Dire Straits_Aspen Falls Novel

by Melissa Pearl

  The two of them drew closer, chatting and laughing, and Jess’s insides twisted a little at the sight of them, as well. Between the two couples that she’d just watched here at the race and the recent news of a detective’s engagement to his longtime girlfriend, she felt like she was doomed to be the last single person on the planet.

  “You two look pretty pleased with yourselves,” a man said from behind Jess. “Mind if I grab your picture?”

  She glanced behind her shoulder, her heart hiccupping a little. Jarrett Pryor, the super-hot reporter at the local paper, was standing a few feet away, holding a camera up to his eyes. Lucas and Alaina must have nodded their consent because he snapped a couple of photos of them.

  “Can I get a quote from you for the paper?” he asked.

  He’d moved in front of Jess now, and she couldn’t help but notice with dismay how decidedly un-sweaty Jarrett was, at least compared to her. His longish brown hair was brushed back off his face, with no signs of dampness, and his tanned skin was sweat-free. She wiped her hand across her forehead, grimacing as she felt the moisture on her fingers. How did he look so incredibly flawless?

  Alaina and Lucas chatted briefly with him. Jarrett had pulled out a pad of paper and was nodding and scrawling down some notes when Nate, a detective Jess worked with and the one who’d just gotten engaged, came up behind him, enveloping him in a bear hug.

  “What the—” Jarrett whirled around, his face contorted into a mix of irritation and surprise.

  Nate chuckled. “Can’t a guy hug his buddy?”

  Jarrett shoved his friend off him. “Not when you stink to high heaven, man.”

  Nate grinned. “You’re smelling greatness, my friend. Greatness.”

  Jess bit back a smile. She didn’t know what had happened to the grumpy, straight-laced detective she was used to, but she liked these rare glimpses of a softer, goofier Nate. And she was pretty sure working things out with Sally, his girlfriend, and taking it to the next level had an awful lot to do with it.

  “Greatness?” Jarrett snorted. “You didn’t even beat him across the finish line.” He jerked a thumb at Lucas.

  Jess stiffened, wondering how Lucas would react to that comment, but the private investigator just smiled.

  “I had a handicap,” Nate said in his defense. He pointed behind him. “This asshole.”

  “Hey, now,” a voice piped up.

  Jess was lost in the sea of faces and people surrounding her. She scanned the crowd, finally landing on the person attached to the new voice.

  Xavier Richmond, youngest son in the Richmond family, and Nate’s soon-to-be brother-in-law. She knew of him, of course. Everyone in town knew the Richmonds. Their paths just hadn’t crossed much.

  “I can’t help it that my shoe came untied,” Xavier said with a grin. He was unbelievably good-looking, too, in an elegant sort of way. He was what Jess thought of as classically handsome, with dark hair and blue eyes, and Jess was pretty sure his body wasn’t capable of producing sweat, either, because he didn’t look the least bit fazed by the heat.

  He and Jarrett both, she realized. Except Xavier had actually run in the race.

  “What’s your story?” Jarrett asked.

  There was silence, and Jess startled when she realized he was directing the question to her. She felt her cheeks flame red as his hazel eyes focused on her. He was ridiculously handsome, too, but in a rugged sort of way. The longish hair, the perpetual scruff on his chin and cheeks, the cleft in his chin that only deepened when he smiled.

  Which was what he was doing now. Smiling. At her.

  “What?” she said.

  His grin widened. “Your story,” he repeated.

  “My story?”

  He nodded. “Why aren’t you running today?”

  “Oh, well, because I’m working.” She glanced down at her uniform, almost as if she needed to confirm that she was still wearing it.

  “Do you like to run?”

  Nate and Xavier had drifted away, and Lucas and Alaina were making their way toward the refreshments.

  Jess looked at the man who was currently peppering her with questions. Why was he talking to her? She’d known of Jarrett Pryor since her first day on the police force, as he seemed to be a near constant presence at every investigation, and because he was good friends with Nate. They’d had a few conversations in the past, but all of them had been brief, businesslike. And even though she’d always thought he was good-looking, had always managed to sneak covert glances at him when he was around, he’d never seemed to pay much attention to her.

  “What?” she said again.

  His eyes were a greenish-gold, like some rare gem that begged to be set in an exquisite piece of jewelry, and they were currently locked on her. “I asked if you like to run.”

  She looked to the ground. She wondered just how red her cheeks were. “Oh. I don’t know. I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  “I don’t have much time for running,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  She frowned. “Why are you asking me so many questions?”

  He smiled again. “Because that’s my job.”

  “I’m not part of your story,” she murmured. She wasn’t. She was literally providing security detail. Nothing more.

  “Sure you are,” he said affably. “You’re here, aren’t you? You’re working the race. You’re as much a part of the story as anyone else here.”

  He had a point.

  His smile widened, and Jess’s heart hammered. It wasn’t just that it made him look even more devastatingly handsome. She was also struck by how friendly it was. Open. Inviting.

  “You should run in it next year,” he told her.

  She shrugged, trying to sound casual and not like she had just spent the last few minutes internally fawning over his good looks. “Maybe I will.”

