Second Time's the Charm

“For stealing some stuff from a convenience store and underage drinking?”

Jon shook his head. “I didn’t know it, but my foster brothers beat up the old guy. He’d heard them and come downstairs. He almost died. They pinned the whole thing on me and there was no evidence to prove I didn’t do it. I’d have been convicted, anyway, just for having been a part of the whole thing and not doing anything to stop them.”

“When did you graduate from high school?”

“While I was in detention.”

“So you’ve been out, what, nine years?”

“Yep.” It seemed like no time at all. Nothing like the seemingly endless four years he’d spent behind bars.

She knew the rest.

Except that he knew about her money now, too.

“Answer me one thing.” Lillie’s voice was dead serious as she stared him down.

“What?”

“Did you break into the homes here in Shelter Valley?”

The question was fair. The fact that she was still there, in his home, said a lot.

“No.”

“That’s what I told the sheriff,” she said. “I just needed to hear you confirm it.”

She smiled.

And surprisingly, so did he.

But he knew that the moment was just the calm before the storm.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“I WANT TO HELP.”

“Help how?”

“I have no idea,” Lillie told the man who’d changed her life. And for that she owed him. “Whatever you need. Money, help with Abe. It doesn’t matter.”

“Money.” He looked over at her. “I hear you have a lot of it.”

“What? Who told you that?”

He told her about her father-in-law contacting the sheriff.

“I had no idea.”

“I think that was the point.”

“And Greg told you about it? But?”

“He was warning me off, Lil. Letting me know that even if I somehow escape this charge, which I will, others will be after me.”

Standing, she moved behind him and started kneading the broad shoulders that were, even now, tempting her to lay her head down on them. “Listen to me, Jon. Just listen.”

He was silent and she had no words. Nothing made sense. She felt like someone in the vortex of a tornado—the spinning of her own mind making her somewhat sick. Lillie needed to touch Jon to stay grounded.