by Tawny Weber
“We just finished up the nail-down-the-details stages, me and the other two mayors,” Applebaum said quickly, as if realizing he’d let on too much. “We’re ready to start considering who we want as the chief of police. I think we’d be interested in chatting with you, boy.”
As far as distractions went, that was aces.
Chatting. Diego resisted the urge to run his finger around the collar of his T-shirt to feel for noose fibers.
He was saved from responding by the waitress, who carried a tray much too huge for two sandwiches. The smile he gave her was so grateful, she blinked a couple of times before turning a soft shade of pink.
Then she swung the tray off her shoulder. Diego stared in shock. His sandwich was flat as a pancake compared to the mayor’s.
“Is that a serving platter?” he asked as the waitress set the oval dish in front of Applebaum.
“That, my boy, is a delight to the senses.” While the waitress unloaded her tray and refilled their coffee, Applebaum waxed poetic about his lunch choice. A strategic master, the mayor had cast out the bait. Now he was patiently waiting to see if Diego bit. And scarfing down the world’s largest sandwich at the same time. The old guy was good at multitasking.
He’d be a good man to work for, Diego mused.
Shit. Appetite gone, Diego had to force himself to lift his tiny-looking sandwich to his mouth.
He might as well admit it. As much as he wanted to solve this case, snag his promotion and get the hell out of this tiny claustrophobic town... He didn’t want to leave Jade.
* * *
“JADE?”
Jade set lacy cookies on a white doily, carefully widening the circle of sweet treats as if one millimeter of difference from one to the next would ruin her mother’s annual holiday open house.
Since the gift-wrapping discussion two days before, she’d been avoiding Diego. In part because she felt as if he’d turned on her. No longer the sexiest adventure she’d ever had, he’d become a reminder of everything she didn’t have. Which would soon include him and his incredible body, dammit.
“Jade?”
Why was he still here? She slammed the empty plastic container on the counter with the others, then grabbed a full one to start setting out fudge. Why didn’t he call the case done, like everyone else had, and go? Just go.
What’d started out as a fun way to experience freedom and a little fun now felt like a prison. A tempting, orgasm-inducing prison.
It was enough to make a girl want to cry. Or—Jade shifted to ease the discomfort the waistband of her jeans were causing as they dug into her side—cause her to eat way too much chocolate.
“Jade!”
She jumped, and the fudge flew from her fingers to stick against her mother’s kitchen wall with a dull thud. Jade’s chocolate-covered fingers were halfway to her heart before she remembered she was wearing white.
“What?” she exclaimed breathlessly. “Why are you two yelling at me?”
Ruby and Beryl exchanged looks, with the eldest sister shaking her head and the youngest frowning with irritation.
“I’ve been calling your name for the last two minutes,” Ruby said as she wiped her hands on a tea towel before stepping around the island toward Jade. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Ruby arched both brows before tucking the towel into the waistband of her clearly not-too-tight skirt. For the first time, Jade wondered if her sister’s perfect size three was due to regular married sex and a non-Diablo Glen zip code.
“Something is wrong,” Ruby insisted. Then, ever the big sister, she shifted her gaze to Beryl, who was arranging cheese on a tray and wearing her own frown. “With both of you. What’s the deal? I’ve been toting the good-humor banner all by myself this morning. Why are you two such grumps?”
“We’re not grumps,” Jade said in chorus with Beryl. She shared a smile with her younger sister, then realized that Ruby might be right. At least, as far as Beryl was concerned. The younger girl had dark circles under eyes that looked a little swollen. “Beryl? What’s up?”
“Just like you said. Nothing.”
Using Ruby’s tea towel, Jade wiped the chocolate off her fingers, then off the wall. And debated. She knew her problem—kissing a dream goodbye combined with sexual frustration. But Beryl looked, well, sad. But the sisterly law of fairness said that if she wanted to prod her sibling, she had to offer up her own woes in exchange.
