LITMIR.BIZ

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but then he was pulling away and taking my arm like I’d been injured and needed his assistance. It was strange and comforting at the same time.

      Daddy and Mateo approached, and I could see mist in my dad’s eyes. I reassured him immediately. “We’re both okay, Daddy.”

      “As much as I wouldn’t want anything to happen to Princess, I don’t think I’d be able to handle losing you.”

      Cade let me go and I hugged my dad. Almost instantly, Princess decided she’d had enough of people hugging me. She climbed into my daddy’s arms, nuzzling against his neck as if to say she wasn’t about to let him go.

      My eyes welled up with unshed tears. I recently learned that after near-death experiences, tears could form out of nowhere. In the moment, when I had something to do and had no time to think about my emotions, I was good. But once everything was over, my body was ready to release all the pent-up stress. I sniffed and cleared my throat, trying to will the emotions away. Then I swiped at the lone tear that fell down my cheek.

      Jamal stepped out the side door of the Barn with his mom.

      They both ran toward me and a family hug made more tears escape. My aunt, who I’d never viewed as the emotional type, openly cried, while my cousin rubbed my back—almost as if he wanted to make sure I was in one piece and still breathing.

      “What happened? We thought you were safe in this podunk town in the middle of nowhere. But you’ve been involved in more sh—”

      “Jamal Keynon Harris. You watch your language. There is no reason to be using four-letter words.”

      “Yes, ma’am.” Obviously, Jamal didn’t play his video games in front of my aunt. Four-letter words flew throughout his apartment when he was online.

      “It was just some random thing,” I said again, trying to convince myself as much as everyone else.

      “Get out.” Jamal was less than convinced.

      “What else could it have been?” We all looked toward Mateo for answers.

      “That’s what I aim to find out.” Mateo turned and began rolling up the crime scene tape. He was done at the Barn, but I was betting his night had just begun.

      Chapter Six

      Everyone had pitched in to help clean the store. The windows were boarded, the books were separated into stacks of good to sell and those that needed to be included in the insurance claim, and the glass and debris had been swept and vacuumed. Bullet holes and splintered wood were still visible but would have to wait for the next day. About nine o’clock, everyone went their separate ways, but Cade said he’d be back in an hour with dinner. He wanted to keep our dinner date. Or so he said.

      It was currently nine minutes after ten and I was working myself into a tizzy. He wasn’t coming. I knew he wasn’t coming. He was stringing me along until some big political event occurred and then he’d ask Reba Sue to go with him. I tore off the blouse I had on and put on a clean T-shirt. My Book Boyfriend is Better Than Yours splayed across the front of the shirt in bold red letters. I looked in the mirror. With leggings, it didn’t look too bad, and if he didn’t show, I could sleep in it.

      Princess looked up at me and snorted.

      “I know, I shouldn’t waste my time. He’s not going to show. I starved myself for nothing and now I’ll be stuck eating a gallon of vanilla ice cream for dinner.”

      Which didn’t sound too bad…as long as my cousin didn’t come home and want half. But hopefully I was safe since he’d asked to use my daddy’s truck. He’d never driven a truck and wanted to test drive a “man’s car” so he’d left his keys and headed out on the town while my aunt and Daddy went home to my dad’s house.

      Princess grunted and ran for the door. She didn’t seem to be doing too badly with her bandage. “You can’t go out. You’re hurt.”

      A moment later she began scratching and I knew it was a losing battle. “Fine. But don’t you dare stay out late.”

      I opened the door and glanced at my watch. Ten fourteen.

      Princess ran down the steps and I thought for sure she was going to roll, but somehow, she made it to the bottom in one piece. I heard a creak of metal and looked toward the gate at the edge of the narrow alley leading to my apartment and the river. Blocked off from the front of the store with an iron gate, I always thought our apartment was in a pretty neat location at the back of the bookstore on the upper level. I’d lived here with my parents as a kid, and after my mom died when I was ten, my daddy and I stayed on. He now had a house, and I had the apartment.

      The light above the gate illuminated the sign that my daddy had made for my mom. Eve’s Gate had hung on that iron bracket since the day we moved in—with an occasional mishap of it falling on someone’s head. Those rare incidents created rumors of my mom’s spirit haunting the sign, and that tidbit of gossip had always given me comfort. Especially now since the alley was empty.

      I sighed and stepped back in my apartment.

      “Don’t close that door!”

      My heart skipped a beat, or I had indigestion, I’m not sure which, but I smiled as I looked out and saw Cade Calloway making his way through the alley.

      I glanced at my watch. Ten seventeen. “You’re late. I should close this door and eat leftovers.”

      Cade eyed my mom’s sign and I smiled. She’d hit him on the head a time or two.

      Once he was passed it, he looked up the stairs and said, “You don’t have any leftovers. You’ve got a half-eaten half gallon of ice cream.”

      I crossed my arms over my chest. “Wrong.” I had two brand new half gallons of ice cream. It was almost time for peppermint shakes and I wanted to make sure I didn’t run out.

      Cade took the steps two at a time with a takeout bag in each hand. Once he got to the top of the steps, he crowded me on the landing. “Hi,” he whispered as he looked down at my mouth.

      “Hi, yourself.” I nodded toward the takeout bags that smelled almost as good as he did. “What’d you bring me?”

      “Pork fried rice and beef and broccoli.”

      “You’ve earned passage into my home.” I turned and brushed against him as I went back into my apartment. I told myself it was an accident, but who was I kidding. I wanted the contact between us.

      Cade put the bags on the table. “I see you were expecting me.”

      For a moment, I was embarrassed by the paper plates and plastic ware I’d thrown on the table. It’d been my way of protecting myself from a broken heart. There’s nothing worse than setting the table with china, silver, and candles and then spending the night looking at the empty chair across the table. Not that it ever happened to me, but I saw it plenty of times in the movies and those women were just downright pathetic.

      “Sorry. I forgot to run the dishwasher.”

      “You don’t have a dishwasher.”

      “Huh, imagine that. Would you like some iced tea?”

      “No wine?”

      “The only bottle I have, you can’t have.”

      Cade laughed. “Really? I rank that low?”

      “It ranks that high.” I poured two glasses and grabbed a couple serving spoons and made my way to the table to sit down across from Cade.

      We’d sat at this very table countless times in high school while doing homework and filling out college applications for Cade. He’d been a year ahead of me and had been recruited by the best schools in Texas on a football scholarship. That career had been our downfall, and I wondered if we were doomed to follow the same path.

      “What can you tell me about Matt Allen’s death?”

      Cade looked

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