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“Is she gettin’ a little boy crazy these days?” Aubree asked.
Rory chuckled. “I don’t know if I’d call it that, but Jackson’s been picking her up from school so he could intimidate the boys. Middle school is a whole new world.”
The girls went on chatting about Phoebe and her middle school adventures, but my mind was still on the part about Tucker being a PI.
But after a few minutes, my silence was noticed, and Aubree bumped my shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just wonderin’ what their case has to do with Hope. What the heck could they possibly want with her?”
We all sat there for a second, chewing over the question and our pizza in silence, but no one had any answers.
I sighed, finishing the last of my slice. “Either way, too bad he’s not lookin’ into me, instead. Not just because he’s every bit as handsome as the rumor mill would have you believe, but then Hope wouldn’t be mixed up in whatever it is.”
“Uh, yeah, but thenyouwould be,” Laney said.
“I know, but she’s been goin’ through it with her grandpa dyin’ and all. I just feel bad.”
Aubree’s face softened. “Paisley mentioned that Hope’s had to take a few calls at the dispatch center about older people passin’ away, and they’ve hit her pretty hard each time.”
“Are you sure that’s the reason you’d rather he was looking into you?” Rory asked, narrowing her eyes at me. “It’s not mostly because of how hot he is? I have seen him with my own eyes, and he really is. Objectively, of course.”
I felt my cheeks warm as I remembered the feel of his hard body against mine when he’d shielded me from danger in town square—well, apparent danger, anyway.
It definitely didn’t hurt that I was attracted to him, but at the end of the day, I felt protective over Hope. Kind of like how my sisters felt about me, only just like everyone else in my circle, she was older than me. Even as we added new members to our ever-growing family, apparently, I was destined to be the baby.
Rory’s eagle eyes didn’t miss my face’s reaction to those brick wall thoughts about Tucker, and she laughed, causing Laney and Aubree to shake their heads at me.
Laney cleared her throat. “Well, Kota, you’re barkin’ up the wrong tree with that one. He’s only here to solve whatever case he’s workin’ on. That won’t get you any closer to finding the right guy for you.”
I lifted a brow. “And why not? For all we know, I’ve been barkin’ up all the wrong trees so far because they’re planted right here in Charlotte Oaks.”
My sisters instantly slapped on matching looks of disapproval, and Laney put a hand on the table between us and tapped her fingers to get my attention. “Excuse me, you can’t fall in love with someone who doesn’t live here!”
I laughed. “You didn’t, fine, butyoucan’t agree with that,” I said as I turned to Aubree. “You fell in love with a jet-settin’ country singer, and look how well that turned out. He built your dream home in your hometown. He didn’t whisk you away.”
“I’m not sure a private eye makes as much money as Riley, though,” Rory piped in, ever so logically. “And he probably needs to go back to Colorado if that’s where his business is. He’s gotta have all kinds of licenses and stuff. He’d have to re-do all of that and start over if he were to move here.”
“Did you have a book hero who was a PI or somethin’?” I asked.
“Yep. And it takes a lot of work to build up a business. Doubt he’d want to move it across the country.”
“Blah, blah, blah. I didn’t say anythin’ about fallin’ in love with the man. Besides, he might only be in town for a case that might spell trouble for Hope. And that right there would prevent me from wantin’ anythin’ to do with that man, no matter how much I kinda wanna climb him like a tree.”
The girls laughed, but as the laughter died down, one thing was very clear to me: If a bonafide private eye was sniffing around Hope and her house when he’d gotten shot, Hope might be in real danger. What if that bullet was meant for my friend? And if no one seemed to know what the story was, and the people whodidknow refused to tell me anything, I needed to get the story on my own. Especially since Adam was clearly biased now that he knew his brother-in-arms from the past was Tucker’s partner.
“Y’all, I need to get to the bottom of this,” I said, interrupting whatever conversation they’d moved on to while I’d been thinking.
“Um, since when did you become the PI in this situation?” Laney asked.
“I’m not. But I am Hope’s friend, and I need to figure out what the actual PIs want with her. I’m stayin’ with her right now anyway, so maybe before I go inside tonight… I’ll just have a little look-see.”
“That is a terrible idea, Dakota,” Aubree chided.
I stuck my tongue out at her.
“I agree,” Laney warned.
“I’m sure you do.”