  He cocked his head, studying her, and her pulse quickened. The look on his face made her think he could see beyond her neutral expression, could read what was underneath her noncommittal words. She swallowed. What if he could? What if he literally could see exactly what she had just been thinking about? Meaning…him?

  “You’re Jessica, right?” he asked. “Jessica…”

  “Claret.”

  “Jessica Claret.” He said her name and a small shiver ran down her spine. The good kind.

  “You’re not from around here, are you?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Not originally, no.”

  “Been a cop for how long now?”

  “A few years.”

  He nodded. She almost felt like he was interviewing her, but he’d already stowed his notepad and wasn’t writing anything down.

  “You like it?” he asked. “Your job? Aspen Falls?”

  “Yes.”

  “Just ‘yes’? That doesn’t sound very persuasive.”

  She didn’t know what else to say. He had unnerved her, the way he’d suddenly taken an interest in talking to her. She wasn’t used to it. She was the officer who always worked the scene in the background, the officer no one ever really noticed. And suddenly it was like Jarrett Pryor was shining a spotlight on her.

  His spotlight.

  “It’s fine,” she said. “I like my job, and I like Aspen Falls.” At least one of those statements was true. She did like the town.

  His gaze narrowed and she swallowed.

  Did he know what she was thinking? Could he somehow read her mind? He was making her uncomfortable, but not in the way when her sixth sense kicked in, warning her of danger or of something just not being right.

  No, this was something else entirely.

  The way Jarrett Pryor was looking at her made her feel…vulnerable.

  And she wasn’t sure she liked it.

  She cleared her throat. “I need to get back to work.”

  “You haven’t left work,” he pointed out, still wearing that same easy smile of his.

  “I need to start taking down the cones,” she
clarified. “Open up the street again.”

  He glanced at the closed road. “Yeah? And then what?”

  She hesitated, not knowing how to respond, and she wondered once again why he had taken such an interest in her. Was he thinking he wanted to profile her in the paper or something? Or was he going to ask her—

  She didn’t get a chance to respond because an older woman approached them, a worried look on her face.

  “Jarrett, honey,” she said, reaching for his arm.

  His expression changed instantly. The smile vanished, and his brow furrowed.

  “Your mom isn’t feeling so great.” The woman’s gaze drifted to Lulu’s. “I have her inside, cooling off, but I think she needs to get home. I can take her back if you want—”

  But Jarrett was already striding toward the café, leaving the woman behind.

  “I’ve got it,” he called over his shoulder.

  Jessica couldn’t explain the disappointment that flitted through her as she watched his retreating form.

  Then he stopped.

  He turned fully around, his eyes fixed on Jessica. “Maybe we can continue our conversation later.”

  Her eyes widened behind her sunglasses.

  But she didn’t get a chance to respond to this statement, either, because Jarrett hurried across the street and into Lulu’s.

  Jess watched him go, not knowing what to think of the man who had literally just barged right into her life.

  4

  Saturday, June 24

  11:55 am

  Jarrett tried not to stare at the frail woman resting on the couch.

  “I’m fine,” his mother said. She attempted a smile, and although the motion curved her lips slightly upward, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I just got overheated.”

  Jarrett perched himself on the arm of the love seat sitting adjacent to the couch. His arms were long enough so that he could reach out and touch his mom’s shoulder. He gave it a gentle squeeze. “Can I get you anything?”

  His mother motioned to the coffee table. “You’ve gotten me water. My readers. A book. Ibuprofen.” This time when she smiled, it was genuine. “I think I’m good.”

  But she wasn’t.

  Anyone with eyes could see that she was a shell of her former self, and had been for months. At first, he and Melina, his sister, had thought her poor health was a result of losing their dad. After all, Barbara and Lee Pryor had been married for nearly forty years, and had been high school sweethearts before then. Their marriage, while not perfect, had been rock solid, and Barb had been wrecked after her husband’s death. It made sense that she might suffer physically as well as emotionally after such a tragic loss. Hell, Jarrett had suffered, too, with insomnia and a loss of appetite, and a shitload of anxiety as he worked through what this new life without his father around was supposed to look like.

  The physical symptoms had eventually abated, but he was still wondering what came next for him.

  And he knew his mom was still suffering…and not just from grief.

  He glanced at her. She’d leaned her head back against the side of the couch and closed her eyes. It was painful to look at her, to notice just how much her physical appearance had changed over the past year. Her hair, once a lush thick brown mane, was now sparse and limp. She’d cut it short a few weeks earlier, frustrated by her appearance, and the severe style still caught Jarrett by surprise. She’d always been relatively fit, but exercise—even things as simple as morning walks—had become difficult due to exhaustion and pain, and she’d traded in her favorite pairs of jeans and shorts for bottoms with more forgiving waistbands. Her complexion was sallow, her eyes hollow, her expression tight, as if she was constantly bracing herself for the next round of pain.

  And Jarrett felt helpless to fix it.

  “You don’t have to stay, you know,” his mother murmured. Her eyes were still closed.

