Sweet as Honey (Aster Valley 2)

And I did. I knew I would give it my best shot, and no matter what happened, I’d be proud of myself for trying.

“I know you do,” Mikey said softly. “And I love the hell out of you, so don’t get hurt.” Then he pulled me into a quick hug before practically shoving me in my vehicle. I wasn’t stupid. I knew Mikey was way too nosy to stay away. I could only hope he didn’t park his SUV where…

By the time I remembered I’d driven him to breakfast, he was already lying on the floor of my Subaru under a jacket that barely even covered his ass. “You won’t even notice I’m here,” he said in a stage whisper.

I sighed and slammed the door. “Don’t quit your day job,” I muttered, but secretly I was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside from his claim of loving me. I finally had a true family, like Sam had said. And it felt incredible.

As I drove toward the farm, I picked up my phone and made a call to Deputy Stone. I wasn’t stupid enough to try and confront someone without backup, and Deputy Stone was the only person I even remotely trusted within a close enough distance to get there in time. I got his voicemail and explained everything as quickly as I could, hoping like heck I could trust him.

I was relieved when my phone stayed silent after that. If there weren’t messages and frantic attempts to contact me coming from Sam, perhaps Mikey hadn’t tattled on me after all.

Or maybe Sam’s simply driving back here too fast and recklessly to waste time on messaging.

I ignored all thoughts about Sam and focused on what I was going to say. When I parked in front of the farmhouse, I hissed at Mikey to get his ass in the house and stay out of sight. “Try the guest room. And lock the door!”

I made sure the surveillance video cameras were online and working and then sent off the login information to Deputy Stone before slipping my phone back into my pocket. Hopefully, Barney wouldn’t turn violent, but after everything I now suspected of him… it was hard to know for sure.

When his car finally bumped up to the gate, I took a deep breath and marveled at my steady nerves. Even though this wasn’t the Stanner family I’d always imagined an eventual showdown with, I still felt that this conversation had been a long time coming. No matter what happened, it would be a relief to finally get some of these things out in the open.

Barney leaned out of his window. “Can you open the gate for me?”

After he parked and got out of his car, I gestured for him to follow me to the rocking chairs on the front porch.

“Thank you for coming,” I began, clutching my knees nervously. “I didn’t know who else to talk to about this.”

“You were right to come to me. Anytime,” he assured me.

I groaned and closed my eyes, resting my head back on the rocker. “I feel like such an idiot. I think…” I opened my eyes and looked at him before glancing down at my lap. “No, I know I was wrong to trust Sam.”

I held up a hand. “Wait. Before you say anything, please don’t be disappointed in me for trusting him in the first place. I feel like a fool…”

Barney sighed and reached over to place his hand over mine. I tried not to cringe. “We all make mistakes. But… what happened to change your mind?”

“I should have seen it. And you tried to warn me. He’s just so crass. And he pressured me to ride on his motorcycle. I was terrified, but I didn’t know how to say no, and we almost died! And then he told me that he thought I should take the insurance money from the fire and use it for something decadent, like an expensive motorcycle. Can you imagine? When I asked about what I would do with the building, he said I could probably make money by tearing it down and making a parking lot there instead since the town is going to boom after the ski resort opens.”

Barney’s eyes widened comically. He was a sucker for historical buildings. Or so he’d said. “A parking lot?”

“Right? It seemed kind of… disrespectful. Of my aunt Berry if not of me directly. That’s when I realized you would have never suggested such a thing to me.”

“Certainly not!”

“And it made me question some other things he’s said, too. Like I think he’s thinking of skimming money off the ski resort somehow. I didn’t really understand what he was saying—you know how business stuff just goes over my head—but it sounded illegal.”

“I told you there was something off about him, didn’t I?” Barney squeezed my hand tighter and shook his head, clucking over me like a mother hen. “From the very first day. I warned you to stay away from him, and now you see the proof yourself.”