by Dylann Crush
“They redecorated your house, hon.” Lacey’s voice went all quiet. “It’s not safe for you to stay there anymore. I want you to move in with us for a bit.”
Her heart kicked up its pace and began to beat so hard and so fast she thought she might pass out. “I can’t stay with you, you’re on the other side of town. It would take me forever to get to the warehouse. And even longer to get to the shelter once we get that fixed up.”
“Well you can’t go home. You’ll stay at the Phillips House.” Her voice held a finality Zina had heard before. But it had rarely been directed at her. It was her mayor voice, the one she used when she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“I can’t stay there, you’ve only got two bedrooms and they’re both in use,” Zina ground out. Not to mention that’s where Alex was. And based on what went down between them the night before, trying to maintain her distance with him so temptingly nearby might prove to be too much for her to handle.
“The men can share a room. We’ll bring in an air mattress if we have to. But you’re not going home and that’s final.” Lacey’s voice bordered on shrieking.
“Settle down, mama. No need to burst an eardrum. Let me check in with Bodie and we’ll make a plan from there, okay?” It didn’t fail to register that she was the one who should be freaking out right now, not Lacey. Maybe this pregnancy was changing her friend in more ways than met the eye.
“All right. He’s waiting for you there. Call me after?”
“I will. And, Lacey?”
“Hmm?”
“Thanks for worrying about me. You know you’re a giant pain in my ass but I do love you.” That was an understatement. The pain-in-the-ass part. Lacey wasn’t so much a giant pain in her ass, she was more like a boil that was about to burst.
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“It won’t. I know how to take care of myself.” And she did. She’d been in the military, stationed overseas. Where she’d had to always be on alert, sleep with one eye open, and all that.
“But you don’t have to take care of yourself all by yourself now. That’s what friends are for.”
The sentiment hit her harder than it should have. She’d blame it on the lack of sleep and the stress she’d been under for the past several days. Wiping a tear away before it fell, she took in a breath. “Gotta go, I’m almost there. I’ll call you later.”
As she pulled into her own drive, Bodie’s sheriff’s truck loomed before her.
eighteen
Alex couldn’t believe his grandfather. How dare he bring up the past, especially in front of Zina? He could still taste her on his lips, still feel the way her hair slid through his fingers as he kissed her.
He pulled some clothes on and headed down to the warehouse to check on preparations. Toby was there, doing a final walk-through of the dome. He’d already filled the large aboveground pool. Alex had checked with the aquarium on exact requirements and had dumped enough salt in the bottom to make sure the penguins would feel right at home.
“Think you’ll be wrapping up today?” Alex asked.
“Yeah.” Toby fiddled with the thermostat. “It’s done. Now all you need to do is get the temp down to where you want it and bring in the ice and snow.”
“I can’t believe you were able to get this done so fast.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way, isn’t that right?” Toby clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m just going to make a few final adjustments.”
They were doing everything they could to make sure they’d have things ready. Now that the habitat was finished, he’d have such little time to get the penguins trained. Good thing they were coming from the aquarium where they’d participated in plenty of training sessions, so they were used to working for treats. He hadn’t been able to make it over to Houston to see them in action yet. The director said he could come by anytime and hand select the penguins he wanted to have at the wedding. With everything under control, today seemed as good a time as any to head over. Maybe the girls would want to go with him.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Char. If memory served, she had a rare day off and might enjoy having some time to herself.
“Hey, what’s up?” she answered, her voice a little breathless.
“I need to head to Houston to check out those penguins. Thought maybe the girls would want to go with me and we could give you a day to yourself. What do you say?”
“Really? I was just starting to clean out the girls’ bedrooms. Do you know Frankie keeps all kinds of food under her mattress to train Shiner Bock?”
He stifled a chuckle. That didn’t surprise him at all. Frankie loved that damn bird with a fierceness. She’d do just about anything for him. “I believe it.”
“I wanted to ask you a question about Shiner.”
“What’s up?”
“I think Dolly’s allergic. Is there any chance he can move out to the Phillips House with you?”
He groaned. “First Gramps, now the damn bird, too?”
“Just long enough for me to see if it makes a difference?”
“Yeah, fine.”
“Thanks. Frankie will be heartbroken if we have to give him away. And I’m sure they’d love to go with you to the aquarium. What time?”
“How about an hour?”
“That’ll be fine. I’ll have them ready.”
“Sounds good.”
“Hey, Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.” She disconnected.
He tucked his phone back into his pocket and headed back to the house. That gave him just enough time for a shower, another few cups of coffee, and a talk with his grandfather about appropriate breakfast conversation. Gramps still sat at the table, where Alex had left him.
“Hey, we need to talk.”
Gramps looked up. “Haven’t we talked enough for one day?”
“You should have thought about that before you went and brought up things from the past.”
