LITMIR.BIZ

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end of Holly Bradford’s pity.

      “I’m sure everything will be okay. My insurance should cover any losses. But I have to ask you not to touch anything, okay? We can’t mess up the crime scene.”

      “Crime scene. That sounds so scary! Right out of CSI: Miami! Where’s Horatio?”

      Was she ever this young when she was twenty-five? Claire wondered, then answered her own rhetorical question. No. By then, she’d already been married for over a year, had given birth to Macy and had been working two jobs to put Jeff through medical school.

      “I’m sorry things are in such disarray.” She tried on a smile and found she still had one or two in reserve. “Maybe you can come back later today after I’ve had a chance to start cleaning things up.”

      “Don’t you worry about that. I didn’t need anything urgent. I guess Macy probably told you about our crazy shopping trip to Vail, didn’t she?”

      “She might have mentioned it.” Twenty or thirty times. Her twelve-year-old daughter adored her stepmother. Why wouldn’t she? Holly was the big sister Macy had always wanted. She was fun and young and hip. Holly had read all the Twilight books and had MySpace, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

      Claire tried hard not to resent their bond. Macy loved her mother, too, although sometimes she didn’t act very much like she did as she tested her wings on her way to adolescence.

      “That girl is a shopping maniac!” Holly gushed. “Jeff just cut us loose with his credit cards while he and Owen went snowboarding and Macy helped me buy a whole new maternity wardrobe. When we got back home and I started opening all those bags, I realized what I really need now are some killer accessories to distract people from my big fat belly.”

      Right. Although she was five months along in her pregnancy, Holly could still probably fit into a size 4 pair of jeans, at least if they were low cut.

      “You know you look beautiful, no matter what you’re wearing. But new jewelry is always nice.” Particularly when it was handcrafted out of the pricey Venetian glass beads Holly liked, the ones that netted String Fever a healthy profit. “I’ll be glad to help you with some ideas after the store opens later today, if you don’t mind coming back.”

      “No problem. I’ve got nothing else on my schedule today.”

      Oh, that she could say the same. Claire summoned another smile. “I’ll try to call you after the police clear the store for me to reopen.”

      “You’re so sweet to me. Thank you so much, Claire.”

      Before she quite knew what she intended, Holly grabbed her in a hug and Claire had no real choice but to endure it and even hug her back a little before she quickly eased out of the embrace.

      She didn’t really dislike Holly. The situation was just so awkward, living in the same town with her and Jeff, bumping into each other all the time, sharing concentric circles of friends.

      No matter how much Jeff claimed Holly had nothing to do with his unilateral decision to leave the marriage and no matter how much Claire knew she bore equal responsibility for the problems and the distance that had grown between them those last few years, Jeff had started living his little cliché—dating the young, beautiful receptionist in his orthopedic surgery practice—just a few weeks after their divorce was final. He’d married her six months after that and now they were starting their own family.

      Whether Claire liked the situation or not, they were all three coparenting the children. When Owen and Macy were with their father, Holly was a major influence in their lives and for the sake of her children, Claire couldn’t afford to be bitter or spiteful. Nor could she move away from Hope’s Crossing, not when she had a business here and not when Macy and Owen needed their father in their lives more than just on weekends.

      “Are you sure you’re okay?” Holly asked. “Maybe I should stay with you while the police come. You know, for moral support.”

      “That’s really not necessary,” she started to say, but the last word was barely out when the bells on the door chimed out again. She and Holly both turned at the sound and despite everything—especially whatever shred of good sense she had left—the day suddenly seemed far less bleak.

      The town’s brand-new chief of police stood in the doorway, dark-haired and gorgeous and almost ridiculously male looming over the glittery beads strewn across the floor. He wore jeans and a light blue dress shirt and tie and beneath his unzipped official Hope’s Crossing Police Department parka, she saw a badge flash on one hip and a handgun at the other.

      The chief took a long look around at the carnage and shook his head slowly. “What am I going to do with you, Claire? I turn my back for fifteen years or so and just look at the trouble you get yourself into.”

      In spite of everything, she had to laugh. Apparently Riley hadn’t lost his uncanny ability to tweak that weird sense of humor her mother had been talking about. He stepped toward her, his arms wide, and without even thinking, she walked into them. Unlike Holly’s brief embrace, this one was warm and familiar and completely natural, and for the first time all morning she felt as if she had something solid to hang on to.

      Too soon, he eased away to study her and she was suddenly painfully aware of every single one of her thirty-six years and the two kids and divorce she had in her back pocket.

      “You look terrific, Claire. How long has it been?”

      She never could resist that smile, even when he was only her best friend’s annoying kid brother who thought his sole purpose on earth was to taunt and tease and basically do his best to drive her and Alex crazy. This little flutter of attraction couldn’t be appropriate, not with all the water that had flowed under their respective bridges. Especially not when her life and her store were in crisis.

      “I’m not sure. A few years anyway. That’s what happens when you head off to the coast and leave everybody behind.”

      “Word on the street is that you finally dumped Dr. Idiot. About damn time. You were always too good for him, even back in the day. I don’t know what you ever saw in a little weasel like him.”

      About thirty seconds too late, Claire remembered with a mix of horror and a tiny, petty secret amusement she knew she ought to be ashamed to entertain that Holly was still hovering around. With an inward wince, she shifted to direct his attention toward the other woman.

      “Oh. Riley, um, have you met Holly, Jeff’s new wife? Holly, this is Riley McKnight, former town hellion and now the new chief of police in Hope’s Crossing.”

      With her color high and her mouth pursed, Holly looked as if she might have been choking on an 8-millimeter rounded bicone.

      “Sorry, ma’am.” Riley offered an apologetic smile, even as he held his crossed fingers behind his back so that only Claire could see. “Claire’s an old friend and I’m afraid I spoke without thinking.”

      Holly didn’t seem to know how to respond, whether to defend her spouse or let the awkwardness of the moment pass. She looked ruffled and insecure and terribly young, even though Riley at thirty-three would only be eight years older.

      Finally she must have decided to ignore him completely. Instead, she spoke in a stiff voice to Claire. “I guess you don’t need me to stick around, then?”

      “I think I’ll be okay.” Now she was ashamed of that brief moment of small-minded amusement. “Thanks, though. It was really, uh, great of you to offer your moral support, Holly. I’ll let you know when the store opens again and we can start working on those accessories for your new maternity wardrobe.”

      “Don’t worry. We can do it another day. I guess I’ll see you tonight at Owen’s play, then? Jeff and I can save you and Macy a seat if you want.”

      She supposed she deserved that little dig, intentional or not, the reminder that Claire would be arriving at the annual Spring Fling pageant at Hope’s Crossing Elementary with her twelve-year-old daughter as her date while Holly

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