Looking for Trouble (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 1)

Oh, God. “They haven’t started talking yet?”

“No, I think it’ll be a few minutes.”

Sophie grabbed her purse and keys. “I need to stop him. I’ll be right there.”

She stopped at the circulation desk to pull their weekend clerk aside. “I’m so sorry. I have a family emergency. I’ll be back in an hour. Maybe two. Do you think you could call Betty and see if she can come in?”

The woman seemed alarmed by Sophie’s demeanor and nodded. “Absolutely. You go on. It’s slow. There shouldn’t be a problem.”

Sophie was already moving as she called out “Thank you!” then ran to her car. She fumbled her phone out as she turned the key in the ignition. She was in no state for driving and talking on the phone at the same time, but she had to get to her brother. She tried his phone, then tried again, then left a frantic voice mail.

“Please leave, David. Please. I don’t know what point you’re trying to make, but those people have a right to grieve any way they want to. Please.” She hung up and tried again, but he didn’t answer. Why would he? He knew what she’d say, and he obviously didn’t care to listen.

She couldn’t let this happen. Whatever his motivation was for going, she had to get him out. For selfish reasons and for unselfish reasons, as well. Yes, it would create a scandal for her family, but more than that, it would ruin what Wyatt Bishop’s family wanted to do for him. A small moment that meant something to them. She’d never resented that they were doing it, just that it revived stories she’d rather keep buried.

Sophie tried her brother’s phone one more time. When it went to voice mail, she hung up and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat with a shouted curse.

She was going to kill him for this. She was going to cut him out of her life, as effectively as you could cut off someone who you lived with most of the time.

Where the hell had he gone wrong? She’d done her best to do all the things for him that Mom would have. She’d done laundry and dishes and cooked and cleaned. She’d bandaged his scrapes and read to him. And they’d both still had their father, who was hardworking and loving and good. How the hell had David turned out to be so completely opposite?

“I babied him,” she muttered to herself. “I did all the hard work so he never had to.”

Now he just wanted a payout. Some excuse to never have to work hard in his life. He thought he was owed it because he’d lost something. Well, she’d lost something, too, damn it, and now he was going to destroy the peace she’d managed to dig out of the ashes.

For a brief moment as she sped down that long highway into the valley, Sophie considered texting Alex. She could warn him, at least. He wasn’t emotional about the dedication. He’d remain calm and take control of the situation.

But what if her brother didn’t remain calm? What if he was stupid enough to cause trouble with Alex? David would lose that brawl, without question, but Alex would be the one standing there as the man who’d gotten into a scuffle at his father’s memorial.

Her phone buzzed briefly, and Sophie dived for it.

Everyone is taking their seats.

Lauren.

Merry Kade is going to give an historical talk.

Another text popped up. David hasn’t said or done anything. It’s fine.

Maybe it really was fine.

Sophie didn’t have time to text back, and she couldn’t risk it at seventy miles per hour anyway. Praying that she didn’t pass a cop, she pushed the car up to sevent

y-five, the adrenaline coursing through her veins making it seem like a logical decision.

It paid off, thank God. She was at the turnoff to Providence within a few minutes of the last text. She couldn’t go seventy-five on the dirt road, but she pushed it to forty-five, gritting her teeth as her car flew over ruts and furrows. Dust exploded behind her, like she was leaving ruin in her wake. She hoped that wasn’t true.

When she fishtailed around a curve and almost slid right into the irrigation canal that ran next to the road, Sophie had to hit the brakes. She skidded to a stop, her hands clutching the steering wheel so hard that she could no longer feel her fingers, just ten big heartbeats pulsing down her hands.

“It’s okay,” she panted aloud. She could only make this worse by being found unconscious, her car half-buried in a drainage ditch, after her brother interfered with the ceremony for Wyatt Bishop. “It’s okay.”

She blew out a deep breath and inhaled another. When she could hear past her own pulse, she started down the road again, this time a bit more slowly.

When she started seeing cars parked along the road, Sophie thought she was almost there. She’d only been here at night, after all, the last time safely snug against Alex’s back, unaware of exactly where they were going.

So she slowed down, hoping not to miss the turn, but as the road curved, she saw that the cars went on and on.

“Oh, no,” she muttered. Half the town really had turned out. No, not half. Not really. She could see the sign not a quarter mile ahead. It wasn’t so bad. But she still heard herself murmuring “Oh, no,” over and over again.