Treasure and Protect_a small town romantic suspense novel Read online

  She lifted her head and texted back.

  Cora: Lice.

  Julia’s response came in the form of a phone call.

  “Hey,” Cora answered, heading to the kitchen to see if she had any ice cream.

  Jackpot. Caramel swirl. Thank the gods of frozen goods for caramel swirl.

  “Okay, lady, I know what you’re doing.” Julia’s words made Cora pull the phone from her ear and look at it, as though she expected to see her friend’s face peering through it.

  “Yeah? You can see through phones now?” She felt like she was channeling Ashley more and more lately. Ashley was the snarky sister. Cora was supposed to be the good girl. The sweet girl.

  “You’re eating ice cream and telling yourself you can’t do this online dating thing.”

  “Maybe,” she said around a mouthful of caramel goodness.

  “Ha!” Julia laughed. “Fine. Let yourself eat the ice cream, but promise me, you’ll get off the phone and go check your dating profile. Schedule two more dates or email five new guys. One or the other.”

  “Ugh.”

  “You know I’m right,” Julia offered in a sing-song voice.

  “It doesn’t make you any more likable right now,” Cora threw back at her, employing the same sing-song.

  She was laughing, though, by the time they hung up. She didn’t tell Julia she’d agreed to work for Justin over the summer. She wasn’t up to confessions of a Justin Kensington addict right now.

  She took her ice cream over to her desk where her laptop sat. Julia was right. She needed to get back in the saddle.

  Oh, but not with that guy, she thought, as she hid the profile of a guy who had stalker potential written all over him.

  “See, I can say goodbye to people. Goodbye Creepy McCreeperson,” she said as she hid another guy’s profile. He looked to be about twelve years old.

  She hit the wave hello button on two guys who had potential and wrote a quick, sorry-I-don’t-play-for-your-team-but-you-look-lovely-and-best-of-luck-to-you message to a woman the service had accidentally suggested for her.

  Her phone pinged with an incoming text.

  Julia: Two dates! No slacking.

  Cora groaned and filled her spoon again as she pulled up the messages section of the website. There had been a few guys she emailed earlier in the week. She could arrange coffee dates with them. Julia hadn’t ever said the dates had to be for dinner.

  Her phone pinged.

  Julia: Coffee’s not a date.

  Hell.

  4

  Cora could hear the shuffling footsteps of Mr. Knight as she waited on his front porch. In the last month alone, he seemed to have slowed down considerably.

  “It’s me, Mr. Knight,” she called out as she heard him coming closer.

  “Cora?” He asked as he swung the door wide.

  His home was out on what used to be one large ranch that had been run by his family for generations. Now, much of the land had been parceled off and a few homes stretched out on either side. The cattle that had once been a staple on the land was gone.

  She smiled when he got the door open and held up the basket of muffins. Yes, it was cliché, but she brought muffins to the man whenever she came to see him.

  He gave her a mock scowl. “Blueberry, I hope?”

  “Of course,” she said, following him inside. He seemed to shrink further and further into himself as the days wore on and she worried that he didn’t have a lot of support in the town.

  In a small town like Evers, when you sued one of the town’s biggest employers, it tended to make people wonder where your loyalties stood.

  Cora could understand people being upset about Mr. Knight’s suit against Caufield’s Furniture, but she also thought his allegations that the company had poisoned his well and was making him sick were worth looking into. Last she heard, his well had been tested and they were testing the soil and the wells of the surrounding properties. Two of the kids on the neighboring land had been diagnosed with cancer in the last two years.

  People in the town were sympathetic to what was happening to them, but they were also fiercely aware that the furniture company provided a living for a great many people around here. If the illnesses were nothing more than coincidence, no one wanted to see the company take the fall for it.

  Cora followed Mr Knight into the kitchen and watched as he lowered himself into a seat at the table. He began pulling the top off one of the muffins. She did the same thing when she ate a muffin. Top first, because it was the best part, then the bottom.