“You can’t change what kind of person your mama was.” The old man gave a slight shake of the head. “But you can change what kind of man you want to be.”
Alex forced down the anger rising in his chest. “You have no business talking about my mom like that. You don’t know what happened back then.”
“I know a lot better than you do. What were you, five? Six? When she left, you couldn’t have been more than first or second grade.”
Five. He was five years old when he came home from kindergarten one day to find his dad passed out in a recliner in the family room and his mom long gone. She’d left a note saying she was going to stay with her sister and would come back for them when she got a job and found them a place to live. That was the last time he’d heard from her.
“How dare you bring that up in front of a stranger?”
Gramps scoffed, laughed right into his mug of coffee. “I’d say you know that woman better than the vast majority of other people in this town. Do you think I couldn’t hear the two of you going at it all night long? She ought to know what she’s in for, don’t you think?”
That was it. The man must have lost his mind, at least the part that had still been working. Alex stomped out of the house, leaving him to his memories and judgments. He’d sacrifice that extra coffee and head to Char’s early if it meant getting away from his grandfather.
As he passed through town, he caught a glimpse of the Burger Bonanza sign. He may as well stop in and grab a cup of coffee to go.
A few minutes later he leaned against the counter while he waited for the waitress to stop by and grab his order. He hadn’t spent much time in town since he’d been back—he’d been busy from dawn till dusk trying to get the warehouse ready for the impending penguin arrival. As he sat there waiting for his fix of caffeine, he let his gaze roam over the place. Same booths. Same
countertop. Same cantankerous cook slinging burgers in the kitchen. It was comforting on some level to know that no matter how long he’d been gone or how far he traveled, places like this would always stay the same.
Kind of like his grandfather, he supposed. Maybe he’d been too rough on the man. Alex kneaded the back of his neck as someone slid into the booth behind him.
Must have been two people based on the way they traded muffled words back and forth. Alex didn’t pay them much mind until he heard a phrase that set off a chain reaction of protectiveness. “Stupid, dog-loving bitch.”
They could be talking about anyone but his mind immediately went to Zina. He fought the urge to whip around and set them straight. But that wouldn’t do any good. So he sat there in silence, straining to pick up tidbits of the conversation. The waitress came over to take his order, and he decided to stick around and try to figure out what they were talking about. While she chattered away at him, he missed out on a good chunk of what was being said. He swore he heard the word “pity.” But it could have been “pity” or “pittie.” Laying into a man for mistaking something he said wouldn’t do any good, so he waited.
The talk between them stopped when their food arrived. Alex was left to sip on his coffee and hope they started up again before he had to leave to get to Char’s. He tried to turn his head and catch a glimpse of them without being too obvious as he signaled the server over for more coffee. All he could see from the corner of his eye was a pair of well-worn steel-toed work boots and a hand before the man shifted farther into the booth. Dammit. The man did wear a ring though. Looked like something he’d see on a biker. He could have sworn it was a skeleton.
He pulled out a few bucks and slid them under his saucer, figuring he’d get up and go to the restroom. That would give him a chance to sneak a quick look at the men at the table behind him. Before he could stand up, a palm landed on his shoulder.
“Alex Sanders.” A woman stood next to him, her other hand held out for a handshake.
“Do I know you?” He instinctively reached for her hand, barely catching a final look at the two men as they exited through the front door.
“Suzy Mitchell, damn glad to meet you.”
“If you’ll excuse me for a moment . . .” Alex hopped off his stool and ran to the door, trying to catch a glimpse of the two men who’d been at the booth behind him. He made it to the window just in time to see a large black dually pickup truck fishtail out onto the main road.
“Mr. Sanders?” Suzy had followed him to the door, a friendly smile on her face.
“You didn’t happen to catch sight of those two men, did you?” He moved back toward the stool where he’d been sitting, stopping on the way to see if maybe the men had paid with a credit card and left a receipt sitting there.
“Sorry, I didn’t. Can I ask you a quick question though?” Her lips were bright orange, just a few shades different from her hair.
“Sure.” Alex had no idea how the woman knew his name or what he might be able to help her with, but his chance of getting more info on the two men was lost, so he managed a smile as he grabbed his jacket.
“I hear you’re doin’ some work out at the Phillips House?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, I wanted to introduce myself. I’m the town florist. You be sure to give me a call if you need flowers for that big wedding coming into town.”
“Oh, they’ve got a wedding planner from LA making most of the arrangements, but I’ll mention it to Lacey.”
She nodded. “I heard you’re going to have some penguins. One of ’em gets out of hand and you need to have something mounted, I can help you with that, too.”
“Mounted?”
She pulled a rolled-up magazine out of her back pocket. “Taxidermy and flowers, those are my two specialties. You can see right here I was a centerfold back in the day.”
He squinted, not wanting to look at the spread she held out.
“Do my own mounts, full body if you want. I figure penguins can’t be too different than some of the other animals I’ve worked with.”
