I moved the well-worn cookie jar from the counter to the kitchen table and we each pulled out a chair.
“He’s in overprotective big-brother mode at the moment. Feel free to find another project to keep him occupied,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Loretta and Tansey looked at each other and both shook their heads. I decided not to even question their silent conversation.
Loretta was Rod and Reel’s mother, though the family resemblance wasn’t easily noticed with Loretta’s fire red hair, slim build, and the light twang in her voice when she spoke or laughed. She and Everett had never been more than the one-night stand that left her pregnant with the boys. And she was okay with that. She’d stayed single for the most part, other than a few short relationships, until she began dating Tucker about two years ago. And while she still owned the house a few doors down from Aunt Carol’s, she spent most of her days and nights with Tucker.
“You living here yet?” I asked, snagging a second cookie.
“Live with Tucker? Nah. I might not be the brightest bulb, but even a country bumpkin like myself knows Tucker’s got too much hillbilly in him for me to deal with twenty-four-seven. God knows I love him, but by the fourth time in any given week I have to pick up his dirty underwear, I know it’s time to grab my purse and head home for a break.”
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Tansey nodded.
I was on my third cookie when the cavalry arrived. Tucker led Uncle Mike, Reel, and Rod into the kitchen, and Uncle Mike stole what remained of my cookie.
“Hey, Mom,” Rod greeted Loretta with a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey, Mom,” Reel smirked, kissing her other cheek. “Heard you shot out the guy’s windshield.”
“Would’ve gotten the driver, but the truck bounced at the last second,” Loretta pouted. “How long you been in town?”
“Few days. Meant to head this way but got distracted.”
“I bet,” Loretta smiled, patting his cheek.
“You owe me a few crates of corn,” Tucker grumbled.
“Trade you baked goods?”
“I want zucchini bread. And lemon cookies. Lots of lemon cookies,” Tucker nodded.
“Deal,” I said. “Rod, think you can take a look at Tansey’s Subaru? Seems to be something wrong with it.”
“Like a tree in the front seat?” Uncle Mike asked.
“Could just be some corn stuck in the wheel-well,” Tansey smirked.
“You girls hurt?” Uncle Mike asked.
“Few bruises,” I shrugged. “Tansey has a cut on her arm she hasn’t noticed yet.”
Tansey looked at her arm. I grinned as I watched her go white in the face and drift into a free-fall. As she passed out, Rod and Reel caught her. Rod tore her shirt sleeve open to look at the cut.
“It’s not deep. I’ll get her patched up before she wakes.”
Reel pulled me upward, out of my chair, inspecting my arms, legs, back, and face.
“I’m okay. See, just bruises.”
He gently kissed the knot forming on my forehead before leaning into me and resting his hands on my hips as he purposely took slow easy breaths in and out.
“Where the hell am I going to park the tractor now?” Tucker yelled, looking out the kitchen window.
“That tractor shed was falling apart,” Loretta barked back. “They did you a favor. Now the insurance company will pay for a new one.”
“I had tools in there!”
“You had nothin’ but piles of junk in there. Who you try’n’ to fool?” Loretta said rolling her eyes.
I felt Reel chuckle before he stepped back and kissed my forehead again.
“Come on, Tucker. I’ll help you salvage your tools while you tell me about the SUV you saw.”
“Plate number was QH7 TL8,” Loretta said, as she refilled the glasses with lemonade. “Out-of-state license plate. Had some kind of cloud or something on it.”
“I’ll run the number,” Uncle Mike nodded, stepping out on the back porch.
Tucker followed Reel outside. I rinsed the bloody rag out that Rod had used to clean Tansey’s arm as he finished bandaging it. After rinsing it, I took the rag to the freezer and filled it with ice to hold on the knot forming on the side of my forehead.
“If you hit your head, we should get it checked out,” Rod said to me.
“Been knocked around worse than this. If I have any symptoms of a concussion, I’ll get a ride to the ER.”
