Stormy Nights (Red Hook 3)

Chapter 1

Jasmine Garrett slung her backpack up on her shoulder. The wind was picking up speed and it was blowing her long black hair around her face, making it hard for her to see clearly. She took a look up at the gray, ominous-looking clouds. There was no longer any sign of the sun. The clouds were a dark gray in color and seemed to be gathering right over the small rural town in Texas. She tried to ignore her nervous feeling. According the radio broadcast she heard earlier, the storm was due tonight. She was grateful it wasn’t dark yet. Thunder could be heard rumbling in the distance, and Jasmine could see lightning flashing quickly before disappearing again.

Jasmine looked at the Welcome to Red Hook sign standing firm in the wind. She sighed with relief. She had just walked over a mile because her car had broken down on the side of the road. She had spent several minutes trying to get it to start again but it was a no go. It was just part of the bad luck she had been having lately. A new start in a new town was supposed to change all that. Arriving in Red Hook in the middle of a storm was not a good sign.

Aunt Kate, her mother’s younger sister, owned an antique store and Jasmine was going to help her run it. Kate’s husband died last year and Kate had let the store go due to her grief. Jasmine had experience working in interior decorating and she also needed a change. Hopefully they could help each other. Jasmine had been ready to leave her hometown of Fort Worth. It had been a rough couple of months for her. She found out her boyfriend of three years was having an affair.

She had immediately broken things off with him despite his protests that it was a casual weekend fling. She had suspected he cheated on her several times, but she never had the proof until now.

After a strong wind almost knocked her off her feet she thought maybe she should skip her first idea to find food before calling her aunt. She needed a phone. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to cancel her cell phone but Grant, her ex, wouldn’t stop harassing her. It sure would be handy right about now.

She walked down the empty sidewalk. No lights were on in any of the businesses despite it being early evening. The citizens of Red Hook must be preparing for the storm. Everything was so quiet and still that it made her feel a little apprehensive.

The town had an old-world charm to it. The buildings were smaller than she was used to seeing in Fort Worth but she liked the quaint feeling. Trees lined the edge of the sidewalk, surrounded by colorful flowers. Benches lined the sidewalks.

She looked at the hardware store and noticed the banner above the doorway was hanging by only one string. The wind was waving it in the air as if it were a white surrender flag. Jasmine took a moment to sit on one of the green benches placed on the sidewalk and just breathe. She had been walking for an hour now and her feet were achy. She breathed in a gulp of air and enjoyed the quiet.

She took the time to look around the empty town. It resembled a ghost town right now. The street lights were turning colors but no cars were there to follow the lights. It was a strange scene.

Sh

e had been here every summer as a child and just last year for her uncle’s funeral but that visit had been rushed. Grant had accompanied her but had been in a hurry to leave for home. He claimed he was busy with work but now she wondered if he had been cheating on her even then.

Thinking of him always made her sad. She wasted three years of her life on a man who had not been worth it. She was left with nothing but a broken heart and low self- esteem.

She heard the brakes of a car and turned her head toward the street. A silver and blue police vehicle had parked at the curb and the passenger side window rolled down. Jasmine saw the figure covered in the shadows. She could tell it was a man with dark hair but that was about all.

“Are you okay, miss? You know, we’re expecting a bad storm,” said the deep male voice from inside the car.

“Yes, sir. I was looking for somewhere to get coffee and make a phone call,” she answered, standing up and walking closer to the car. As she got close to the door she saw he was in his mid- thirties. “I came to visit my aunt but my car broke down just outside of town.”

He gave her a curious look. She knew she looked younger than her twenty-eight years. Especially dressed in faded jeans and a dark short-sleeved shirt that showed off her arm tattoo. It was large, she had to admit, on the upper half of her arm. Her long black hair blowing around her face didn’t help. She had a silver piercing over her eyebrow. She could imagine how she looked to an officer of the law.

“Who is your aunt?” he asked suspiciously in a deep, serious voice.

“Kate Reynolds,” she replied, feeling a little intimidated by his impersonal voice and serious look. Was it because she was a stranger? Did her tattoo and piercing make her look like a hoodlum? Grant had hated them and always insisted she wear long sleeves when she was around his friends. He had tried convincing her to get rid of the piercing but she had clung to it out of stubbornness.

“I know Kate. There’s a coffee shop a few blocks from here still open. The storm isn’t too far away. Let me give you a ride,” he suggested, sounding a little friendlier. “You can give her a call from there.”

Jasmine opened the door to his car. She didn’t feel up to walking, not without some caffeine in her system, at least. The wind was picking up and the thunder sounded closer and closer. She had been stuck in a car for hours before she had to walk the last mile.