  She heard the front door open again and looked to Mr. Knight with raised brows.

  “My son,” he said. “Came home to stay with me. He’s broke.”

  “I’m not broke, dad,” a man with a broad chest and light brown hair said, as he walked into the room. “I moved home to help you.”

  He set a stack of boxes on the table and turned to Cora, smiling a smile that held a few crooked teeth. Something about that imperfection made him all the more appealing. He was only an inch or so taller than she was, but he was muscular and had the look of a man who worked for his living. Brown eyes greeted her from a tanned face.

  He stuck out a calloused hand. “I’m Ethan Knight. I don’t think we’ve met. I was a few years ahead of you in high school, but everyone knows who the Walkers are.”

  Cora took his hand. It was warm, his grip firm. She vaguely remembered him, although he’d never exactly been on her radar. Cora’s sister, Ashley, had been a trouble maker in high school. If the legends about Ethan Knight were true, he’d made Ashley look like an angel.

  “Hi. I’m Cora Walker. But I guess you know that.”

  Mr. Knight slid the basket of muffins toward his son. “Cora brings me muffins. You only get one.”

  Ethan grinned and winked at Cora. “I’m probably lucky he’s sharing any with me at all.”

  “You bet your ass you are.” Mr. Knight snatched the basket back as soon as Ethan had claimed his allotted snack.

  “I can bring more if it’s going to cause a fight,” Cora said, only half joking.

  Ethan changed to a stage whisper. “I’ll steal another one when he takes his nap.”

  Cora found herself smiling again. She gestured to the boxes. “Still moving in?”

  The inner narrator of her lame romantic novels chimed in. Our heroine couldn’t come up with anything witty so she went with the inanely bland box conversation.

  “Oh, no,” Ethan said. “Those are for work. I do imprinting on promotional items for businesses and things.”

  “Had to close his store,” his dad said around a mouthful of food. Cora was glad to see him eating. He’d been losing a lot of weight lately, and some days he didn’t seem to have much of an appetite. She had a feeling that as much as he was complaining about having Ethan there, the change was a positive one.

  “I wanted to do it, Dad.” Ethan shook his head, but explained to Cora. “I had a shop in San Marcos, but that drive is too far with my dad being sick, so I moved things here. I can do my printing just as well here and ship things to my clients.”

  His dad snorted like he was talking to a child Ethan instead of the adult version in front of him.

  “That Derrick Ayers came by while you were out. You tell him I don’t want him coming around here.” Mr. Knight crossed his arms over his chest, sticking out his chin. At one time, the move had probably been intimidating, at least to his son. Not so much anymore.

  Ethan sighed. “Dad, I haven’t hung out with Derrick Ayers in years, but I don’t have any control over him if he comes around to say hi. He probably just heard I was back in town.”

  “That boy is no good.”

  Cora didn’t want to stick around for the rest of the conversation. “I have to get going, Mr. Knight. I’m due out at my parent’s house in a bit for dinner.” She turned to Ethan. “It was great meeting you, Ethan.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” he said and walked by her side, his hands shoved in his pocke
ts as they moved through the house to the front door.

  He walked her all the way down to her car, opening the door for her. “Sorry about that. He gets really grumpy sometimes, and I’m not his favorite person.” He grinned, looking a little sheepish. “I was a tough kid.”

  “That’s okay, I understand.” Cora didn’t come from an average family, but she’d seen and heard plenty of parents and their kids interact. She’d seen the oil and water type of relationship she was guessing those two had.

  “Thanks for coming by to bring him food. That’s really nice of you.”

  She smiled. “It’s no problem. I like visiting with him. He’s been lonely. It’ll be good for him to have you here.”

  Ethan looked at the house and shook his head. “We’ll see.” He looked back to her and offered a slow, easy smile. “Listen, would you like to grab dinner sometime?”

  Cora was surprised to find her stomach did a fluttery little flip. Not quite the full-fledged thing it did when Justin smiled at her, but a heck of a lot more than she’d felt for any of the guys she’d met online.

