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“Good luck, Kai. Gotta go.”
“Good-bye.”
I ended the call, and continued up the pathetic excuse of a road up to Bernie’s house. Why they hadn’t told me about it in the first place, I didn’t know.
17
Bernie had said there wasn’t time to dick around with Beau calling a different number. So I was just supposed to go up to Bernie’s house again, which frustrated me to no end. I didn’t want to leave Marlowe alone. I knew she’d be safe at the hotel under a different name. Yes, Jasper Creek talked, but people knew enough to keep their mouths shut when it was important. I just didn’t want to leave her while she was still worried about Chaos. And especially after we’d made love. I didn’t know where this was going between us, and what we had seemed more fragile than ever.
As for the ATV I’d been driving, Dave the guy who owned the hardware store had driven it back to Bernie’s place. As I made it up the rough road, my hands began to sweat.
What the hell?
It had been at least thirteen years since I had been this nervous. It had been my first mission, but as soon as I was in the thick of things, my training had kicked in and I did what I needed to do. But how in the hell do you train for meeting a twin brother that you never knew you had?
I pulled up next to Bernie’s A-frame and parked my truck. He was waiting for me on his deck. He was holding two beers. Okay, apparently Bernie thought the way to handle meeting your twin for the first time included alcohol before noon. I was up for it.
I climbed up the stairs.
“Where’s Mora?” I asked.
“She’s in town visiting with Trenda, Maddie and Evie.”
“Would Evie be the woman who owns part of Whispering Pines?” I grabbed the offered beer.
“Yep. She, Aiden, and their boys show up about twice a year, and she comes out a bit more.”
I considered making more conversation, but I couldn’t. “When is Beau supposed to call?”
“He’ll call between twelve-thirty and one.” He popped his phone off his belt and threw it at me and I caught it. Checking the time, I had twenty minutes to kill.
Might as well ask more about the town.
“How’d you end up here?”
Bernie settled into a chair. “I was working for a big corporation. When a relative of mine died and left me this land, I asked for my retirement package early and built this house. I was sick of the rat race, and sick of living on top of my neighbors.”
“Well, there’s no chance of that here.” He smiled and toasted me before he took his first sip of beer. “You seem pretty plugged in for someone who doesn’t live in town.”
“I go get my coffee from the Jolt and sit there for a while. Almost everyone goes in there in the mornings. Grab breakfast at Down Home and my groceries from Rogers. Do that about twice a week. Once a week I go to the retirement home to visit Luther and Violet Randolph. They lived up on the mountain most of their lives, but with Luther’s Alzheimer’s, they had to move to town.”
“I’ve missed the Jolt.”
“Java Jolt. It’s run by Ruby Garner. It’s a block off the town square. I didn’t think she’d be able to make a go of it, but that girl has grit. Her pastries outdo Pearl’s and Down Home’s, but don’t tell them I said so, otherwise I won’t be allowed back into their restaurants.”
I chuckled. Truth. “Besides Marlowe and me, what other news do you have to share?”
“Everybody is on the lookout for a big black truck. Nobody likes the idea of somebody trying to run our teacher off the road.”
That did my heart good to hear, and reassured me that no one was going to talk to a stranger looking for Marlowe. It didn’t ease my nervousness about talking to Beau. My twin. I glanced at the time. Five, maybe ten minutes, and the phone in my hand would ring, my brother on the other end.
“And everybody’s worried about Chloe Drake,” Bernie went on. “Oops, I mean Post. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of her since her last miscarriage. Her sisters go to her house, but she hasn’t gone over to theirs. Not even when Evie brings her boys to town. Of course, that might be rubbing salt into a wound.”
“Bernie, I think you’re oversharing now.”
He took a swallow of his beer. “You’re right, I might be. It’s just that the whole town is worried. Not just about her, we’re worried about her husband Zarek. He’s one of our fire fighters.”
I gave him a pointed glance.