“See,” Jade said as she turned to face Ruby, all the pieces of the fudge cleaned up. “We’re fine.”
Ruby split her irritated look between the two of them, then gave a jerk of her shoulder. “Fine? Be pouty and grumpy. See if I care.”
“Since you’re bossy, pouty and grumpy were the only T-shirts left,” Jade quipped as she returned to arranging candy on her mother’s favorite two-tiered Waterford server.
“Good thing they fit so well, then,” Ruby groused. She glared at her sisters for a couple more seconds, as if her angry frown could scare confessions out of them. Then she threw both hands in the air and returned to the turkey she’d been slicing.
Adding peppermint fudge to the chocolate, Jade forced her expression to stay cheerful. She wasn’t surprised that it actually hurt her face.
Not nearly as good at faking happy—why should she be, when Jade was the big faker in the family?—Beryl sniffled.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Ruby snapped. “I want to know what the hell is going on. You’d better just tell me now because I won’t quit nagging until you do. You aren’t ruining Mom’s party with these crappy moods.”
“Beryl, what’s wrong?” Jade asked, setting the finished candy dish on the counter before moving to her little sister’s side. “Sweetie, you’re so unhappy.”
All it took was an arm around her slender shoulders to turn Beryl into a crying puddle of mush. She clutched her sister, making Jade wince as her fingers dug into the delicate crochet of her knee-length vest.
“Neal and I had a fight,” she sobbed into Jade’s neck. “That’s all we do lately. Fight.”
“What are you arguing about?”
“He wants to move away. He’s obsessed with going south, somewhere by San Diego or El Centro. His mom hates me—she must because she won’t let me come out to their house. He is snappy and moody all the time—” she paused to suck in a breath, then before either of her sisters could say anything, she finished in a sob “—and I think he’s cheating on me.”
Jade blinked a few times, trying to process the laundry list of fighting topics. She gave their older sister a questioning look. Engaged couples fought all the time, didn’t they? Well, she and Eric hadn’t, but she didn’t think they were the stellar example of a successfully engaged couple. Not when marriage was the final test, at least. So she didn’t know. Were these normal reasons? Ruby’s frown said this was something to worry about, though.
Her stomach tumbled at the concern on her sister’s face. She pulled Beryl into a tighter hug.
“Why do you have to move away?” Ruby asked, tackling the easiest issue first as she rubbed Beryl’s knee. “You love Diablo Glen. Both of you have family here, there are jobs and the real estate is more reasonable here than in most of California.”
“He wants somewhere else. South, closer to Mexico. I still have a semester left of college and I kinda wanted to stay here for a while. Just, you know, to give it a chance before trying something else.”
For one second—admittedly a bitter-tasting second—Jade wondered what it was like to have that sort of freedom. To only worry about what you wanted to do, where you wanted to be. Then, like dirty laundry and ugly shoes, she hid the thought away where she didn’t have to see it, think about it or admit to having it.
“There’s nothing wrong with staying here when you’re through with school. Just for a
while, to try it out,” Ruby said.
“If you want to stay, tell him,” Jade suggested. “You’re building a life together, which means you get equal say. Don’t give up what you want without a fight.”
There it went, Jade’s mental fraud meter, dinging out of control again. She really needed to live the life she preached one of these days.
“What if he says no?”
“Then maybe he isn’t the guy for you,” Jade said gently, giving her sister’s hand a sympathetic squeeze. “But if he loves you, he’s going to listen. He’s going to understand why you want to stay here.”
“Do you really think so?” Beryl asked with a flutter of wet lashes.
“Of course, sweetie,” Ruby assured, giving her a tight hug.
“Heck, if you were staying for a while, you could have my place while you decided,” Jade muttered. Her eyes rounded when, at her sisters’ stares, she realized she’d said that aloud.
“Where would you live?” Ruby asked.