  She couldn’t help the smile that spread on her face. “I’d like that.” She pulled her phone out of her purse. “What’s your phone number?”

  “You sure you’re going to call me if I don’t get your number?” he asked and she wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t joking. He had to get that women didn’t want to give their numbers out right away, right?

  His eyes flashed as he gave her a bad boy grin. “Teasing.” He rattled off his number and she put it into her phone.

  She did know his dad, and his family had lived in Evers for a long time. In fact, it was surprising she hadn’t met him before this.

  She didn’t wait to call him. She sent a text message. “There. Now you have my number.”

  “Great. I’ll call you.”

  Cora nodded and started the car, waving at him again when he waved at her. He watched as she pulled down the long drive that led to the road.

  She could swear she’d heard that when you put yourself out there and stop looking so hard for The One, you end up meeting more potential Ones. Maybe whoever it was that said that was right. Maybe she’d just met a potential One.

  Our heroine smiled as she drove away. Things were beginning to look up.

  5

  “Cora!” Justin sped to a jog to catch up to Cora.

  He came even with her and walked alongside her, their arms brushing. “You just come from work?”

  It was a stupid question. It was four-thirty on a school day and she was on the route between the school and her house. She had her bag slung over her shoulder and she was in what she called her school clothes; comfortable business casual loose enough to sit on the floor with the kids if she needed to, but neat enough that she didn’t look unprofessional.

  Justin’s office looked out onto the main street in the center of Evers. He often saw Cora on her way home from school, and if he timed his coffee runs right, he could walk with her for the two blocks to the diner before she turned off to her street.

  Lately, it seemed like his chair automatically turned toward the window to watch for her.

  She shot him a funny look, but answered. “Yep. On my way home.”

  “I’m going for coffee,” he said. Wow, he was an idiot. “So, uh, I wanted to see if you wanted to come by the office Saturday to start looking at grants?”

  “Can’t.” She slung her purse higher on her shoulder. “Julia and I are both picking up overtime pay at the school doing some end-of-year jobs before the school closes up for the summer. We’re saving up to go to Austin July Fourth weekend for a makeover weekend. I’ll save my time off for that.”

  “A makeover weekend?”

  “Yeah, you know, clothes, haircut, makeup.”

  He frowned. “I like you the way you are.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. She seemed to be doing that more and more.

  A skinny kid with hair that stuck out on the top and sides of his head like a Q-tip ran up to Cora. He was followed by a tired-looking woman and a younger boy who was probably four or five years old. The woman didn’t seem inclined to run the way her son had.

  “Miss Walker, wait!” The boy gulped for air like he’d been running. He pushed a sheet of paper into Cora’s hands. “My mom signed the permission form for me.”

  Cora smiled and opened the paper, reading it. “Great, Tommy. I’ll get you into the computer lab tomorrow and we’ll get you started on your summer project.” She glanced up at Justin. “Robotics club.”

  Justin nodded as the mother and younger child caught up to them. Close up, Justin could see that both kids’ clothes were worn. The younger boy had a tear in one sleeve and the knees of his pants looked about ready to give up.

  Cora knelt. “Hey, Dylan. Did you have fun doing papier-mâché with Mrs. Winters today?” She looked up to the boys’ mother. “The younger kids are working on paper-mâché birdhouses in art class this week. I got to help clean up after.” Her grin told the adults of the group how that went.

  The boy talked animatedly about his project. When he stopped to take a breath, Cora stood and looked ready to speak again, but a guy in jeans and a battered khaki jacket came out of a nearby store.

  He only glanced at Justin and the kids and their mother before greeting Cora. “Hey, Cora.”

  “Ethan, hi.” The smile Cora gave the guy set Justin on edge. “Do you know Justin Kensington? And this is Alice Burke and her boys, Tommy and Dylan. Alice and I went to school together and now Tommy is in my classroom.”

  She hadn’t introduced Justin to the woman and her kids.

