Belong To The Night. Cynthia Eden

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СКАЧАТЬ MacClancy smiled at her. “I’m fine, dear. Just fine. You’re such a little thing, I barely felt it.”

      Okay. That was something she loved about this weird little town. Around here, Seneca and Emma were practically hobbits, Kenny was called “the short one,” Jamie was considered “petite,” and Mac was just average. It was definitely the best feeling, especially for the cousins who’d been called “big boned” enough times by their country cousins to have them only allowed to attend family reunions if they followed certain rules. The biggest one being, “No hitting.”

      Millie started to crouch down to retrieve her bags and Jamie caught her arms again. “Don’t you dare. I’ll never hear the end of it from your son.”

      Just the mention of Tully had the older woman smiling. “That boy. What’s he been up to now?”

      “I wish I knew.” Jamie gave a little laugh before crouching and picking up all the fruits and vegetables that had flown out of the bags.

      “So how are things going with you, sweetheart?” Miss Millie asked.

      “Fine.” Jamie dropped the last of the apples and potatoes into the brown paper bag.

      “Is the hotel doing well?”

      “Yes. We’ve been really busy.” Jamie stood, the bags in her arms. “We’ve had to hire some new staff.”

      “Good. I’m glad to hear that.”

      Millie reached for the bags but Jamie held on to them. “No. I’ll take them to your car.” Jamie frowned. “Miss Millie? Are you all right?” The older woman had some strain on her face that Jamie had never seen before. “Do you need a ride?”

      “No, no. Just some things on my mind. Nothing to worry about. The shopping helped.” She motioned down the street. “My car’s right there.

      “Are you sure there’s nothing I can help you with?”

      “No, sweetheart. But thank you for asking.”

      Together they headed down the street. “I don’t understand, Miss Millie. Here you have this nice car and yet your son…”

      Millie laughed. “What can I say? He likes to walk. Feels he finds out more about what’s going on in the town when he’s on two feet or four rather than when he’s driving.”

      Jamie didn’t know how much the man could learn from slowly ambling around the town but she wouldn’t argue with Millie. There was something about the older woman that wasn’t like the others. Something really sweet and just…innocent. Even though in her late fifties, Jamie could well imagine what had caught eternally cranky Jack’s eye, but Jamie still couldn’t believe that Tully Smith was her son. Slow-moving, not-always-the-brightest, studies-every-female-as-if-he-has-or-will-fuck-her Tully.

      Talk about falling far from the tree. Then again, more than once she’d heard a family friend of her parents remark about Jamie, “She may look like you, Mary. But other than that…”

      Jamie waited for Millie to unlock her trunk and then she placed the grocery bags inside. She slammed the trunk closed and, as she always did, shook her head at the car Tully’s mother drove.

      “Something wrong?”

      “Not at all.” Jamie sighed longingly. “I know people who’d kill for this car, though.”

      Millie’s pretty brown eyes grew wide. “Really?” She leaned in and whispered, “I guess as a police officer you would know people like that.”

      “Former police officer, but yes.” She gazed at the vehicle. “You just don’t see a lot of ‘66 Camaros in this condition.”

      “Really?” Millie asked again, barely glancing at the car. “I try and take good care of it. To quote my daddy, ‘You gotta be ready ’cause you never know when the Revenuers are gonna come.’”

      Jamie nodded slowly. “I see…and the Revenuers are a big problem for you, Miss Millie?”

      “Not anymore.” She winked and walked around to her driver’s side. She’d only just unlocked the door when Katie walked up to them, her gaze bouncing back and forth between Millie and Jamie underneath her annoyingly too-large Sheriff’s Department cap. Jamie would think they could afford a cap that fit the poor girl’s head. Gods knew, it wasn’t like she had a small head.

      “Everything all right, Momma?” Katie asked, eyes narrowing on Jamie in obvious accusation. Boy, you give a girl a little nickname and she was a total schmuck about it forever after.

      “Of course,” Millie said. “Why?”

      “Just checking.” Katie forced a smile. “Jamie.”

      “Snaggle.” Jamie saw a flash of fang before she turned to smile and wave at Millie. “Bye, Miss Millie.”

      “Good-bye, dear.”

      Jamie headed back up the street but laughed when she heard Millie tell Katie, “Stop snarling, pup. I’m sure she meant Snaggle endearingly.”

      Tully was sitting in his parents’ kitchen, eating the last of the key lime pie someone had buried far back in the pantry under a bunch of paper bags and behind several cases of Coors, when his daddy walked in.

      “That was mine,” the cat snarled before he’d even gotten past the doorway.

      “Really?” Tully kept eating. “Don’t think I saw your name on it.”

      Jack’s hand swiped the back of Tully’s head and Tully winced. “You know, the claws were unnecessary, Daddy.”

      Before Jack could attack him again, Millie walked in with Katie.

      “What’s going on?” his momma asked.

      “Daddy started it.”

      The feline hissed before taking one of the bags Millie held. “Get off your ass and help, boy,” he snarled.

      “I’m eating.”

      Katie quickly grabbed the bag. “I’ve got it.”

      “He ate my pie,” Jack accused before carrying the bag into the pantry.

      “Why do you torture him so?” Millie whispered to Tully.

      “‘Because I can’ is just going to get me slapped in the head again, isn’t it?”

      “Yes.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed the top of his head. “How’s your morning been so far?”

      “Fine.” He rubbed her arm. “And, Momma—”

      “I don’t want you to fret about your father, pup.”

      “I won’t let him come here and start anything. I won’t let him hurt you.”

      “Sssh, pup.” She eased her palms across his shoulders. “It’s just a little СКАЧАТЬ