“Remember that time you fell down the stadium bleachers at the homecoming game?” Loretta laughed. “That was one hell of a show.”
“Not likely to forget,” I said, rolling my eyes, as Rod and Loretta laughed.
Tansey was back on her feet and settled into the kitchen chair when Aunt Carol stomped in through the front door.
“Is it really too much to ask to get through a Sunday service without interruption? First, I hear there’s a gas leak, but it’s under control. Then I hear you were both in a car accident. I swear, you two are the reason that I never had children of my own!”
She gripped my chin, tilting my head to look at my bruised forehead. She huffed, then turned to Tansey to pull her arm over to make sure the bandage was sealed and clean. We both grinned at her as she fumed.
“What were you two doing out this way, anyway?”
“I’m a guessing they heard the first strawberries were in,” Loretta laughed, filling another glass of lemonade.
“Everbearing strawberries?” Aunt Carol asked.
Loretta nodded.
“I’ll take six quarts,” Aunt Carol nodded, pulling her cash pouch out.
“I wanted a dozen, but I’m not sure where my purse is,” I said, trying to remember whether I saw it after the accident.
“It’s still in the Subaru, but I couldn’t reach it,” Reel answered, walking back inside the house. He pulled his wallet and handed some cash to Loretta, way more than the cost of a dozen quarts of strawberries. Loretta smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and stuffed the money in her bra.
“Classy, Mom,” Reel sighed.
“I’ll get the containers,” Tansey said, limping to the back porch.
Everyone except Uncle Mike picked strawberries, eating as many as ended up in the wooden containers. Around thirty quarts, we quit picking and started dragging the overflowing wagon back to the house.
Reel shook his head as he passed some more cash to Loretta and looked back at me. “You making your shortbread later?”
“Ooh, I want angel food cake,” Tansey said, licking the strawberry juice off her fingers.
“I can make both. I don’t have any catering jobs today.”
“Your oven is out of commission,” Rod said. “You need a new regulator for your gas line. Skip can’t get one until tomorrow morning.”
“Dang. I forgot about the gas leak.”
“You mean the gas-filled house that you walked into instead of calling the fire department?” Rod asked.
“I shut the tank off before I went inside. And I was only in there long enough to open the windows.”
“You should have turned the power off to the house first. Then you should have let the back door air the fumes out some before going in to open the windows. And you should have had protective gear on.”
“How was I supposed to know?”
“You weren’t,” Reel grumbled, rubbing a hand down his face in frustration. “You were supposed to act like a normal person and call 911.”
“We all love Tweedle to pieces, but she’ll never be normal,” Loretta chuckled. “And thank the Lord for that gift, because normal is boring.”
“Amen,” Aunt Carol said.
I grinned as I sucked the juice from another strawberry.
“The SUV was reported stolen in Kentucky,” Uncle Mike said, meeting up with us halfway back to the house. “Deputies just found it parked in the next county over. No sign of the driver.”
“Damn it, Mike. What the hell is going on?” Reel yelled.
�
��You tell me,” Mike yelled back. “My niece was perfectly safe before you came back into town.”
“No, I wasn’t,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “It started weeks before Reel came back.”
I pulled the wagon over to Aunt Carol’s car, and she popped the trunk. Everyone had become quiet as I moved the quarts. Shit. I just told on myself.
I glanced back at Tansey. She was super focused on her nails, trying to feign innocence. Rod threw an arm over her shoulder and crooked her head in his arm, pulling her closer. “What don’t we know?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, looking up at me.
“You still haven’t told them ’bout the rattlesnake?” Tucker chuckled.
“Damn it, Tucker,” I mumbled, placing the last quart of strawberries in the trunk.
“What rattlesnake?” Reel asked.
I ignored them and got in the backseat of Aunt Carol’s car. Tansey slid in beside me and slammed the door shut. Aunt Carol got behind the wheel and started the car.
“You girls are in big trouble,” Aunt Carol laughed, as she pulled out of the driveway.
We could hear Reel and Uncle Mike yelling as we drove down the road.