  Ethan gave them all a smile and a nod before turning back to Cora. “Did you get my text? Are we on for dinner? There’s a great new sushi place I’ve been wanting to try.”

  “Oh, um…”

  Justin kept his face straight, but he was grinning on the inside. Poor sucker didn’t know Cora hated sushi. Good. Now she could tell him, no.

  Justin was coming to terms with the fact that Cora was dating. Hell, he’d be an asshole not to wish her the best, since he couldn’t offer her anything more than friendship, but this guy was clearly a jerk.

  He tilted his head. Ethan didn’t strike Justin as the sushi type. He looked like a beer and pizza kind of guy. Maybe he was just trying to impress Cora.

  Cora wasn’t the type of woman to be impressed by that kind of thing. She was impressed by people who volunteered their time to others, not by what someone wore or whether they would bring her to a restaurant with the latest reviews or the hottest new location.

  Justin should know. He’d thought for years about what it would take to make Cora happy. He’d had a million ideas over the years of little things she might like. How she would react if he bought the cool robotics set he’d seen for her classroom or what she would say if he showed up one day with a picnic they could share on a hike.

  “They have other food, too, though. Tempura and stuff, if you want.” Ethan was pressing his hands together in a begging motion.

  Justin thought he looked like an idiot, but Cora fell for it.

  “Okay, that sounds good,” she said. “I still have to do a little work when I get home but I can be ready by about six?”

  “Hey, Miss Walker,” the younger boy, Dylan, said as he tugged on the hem of Cora’s blouse. “Why can’t an elephant blow his nose?”

  There was an audible groan from Tommy, but Cora gave her full attention to Dylan. “I don’t know, Dylan. Why can’t an elephant blow his nose?”

  “Because elephants are gray!” The little boy cracked up at his punch line, holding his stomach as he did.

  Cora offered her hand for a high five. “Good one.”

  “That makes no sense,” Justin said. “A joke is supposed—”

  Ethan cut him off, offering his own hand for a high-five from the boy. “You’re funny.”

  Justin kept his mouth shut. He’d never understood why people lied to make kids feel good about themsel
ves. Why didn’t they just explain what a joke was and teach him how to tell one?

  Alice ruffled Dylan’s hair and put her other arm around Tommy’s shoulders. “We’ve got to go. I have to be back at work in ten minutes. It was good to see you, Cora.”

  The group waved goodbye and walked away.

  “So, I’ll pick you up at six, Cora?”

  Justin had to struggle to keep from growling at Ethan.

  Cora glanced Justin’s way, pushing her hair behind one ear. “Um, yeah, I’ll see you then.”

  Ethan started walking back toward the store he’d come from. “Perfect.”

  “That guy? Really?” Justin couldn’t help himself. Ethan was all wrong for her.

  Cora gave him a sidelong look.

  He raised his hands. “I can help, you know.”

  “Help with what?”

  “Finding someone better than Lice Man and Sushi Guy back there.”

  Again with the eye rolling.

  “I’m just saying, you can do better. He should be taller than that guy, and someone who likes learning as much as you do.” Justin gave it some thought as they walked along.

  She laughed. “Someone who likes learning? Maybe I’ll add that to my online profile.”

  “There are a lot of people right here in Evers. Why go online? What about Tom Casick? He’s a great guy, and he’s got to be smart. He’s an engineer, I think.”

  “He’s studying to be an architect. And he’s smart and a great guy—” her patient tone said she was about to explain why he was an idiot again— “but he’s also ten years younger than me and he’s living in his mother’s basement while he takes a year off school to earn money.”

  “That’s a good thing.” Justin was warming up to the idea of this. “Instead of getting himself into debt, he’s saving money. He won’t come out of school with a ton of loans to pay. Smart guy.”

  They stopped at the corner where she would turn off and he would keep going to the coffee shop.

  He looked at her. “Okay, so no-go on Tom Casick?” He thought for a minute. “Pete Sadowski?”

  She was already shaking her head. “Dated him in high school.”