Alex peeked between his lashes at the image of Suzy surrounded by woodland animals. His stomach churned. “Oh, we’re set there. No need to mount the penguins.”
“You let me know if you change your mind.” She held out a card.
He slid it into his back pocket. “I sure will.”
“Oh, one more thing?”
Alex cringed, wondering what other businesses the taxidermist florist might be dabbling in. He was almost afraid to ask. “Yes?”
“Is it true you’re having a dog adoption event out at the Phillips place today? My nephew lost his dog to cancer last year and I was going to send him over.”
“We sure are. Starts at three.” Alex checked his watch. Speaking of the adoption event, he’d promised Zina he’d help. If he wanted to get back in time, he’d better get a move on.
“Thanks. I’ll let him know.” She grinned again as she stepped past him.
Alex downed the rest of his coffee and headed toward the truck.
Twenty minutes later he pulled into Char’s driveway. The girls crowded around him, apparently eager to get to the aquarium.
“Uncle Alex, is it true we’re going to get to pet the penguins?” Dolly asked.
“Can we teach them how to play soccer?” Jordan passed a soccer ball between her hands.
Izzy took his hand and tugged him toward the truck. “Let’s go. I want to draw them.”
Char gazed at him over the top of her daughters’ heads. “You sure you’re up for this?”
“Um, yeah.” Truth was, he was already having second thoughts. But he’d offered and it was something that needed to be done sooner rather than later.
Char lifted Dolly up so she could climb into the back seat. “Have fun.”
“Did you decide what to do with your free time?”
“Sure did. One of my friends is meeting me in town for lunch and then we’re getting manicures at the salon.” Her smile made the hours that stretched ahead of him worth it. “Where’s Gramps?”
“Oh, we kind of had it out this morning. He’s back at the Phillips House.”
“You can’t leave him there by himself all day.” Char’s forehead creased.
Alex couldn’t imagine spending the morning at the aquarium with his nieces and his grandfather. “He’ll be fine. Where’s he going to go? He’ll putter around the warehouse, pet some dogs, and maybe get his head out of his ass while he’s at it.”
The girls giggled.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” He and Gramps had exchanged some harsh words but the old man was right. He always was.
“Come on, Alex. This isn’t what we talked about. If you won’t take him with you, I guess I’ll have to cancel my plans.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.
“Fine.” He let out a sigh. “We’ll swing by and pick him up on the way. Happy?”
“As a clam.” She leaned over and wrapped an arm around him for a half hug. “You’re a good guy. Despite what everyone says.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I’ve got to get going. Y’all have fun.”
Fun. Right. With his four nieces and his grandfather at the aquarium. If that was fun, then Alex decided he’d been doing it wrong. He herded the other girls toward the truck and got them loaded in. As he drove back to the Phillips House, he thought about whether or not he ought to call Zina and warn her about the men at the diner. Based on what he’d heard, he didn’t even know if they’d been talking about her. They could have been talking about someone else.
It would be better to relay that kind of news in person, not over the phone. But if something happened or he got a sense she was in danger at all, he’d hunt those two men down and figure out what they were up to. Satisfied he had
a plan, he slid a smile onto his face and cranked up the tunes. Today was about the girls and the penguins and the cranky old man he was lucky to have as his grandfather.
nineteen
Zina took tentative steps forward, walking toward the place she’d called home for the past four years. The front picture window had been smashed in. Just broken glass. That she could live with. It could have easily happened from a baseball that went too far. Didn’t mean she was the target of some underground dog-fighting ring organizers.
Bodie had his back to her as she came up the walk. He was talking into the walkie clipped to his waist. She must have scuffed her boots on the sidewalk, because he turned.
“I’ll be in touch.” He clipped the mic to his belt and raised his brows. “Lacey get ahold of you?”
“Yeah. What happened?”
He moved toward the front door and she followed. “Best I can tell, someone threw a brick through your front window.”
“You sure it wasn’t a baseball?” she asked, futile hope making her voice come out an octave higher than usual.
He grimaced. “Pretty sure. We found the brick.”
“Oh.”
Bodie pushed the door open and entered the house first. Shattered glass covered the floor and spread over the couch. The couch she probably would have been sitting on if she hadn’t spent last night with Alex.
“There was a note tied to the brick. I need to take it into the lab and dust it for prints but wanted you to see it first. Maybe you recognize the handwriting?” He picked up a clear baggie from the table and held it out to her.
A creased piece of paper filled the bag. She glanced to Bodie as she took it. “‘Forget about the dogs or else’?”
“I guess they didn’t want to waste any words. Do you recognize the handwriting at all?”
Zina shook her head. Looked like a first grader had gotten ahold of a black Magic Marker. It wasn’t so much handwriting as it was thick black letters scrawled across a standard piece of notebook paper. “How are you going to figure out where it came from?”
