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Oh, right. The brother. Supposedly the most wonderful human to ever exist, even though he hadn’t shown his face in Hart’s Ridge once these past three years. “Okay…” I furrowed my brow. How long did climbing a mountain take? Surely not more than an hour?
“Maybe consider not climbing it ever,” Kate suggested. “People call it the Widow-Maker. TheWidow-Maker, Nora. Does that sound like a fun time to you?”
“No, but neither does childbirth,” I said. “I suspect the ends justify the means.”
“What in the world are you talking about? What does childbirth have to do with anything?” Suzie said. She shook her head. “Okay, honey, let’s get you home. You’re drunk.”
“Okay,” I said agreeably.
I let Suzie steer me toward her minivan and hopped clumsily into the passenger seat. Five minutes later I was home. I stood on the front porch and waved at Suzie until her taillights disappeared around a corner, then dug my hand into my purse, searching for my keys.
But my keys weren’t there.
I frowned. I squatted on my porch, dumped my purse upside down, and rooted through the results…exactly as I had that afternoon, looking at the pamphlets.Oh, no.
Damn it all to hell. I had locked myself out of my fucking house.
Chapter 2
Michael
IsteppedontoMainStreet with a feeling that I had somehow entered a parallel universe. It hadn’t changed in the three years I had been gone, and yet everything was different. Cleaner. Brighter. Dreamer’s Café was still there, and the hardware store, and Hot and Wired, the coffee shop. But Hart’s Ridge had always looked just a little bit shabby and worn down. Now it looked pretty as a postcard.
I didn’t like it.
I hefted my bag more firmly onto my shoulder and trudged onward. It had been a long flight, and the only thing I cared about was a hot shower. I didn’t care about the weirdly clean street, and I definitely didn’t care about the woman who appeared to be stealing a police horse.
“I’m only going toborrowhim,” she said, her words slightly mushed together in a way that made me suspect alcohol was involved. “You can have him back tomorrow.”
The police officer didn’t look inclined to let that happen. “Stop trying to take the reins, Nora. If you’re not sober enough to drive a car, then you’re not sober enough to drive a horse. Where would you even keep him tonight?”
Nora.The name pinged something in my brain. I slowed down, trying to get a better look at her face in the glow of the streetlight.
“Youridea horse, you don’t drive it. And you won’t be doing that either because you’ve got the saddle on wrong. It’s too far back and you’re going to hurt the horse. His back isn’t meant to carry your weight there. I’m not letting you up there until you fix it.” She managed to wrest the reins from him and gave the horse an affectionate pat on the nose. There was an unsteadiness to her that was a little alarming, despite her righteous indignation.
“And I’m tellingyouthat I have no intention of getting on,” the officer growled. “Wherever we’re going, we’re walking.”
I got a good look and realized it was Eli Carter, the only full-time police officer of Hart’s Ridge. That hadn’t changed, at least. But why did he have a horse like some old-timey Western sheriff? Where the hell was his patrol car?
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. Just let me fix it.” She nudged him aside with her hip, handed him the reins, and got it done. She was surprisingly effective considering her words were slurred. “There. I just saved you from looking like an idiot.”
I bit back a snort of laughter. Whoever she was, she was about to get her drunk ass tossed in jail until she sobered up, but that wasn’t my problem. I didn’t know her, and Eli was more than capable of handling a pint-sized woman by himself. I took one last look over my shoulder just as she stepped fully into the light and—
Christ, Ididknow her.
“Nora?” I called uncertainly. “Nora Zeigler?”
Eli looked up, his expression one of pure relief. “You know her?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Sort of, anyway.”
“You know me? That’s great!” She beamed at me. “I have so many questions.”
I smiled back despite trying my hardest not to. “Not in an existential way. In the way that you’re my little sister’s best friend, and she talks about you all the time.”
Ever since Nora had moved to Hart’s Ridge a year ago, Suzie had posted a steady stream of Nora-related shenanigans on her social media. Only Suzie didn’t call it shenanigans; she called it a “situation.” Like last winter, when Nora had parked her car in a deep puddle and awoken to find it had frozen solid overnight. Suzie showed up to take her to work, but by the time she’d gotten there, Nora had solved the problem. She had used a hairdryer and an extension cord to free her car.
The woman was trouble, but she always seemed to know exactly how to solve it.