“Where to?” Aunt Carol asked.
“Let’s go to my apartment,” Tansey answered. “I want to change into some clean clothes. Tweedle can bake her stress away while I get some painting time in.”
“What will I do?” Aunt Carol asked.
“I heard they were having a back-room poker game this afternoon at The Bar,” Tansey said.
Aunt Carol didn’t say anything, but I felt the car accelerate. Tansey and I grinned at each other as we relaxed into the seats.
Chapter Ten
“I can’t believe I lost three hundred bucks in poker,” Reel grumbled before taking another giant spoonful of strawberry shortcake.
“I can’t believe you were stupid enough to play against Aunt Carol,” Rod laughed from the chair beside him.
Tansey and I were both sorting out our purses, tossing the demolished items into the trash. I had a lip gloss that had exploded shimmering goo all over everything. Tansey had purple eyeshadow that now accented all her belongings. Both of us were just happy to have our cash and driver’s licenses back.
Aunt Carol walked through the door of Tansey’s apartment with a big smile.
“How’d you do?” I asked.
“It will make a nice deposit in my Master Plan account.”
“You too?” Reel chuckled. “What are you saving for?”
“I have no idea,” Aunt Carol said. “I wanted to own a small café, but if Tweedle opens a bakery, I don’t want to compete against her.”
“Or we could open a bakery that’s also a café,” I said. “We could be partners.”
“Make sure there’s room for my art gallery,” Tansey said.
We grinned at each other as Aunt Carol openly counted her winnings in front of Reel.
“You know, you all tease each other, but if you pooled your money, I bet the three of you could pull it off,” Rod said.
“We still wouldn’t have enough,” I said. “Not yet, anyway.”
“We could get a loan for the rest,” Tansey shrugged. “Something to think about at least.”
“Think about it later,” Reel said. “Right now, we need to figure out how to keep Tweedle safe.”
“She can stay with me,” Tansey shrugged. “She works a short shift tomorrow, and then it’s our night out in Cooper City.”
“Too dangerous,” Reel shook his head. “You both need protection, and now is not a good time for a night out in the city.”
“Now is the perfect time for a night out,” I grumbled.
“Tweedle—”
“Stop, Reel. You don’t get to come back to town and start bossing me around,” I said, tossing the rest of the items from my purse into the trash. “I have an uncle that fills the bossy role quite well. And if we ever needed a night out, it’s now, more than ever. I’ll stay here tonight. After work tomorrow, Tansey and I will go to Cooper City as planned. You don’t get a say in the matter. So either shut it, or get out.”
Aunt Carol paused in her counting and looked up at me in surprise. Tansey snorted. Rod laughed as he grabbed a cookie from the platter on the counter and got up to leave.
“Come on, bro. We better give Tweedle some space before she snaps for good.”
Reel was pissed. He picked up his plate and silverware and let them drop loudly in the sink as he stormed out of the apartment.
“About time you put him in his place,” Uncle Mike snorted, leaning back in his chair while eating another cookie. “But you both need to stay at our house tonight.”
“Out!” I yelled, pointing toward the door.
Uncle Mike sighed but got up and lumbered out the door.
“Well done, my dear,” Aunt Carol said.
“Bravo,” Tansey said. “But are we really staying here tonight without protection?”
“Please,” I said, rolling my eyes. “The two of them are discussing how to manipulate us into compliance while the third one runs inside to buy a couple beers. My guess is Rod runs in for the beers,” I said, as I pulled a bundle of carrots out of the refrigerator.
Tansey ran over to the windows and looked down.
“How’d you know?”
“Overbearing alpha males,” Aunt Carol muttered. “How long before they come back upstairs?”
“About the time the mosquitoes start nipping at them,” I sighed. “Or they get hungry again, whichever comes first.”
“I’ll give them time to drink their beers, but then I’m dragging your uncle home. I trust Rod and Reel to keep you two out of too much trouble.”
