think you and Trent should spend the night someplace else tonight.”

  Edie looked up from her knitting with a grim expression. “What about Ryker’s guesthouse? His place is a fort. It should be the safest place.”

  “Great idea.” Granger was already texting before Skye could protest. “Ryker says Trent knows how to get in. He’s out of town for a couple of days.”

  “We can take Skye to the guesthouse and Edie can take Karri back to Tinsley’s,” Miss Winnie said, not bothering to look up from her knitted G-string.

  “I’ll stay with her and make sure no one follows them when they leave,” Dare said. “But now we need to get back to our knitting.”

  Skye watched as Granger shook his head with amusement. “Got to get your gossip in?”

  Dare looked up and a cold smile crossed his face. “I heard something interesting about your love life.”

  Granger spun Castle around to face the door and pushed him forward. “We’re outta here. Call us if you need us. Skye, Karri, we’ll check in with you tomorrow. ‘Night, ladies.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment until Miss Winnie finally set down her knitted underwear. “We didn’t say anything about Granger’s love life. I didn’t even know he had one.”

  Dare looked up from his knitted nipple. “He doesn’t. But his reaction told me otherwise.”

  “That was interesting,” Miss Ruby said with a raised brow. “I believe we’ve been letting Granger get away with flying under the radar for way too long.”

  “Granger is a very handsome man. Why isn’t he dating?” Karri asked as several white and gray heads snapped up.

  “Handsome, huh?” Miss Winnie said as she wiggled her eyebrows.

  “If you like that brooding type, which I don’t,” Karri added hastily.

  “Agent Castle doesn’t brood,” Edie added with her own bit of mischievousness to her voice.

  “No, he doesn’t,” Karri said, focusing back on her work before looking up and nailing Edie with a stare. “I can’t help but notice you and Granger are both single and around the same age.”

  The white and gray hairs snapped their attention from Karri to Edie as if this were a tennis match using gossip instead of balls.

  “I am not single. I am widowed,” Edie replied.

  Karri set down her knitting and reached over to Edie. She placed her hand on hers and waited until Edie looked her in the eyes. “I’ve heard your husband was a wonderful man. I’m sorry that y
ou lost him and that it hurt your heart. But, you are still drawing breath. Your heart is still beating. It’s bruised, but like all bruises, it will heal over time. Don’t give up on life when you still have so much to live for.”

  Tears shone in Edie’s eyes as the other widows in the room nodded their heads.

  “You may have a point, but that point doesn’t lead to Granger. I’ve known him my whole life. He’s like a brother to me.”

  Karri straightened up and put a stern look on her face. “Well, that’s fine and all, but you’d better not eye Peter. I’m not above beating up on a widow for taking the man I’m into.”

  Skye almost dropped her needles in surprise. Karri was very private and usually was easily embarrassed. Yet in this group of women . . . and Dare, she had just laid claim to a man. Suddenly a laugh burst from Edie’s mouth and mixed with a shaky cry. She wiped a tear from her eye as she continued to laugh. Karri joined her and soon the whole room was laughing.

  Skye was shocked at how easily Karri fell into conversation with the knitting club. The remaining time flew by as the voices flowed around her and her needles clicked rhythmically. Skye couldn’t remember ever being so relaxed as she felt being part of this group. When it was time to go, she found herself lingering as she talked with the ladies and instantly promised to meet next week. That’s when reality hit. Next week? Would she even be here next week? And why did the idea of leaving Shadows Landing fill her with more dread than the idea of not going back to Hollywood?

  15

  “What do you mean, you think they found Skye?” Trent didn’t know how this was possible, yet here were Granger and Peter in his shop telling him that’s exactly what they think had happened.

  “Unless you really believe it was an alien by the waterfront, it means they tracked you down and are hoping that you will lead them to Skye. Lenny knew you two had a night together. My guess is, based on knowing Skye for just a short time, her potential relationship with you scared Lenny,” Granger told him as Peter nodded in agreement.