LITMIR.BIZ

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chuckled. “Nah. All my gaming’s above ground these days.”

      Dusty’s head tipped back suddenly, as if he’d been hit. A brief wince crossed his face. “So you’re telling me not only are you a legitimate business owner now...you’re also on the straight and narrow?”

      Smiling, James watched his friend’s face as the crystal-blue eyes roved his for flaws. “Believe it, Harbuck.”

      Dusty bolted out a loud laugh. “You are nuts.”

      “Maybe,” James acknowledged. He clapped Dusty on the shoulder. “We all gotta grow up at some point.”

      “Hmm.” Looking unconvinced, Dusty jerked his chin at the tow truck. “Heard you were looking for a tow driver.”

      “Yep,” James said as they strode over to Witmore’s tow truck. “You interested?”

      “Clint’s done with the big rigs. Dad gave him the tow I was using around town so I’m in the market. What kind of pay would you be offering on a part-time basis?”

      They haggled for a few minutes over commission, hourly rates, benefits and so on. In the end, they shook on an agreement and James handed over the keys.

      Watching Dusty flip the key chain from one hand to the other, James leaned back against the tow truck’s grille and frowned. “You’ve been working for your old man since high school?”

      “Here and there,” Dusty said with a scowl. “He trusts Clint and Hawk more than me, ever since that little incident involving you, me, a bottle of Johnny Walker and his tractor a few months before that fiasco with the Carltons.”

      The Carltons. James’s heart did a little roll and his shoulders straightened. “So you’ve been around since then?”

      “For the most part.”

      “You ever cross paths with Adrian and her little boy?” James asked.

      “Not so much anymore,” Dusty considered. “Not since she and Radley ended things.”

      James’s pulse and jaw dropped simultaneously. “Radley Kennard?”

      “One and the same.” Dusty nodded. “They divorced about six years back. It ruined him. She told everyone who’d listen that he took a swing at her a couple times. He was a cop. Lost his badge and everything. She slapped him with a restraining order. Poor guy hasn’t been the same since.”

      James took a moment to close his mouth, pressing his lips together hard as he digested this new nugget of information. Adrian had been...married? And how in God’s name had she gotten involved with a creep like Radley Kennard? Radley’s younger brother, Scotty, had been one of the guys that ran in Dusty’s hell-raising crew...though even James had been wary around him and his family. Word then was the brothers had run cock-and dog-fighting rings in the woods—though James had never seen as much for himself. Even in his eagerness to fly headlong into the abyss, he’d known to steer clear of the likes of Radley Kennard.

      As to the allegations of abuse...James’s blood ran cold at the thought. However life had treated her, she had never been the kind of person to point fingers falsely. She’d worked and fought for what she was and what she wanted. James couldn’t dismiss Adrian’s claims of abuse as Dusty had. And the thought of anyone hurting her like that made James’s fists clench until the knuckles cracked under the strain.

      “Why are you interested in Adrian again?” Dusty questioned. “You should know better than that.”

      James pursed his lips and took in a long breath—long enough to clear away the fog of rage that the thought of a man like Radley Kennard so much as touching Adrian had stirred. Slowly, his fists unclenched and he relaxed the fingers one by one, lifting one hand and using it to massage the knuckles on the other. “Why do you say that?”

      Dusty gave him an incredulous look. “You’re kidding, right? The Carltons got you arrested twice. They practically ran you out of town. If I were you, the last thing I’d be thinking about is getting involved with Adrian. That can only lead to trouble.” He pushed off the tow to walk back to his truck. “Just ask Radley.”

      It was more complicated than that. Though, since Dusty hadn’t mentioned the kid, James doubted he knew that Kyle was his son. “How do you feel about starting the week after next? I told a reporter over at the Courier this morning I was planning on opening shop then. She’s doing a feature in next week’s paper.”

      “Sounds good to me,” Dusty said and smiled, tipping the bill of his hat to James. “And, hey, for the record, welcome back.”

      “Thanks,” James said.

      Dusty climbed up into his Dodge. “I’ll see you Monday after next.”

      * * *

      ADRIANHADNOCHOICE. It had to be done. Just after lunch the following afternoon, Adrian reluctantly asked Penny if she could manage the shop for an hour or two while she went home to work in her kitchen.

      Her spring line of homemade candles was selling like hotcakes this year. If she didn’t find time to work on a new batch, she would sell out by the end of the week.

      It was the slowest day of the workweek. Flora had only received a trickle of calls that morning. Penny could easily handle a fruit basket, a couple of baby arrangements and a spring wreath. Adrian figured it was her only chance to get away from the shop before the weekend Easter rush.

      As she pulled into her driveway, she chanced a glance over into James’s neighboring one. Yep. There was that black sportster sitting on the cracked pavement. She fumbled her keys as she walked briskly to her front door. Even in her hurry, she avoided the grass she tended so carefully, sticking to the footpath that skirted her front beds. There were the annuals and perennials she and Kyle had planted together. The hydrangeas were blooming like crazy and she was pleased to see Kyle’s favorites, the citrus trees, coming back from the harsh winter.

      If James saw her come home, he didn’t hail her in time to stop her from escaping inside the cottage and bolting the three locks she’d installed on the door when she and Kyle had first moved in. She couldn’t avoid him forever. She knew that. But she could damn well try...

      Breathing a sigh, she walked back to the kitchen and shed the light crocheted sweater she’d left the house in that morning. Opening the window over the sink to let in the scent of Kyle’s sweet olives, she took a moment to indulge in the light, cool breeze that blew through the screens and over her bare arms. She opened the half door to the back porch and smiled at the sound of birdsong. Feeling close to relaxed, she covered her shorts and tank top with a red apron and got to work.

      Any mother of an seven-year-old boy knew that silence was a rare thing. So she worked without music, unless the birdsong and the jangle and ting of wind chimes counted. Humming to herself, she melted wax and cut wicks. She dyed the wax, except what she set aside to use with one of her bestselling scents, gardenia. She’d discovered over the years that gardenia had its own hue, turning the wax a lovely shade of green.

      Carefully, she measured out her various essential oils. Each reacted differently with the wax and some could even eat through plastic or remove paint so here the process became a bit intricate.

      Just as she was beginning to measure and stir, a deep, bass note rent the quiet, making her flinch. The scent, wax and dye mixture she was currently working on tipped over and spilled across the hardwood floor of the kitchen. She shrieked in alarm, then again in anger when the clash of drums and guitars of Audioslave followed.

      James was, indeed, home. After doing what she could about the mess, Adrian threw the ruined bits into the sink and glared out the window above it, raising herself onto her tiptoes to look over the fence line. But her honeysuckle vines prevented her from seeing anything. The whine of a power saw joined the musical blast. Her teeth ground together as she fought back a growl.

      She had half a mind to go pound on his door. She was a few steps from her door when she realized what she was doing...

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