  “I know I don’t have to.” He shifted from the arm of the love seat to the cushion, settling himself in. He’d brought his workbag in with him and he unzipped it now, pulling out both his laptop and his notepad.

  He turned on his computer and read through his notes as he waited for it to load.

  “Are you hungry?” his mom asked. “It’s lunchtime, isn’t it?” She shifted on the couch, trying to work her way into a sitting position.

  “I’m fine,” Jarrett said quickly. “Besides, I’m meeting Charlie for a late lunch.”

  “You’re sure?”

  He nodded. “I’m sure.”

  There’d been dozens of times over the past few months that Jarrett had decided lying to his mom was far better than telling her the truth, especially when it involved her desire to perform what she considered her motherly duties. This time around, though, he’d told her the truth. He was meeting Charlie later.

  Just as soon as Jarrett made sure she was okay.

  He clicked open the document he’d started earlier that morning, the recap of the 5K, and quickly finished the piece, inserting the quotes he’d gotten that morning along with some of the finishing times. He saved it, attached it in an email, and it was off to the editor. He’d already wirelessly downloaded the photos from his camera, and he clicked those open on his computer so he could choose a couple to send along with the story.

  The ones of Lucas and Alaina were good; he just needed to crop them a little, remove the side profile of the police officer standing near them. It was distracting.

  Jarrett bit back a smile.

  Distracting.

  It was a good choice of word.

  Jessica Claret had definitely distracted him this morning at the 5K.

  It wasn’t as if their paths hadn’t crossed before. She was a cop and he was a reporter. If there was something going on that involved the police, Jarrett was often the one responding to the scene, looking for information and requesting statements.

  He’d always noticed the pretty brunette, but something about her had really caught his eye today. And no, it wasn’t just how hot she’d looked—literally and figuratively—in her police uniform, her luscious curves on full display, her wavy brown hair teased by the slight breeze, the humidity coaxing curls from it, tempting Jarrett to run his own fingers through those silky strands.

  No, it wasn’t her physical appearance. She was attractive—he’d always noticed that—but there was something different he’d noticed today. In his mind, he’d always thought of her as the earnest rookie cop, the yes-woman on the force, always focused on her job, and on doing her job well.

  Today was different.

  She’d seemed…distracted. Disenchanted. He’d noticed the look on her face as she watched Lucas and Alaina. Saw how her eyes drifted to Blaine and his girlfriend, Rosie.

  It was Jarrett’s job to notice things.

  And damn, had he noticed Jessica Claret.

  He’d pushed her, asking questions, delighting in the fact that she’d looked a little unsettled by his attention. He’d liked how she’d blushed, how she’d gotten a little lost in his eyes. Because he’d gotten lost in hers, too.

  A small moan from his mother made him jump. He immediately leaned toward her. “Everything okay?”

  She gave him a slight nod. “I just…ache.”

  His throat constricted and he struggled to clear it, coughing a couple of times. Dammit, how he hated this. “What can I get for you? A heating pad? Some painkillers?” He knew she’d gotten a prescription for Percocet.

  Her mouth pinched. “I’ll be fine,” she said softly.

  A muscle tightened in his jaw as his eyes swept over his mother. He wasn’t convinced there was any truth in her words. Not based on what he was seeing with his own eyes.

  “Talk to me,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Talk to me,” she repeated. “It helps take my mind off…things.”

  Jarrett swallowed, trying to move the lump that was doing its best to lodge in his throat. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Anythin
g.”

  He shifted his computer so it was no longer in his lap. He was quiet for a minute, trying to think of a conversation starter. Jarrett never had a problem talking to people—he wouldn’t have a job if that were the case—but so many topics felt off-limits with his mom these days. Health was out. Asking her about her day or if she’d done anything interesting was out, because Jarrett knew what those answers would be. He didn’t even think he could ask about her friends, because he knew her interactions with them were now limited. Often times, she was just too tired, too sore, to do much of anything.

  “There’s talk of opening some kind of homeless shelter here in town,” he finally said.

  “Oh? Did Melina tell you that?”

  Jarrett’s thoughts briefly shifted to his sister. She was a social worker in town, and an obvious source for that kind of news. But he hadn’t heard it from her.

  “No, it was in the Planning Commission minutes,” he said. “I read through the briefings of all the city meetings I don’t get to and saw a mention of it.”

  “That’s interesting.” His mother’s voice was faint. “Do we have a large homeless population in town that I don’t know about?”

  Jarrett smiled. “If we do, I don’t know much about it, either.”

  There were homeless people, of course. No town in America was without them, especially with wage stagnation and the rising costs of housing, health care, and education. But he’d be the first to admit that the mention of it in the minutes had caught him by surprise, and he’d made a mental note to keep his eyes on both its progress as it moved through the various commissions at City Hall and the reasons why it was thought to be needed.

  “I would think she would be interested in hearing that,” his mom said, referring to Melina. “Patty, too. She’s always looking for ways to help in the community.”

  Patty Schmidt was one of their neighbors, and one of Barb’s best friends.

  “Although with Glenn being sick now, I don’t know how much free time she has these days,” she said.

  Jarrett frowned. “Glenn’s sick?”