“Think Uncle Mike will argue about leaving?” Tansey asked.
“Argue with Aunt Carol?” I grinned. “He wouldn’t dare.”
Aunt Carol’s eyes twinkled as she hid her poker winnings in the bottom of her purse.
The vegetable beef stew was done about the same time Rod and Reel snuck back inside the apartment. Tansey filled a bowl for each of us. They sat at the table, silently eating while they watched us. Tansey and I ate at the breakfast bar and afterward, settled on the couch to watch a chick flick we had seen a million times.
“Isn’t this the one where the woman hires a male prostitute to pretend to be her boyfriend for her sister’s wedding?” Rod asked, as he sat on the floor in front of Tansey.
“No,” Reel said, sitting on the floor in front of me. “This is the movie where the woman is writing an article on how to get a guy to break up with her.”
“How do you know that?” I laughed.
“Our mom used to play these movies all the time,” Reel shrugged, tilting his head back to look at me. “I’m man enough to admit it.”
“Oh, yeah? Then what’s your favorite part?”
“Mine’s when the woman wears the dress without a bra and she’s perky from the cold air,” Rod said.
Tansey knocked him over with her foot. He grabbed both her feet and pulled her down on the floor next to him. Reel got up and took her place on the couch.
“Still waiting,” I said, looking at him, waiting for his answer. “What’s your favorite part?”
“When they sing You’re So Vain on stage,” Reel smirked, pulling me off to the side so he could lie down. He pulled me down to lay next to him.
I thought about moving away, but I decided I was too comfortable. I adjusted my head to use his arm as a pillow and relaxed.
Chapter Eleven
After searching the bakery for any signs of danger, Reel agreed to leave. Mondays weren’t all that busy, but I had Tuesdays off so I needed to make enough pies and breads for two days. I was running at full speed by the time Samantha arrived.
“You’re late,” I grumbled.
“Please,” she snorted. “We both know that you do most of the work. You only need me to deal with the customers.”
“Well, today I’m sore and not m
oving as fast as normal, so strap on an apron and start helping.”
I nodded to the bushel of peaches, and Samantha took the hint and started cutting them up.
“Why are you sore? Have some man fun last night?” Samantha asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
“No. Tansey and I were in a car accident yesterday. Every muscle in my body hurts today.”
“Oh, no. Sorry. I didn’t hear about an accident. Is Tansey okay?”
“She’s bruised and has a cut on her arm, but she’ll be fine.”
“What happened?”
“No time to explain. I need those damn peaches done. Then I need you to start boxing up the donut orders for the morning pickups.”
Samantha didn’t say anything, but sensing my foul mood, she kept busy and out of my hair. I wasn’t really sure why I was taking out my frustration on her. Or why I was frustrated in the first place. Maybe it was because someone wanted me dead. Maybe it was because I’d woken up in Reel’s arms, and the sad reality was that I’d liked it. Maybe I was just tired and needed everyone to give me some breathing room. The reasons why didn’t matter. I was, beyond a doubt, cranky as hell.
An hour or so later, I slammed the bread I was kneading into a pile of flour, creating a white cloud to explode over the front of me. I sighed, dropping my chin to my chest, trying to force myself to relax.
“Samantha!” I called out.
“Yeah?” she asked, peeking her head in through the door.
“I’m sorry I’m being such a brat. I’ve had a few shitty days, and I’m taking it out on you—and the bread.”
“No worries. I think you’re allowed one bad day,” Samantha grinned, slipping back to the customer counter.
“Samantha!” I yelled again.
“Yeah,” she chuckled, sticking her head back in the door.
“I need a favor,” I said, walking over to the refrigerator and taking the plastic container of leftover vegetable soup out and grabbing a plastic spoon. “I promised Reel I wouldn’t leave the bakery. Can you walk this out to the end of the alley and leave it there?”
Samantha raised an eyebrow but took the soup and walked out the back door. When she returned a minute later, hand on hip, she said, “Should I be worried?”
Slightly Off Balance Page 7