“Somewhere. Maybe somewhere else, you know.” Jade shrugged. Excitement spun in circles in her tummy at the idea of time, even just a little bit, to spread her wings again. Only this time, instead of seeing herself clubbing and making her fashion mark in a big city, she was cuddled up on a couch looking out a window at the cityscape, Diego’s arms holding her close.
Pain, sharp and jagged, cut through her. Since when had he replaced her dream of happiness? And how stupid was she to have not stopped her heart before it got this close to danger.
“What’s the deal?” Beryl pulled back to get a better look at her sister’s face. “Is it that sexy cop? Is he why you’d give up your house?”
“I wouldn’t give anything up for a man,” Jade exclaimed. Well, anything besides her heart, her panties, her body, her dreams. All that minor stuff.
“You love your house,” Beryl said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t take it.”
Knowing Beryl would guilt herself into moving out of town rather than take the cottage and inconvenience her, Jade rushed to say, “Maybe I could try something else. You know, somewhere else.”
As soon as the words were out she bit her lip, as if she should pull them back in.
Ruby exchanged a long look with Beryl this time. Both sisters settled their butts more firmly in their chairs, as if gearing up for battle. Both folded their hands together on the tabletop and, damn them, both gave Jade identical knowing looks.
“You want to leave.” Ruby made it a statement, not a question. “Why haven’t you said something before?”
Tracing an invisible design on the hardwood with her fingertip, Jade stared at the table instead of answering.
“She did say something about checking into jobs in San Francisco. Wasn’t it last spring that you mentioned it?” her little sister asked.
Jade’s shoulder twitched.
“And then I got engaged and said I was moving out of town,” Beryl realized.
“And you figured you had to stay for good. Be here to take care of Mom,” Ruby realized.
“You both had other stuff going on,” Jade said, trying to make it sound as if it didn’t really matter one way or the other.
“Saint Jade, always sacrificing.” Ruby sighed, her tone somewhere between exasperated and angry.
“You both have lives outside town,” Jade defended, irritated that her, yes, sacrifice was so unappreciated. “You’ve got a job and a life and Berry’s got school and a future to build. I had, what? An underpaid internship and a ton of student loans. It makes sense for me to stay here.” Sweet girl that she was, Beryl nodded. Ruby just rolled her eyes.
“Do you think Mom would want you giving up your dreams? Because, what?” she asked, the exasperation gone and anger taking full hold. “You have to babysit her?”
“I’m not babysitting,” Jade snapped. Then, leaning forward so far her butt left the chair, she glared at her sister. “And don’t you dare say anything to her.”
Ruby shifted, too, so their glares were nose-to-nose. Before she could respond, though, the doorbell chimed. As one, the sisters winced and glanced at the cookie-shaped clock above the stove.
“Guests.” With one last shake of her head, Ruby rose and gave Jade a narrow look. “We’re not through with this.”
“She’s mad at herself,” Beryl pointed out quietly as Ruby swept from the room. “You know Ruby. If someone’s going to score the major sacrifice points, she wants it to be her.” Jade’s laugh was weak. So were her knees, because she knew damn well Ruby would follow through with her threat. They’d be having that talk, and as far as confrontations went, Jade figured it was going to be an ugly one.
“But just so you know, as soon as she’s through with the sacrifice lecture, I want all the details on you and the hottie cop,” Beryl said. It was clear from her tone that she knew she was adding punishment on top of punishment. It was just as clear from her smile that she was enjoying the idea.
Jade almost growled.
“Darlings,” Opal said as she wheeled into the kitchen, her bright red scooter decorated with holly and pine boughs, her face so bright and cheerful she looked like a three-wheeled Christmas decoration. “People are arriving and you’ve spent enough time in the kitchen. Now, join me so we can celebrate the holidays.”
Grateful for an excuse to run away, even if just for a few hours, from the box of worms they’d opened, Jade leaped to her feet and gathered as much food as she could hold to carry it into the dining room.
The Carson Family Open House was in its twentieth year, and the girls all knew the drill. Greet everyone and make sure they had food. Socialize with everyone and make sure they had more food. Keep everyone chatting with everyone else, and, again, make sure they had food. Opal Carson had a moral objection to anyone leaving her party anything less than stuffed till they groaned.
The sisters went their separate ways, and for once Jade was grateful for her mom’s divide-and-conquer hostessing rule. She was kept busy enough to avoid even looking at her sisters. But there weren’t enough people in all Diablo Glen to keep her from glancing toward the door every few minutes, hoping Diego would walk through. She’d invited him. Opal had invited him. She’d even heard the mayor invite him. Two hours into the party, she glanced at her watch. Shouldn’t he be here by now?
“Did you hear the latest?” Mrs. Green asked, stubbornly standing with her crackers and cheese instead of sitting comfortably. “Applebaum got the go-ahead on the local police department. He and his crony mayors really did it.”
“I’d heard that rumor.” Almost a dozen people at the party alone had mentioned it. It was gossip, yes, but Jade knew most had said it as encouragement. Her seeing Diego was hardly a secret and they were all trying to make her feel better, as if there was a chance he’d stay. She knew better, though.
“Your pretty detective should take the job. He’d be good at it. He’s got that strong, silent thing going on, like Clint Eastwood. But he’s got a sweet side. Everyone likes him. More important, they respect him.”
“He’s fitting in really well,” Jade agreed. Her face hurt from keeping the smile in place. It was like Eric’s desertion all over again, only this time everyone was offering preemptive support. They were doing it to show they cared, but she really wished they’d stop reminding her of what she didn’t—couldn’t—have.
“I’d like it if he stayed around,” the woman decided in her creaky voice. She inspected a pepper cracker from all sides before scooping up some cheese dip and giving Jade a wink. “He’s got a nice butt. Strong, but pattable. That’s what you want in a man.”
Strong, but pattable? Jade’s stiff smile melted into a delighted laugh.
“You’re a treasure, Mrs. Green.” She hugged the elderly woman carefully, so glad to have this kind of support. These kind of people in her life.
“Ja
de, we’re running low on snickerdoodles,” Ruby said quietly, offering Mrs. Green a friendly smile. “I’ve got to get more ice from the garage. Could you check the cookie trays?”
Jade gave the front door a hopeful glance, then deflated. She’d clearly used up all her holiday wishes, because it wasn’t Diego who came in, but Neal and Marion.
She looked around for Beryl, sure her sister would greet them. But Beryl stayed in the corner, talking to a group of her girlfriends and their families. Brows arched, a little irked that she was now on greeting duty and a quest for snickerdoodles, Jade hurried to the door.
“Happy holidays,” she said, her words as cheery as her smile was fake. Marion had been getting more and more irksome lately, and now that Neal had upset Beryl, Jade’s mind was compiling lists of reasons why he was a jerk. “I’m glad you could make it. Let me take your coats.”
“Your cat isn’t here, is it?” Neal asked, looking around nervously. “I swear, it’s got it in for me. All that growling and hissing and stuff.”
“She’s home, locked up safe and sound,” Jade assured him as she draped his denim jacket over her arm.
“I’m surprised they haven’t done something about her,” Marion said, sliding out of her coat. Jade’s brows rose as she took the rich, buttery-soft leather. The quilted design was gorgeous. Brand new, too. Oranges must be paying well this year.
“Who are ‘they’ and why should anything be done about my cat?” Jade asked as she turned to take their jackets to the small room designated as coat check.
“She’s a menace. Neal already proved she’s the problem behind the stolen underwear. Maybe they should put her down or something,” Marion said contemplatively. “Isn’t that what they do with dogs who’ve gone bad?”
Frozen in place by that horrible image, Jade’s jaw clenched almost as tightly as her fists. “Persephone hasn’t done anything wrong.”
