Jared pulled open the door to Roaster’s Retreat, his nose wrinkling at the overwhelming smell of coffee. It never made sense, how people would crowd into little coffee shops to drink the swill available over the counter. As far as he was concerned, if it wasn’t the specialized blend he bought from Kona, it wasn’t worth drinking. He shuddered, remembering some of the swill he’d be forced to drink from vending machines and the cafeteria when he’d been working his residency and internship.
Shaking his head, he made his way past the throng of bodies two and three deep, clustered into small groups, guzzling their lattes and mochas and other frou-frou coffee drinks. Standing in line, he studied the people waiting to place their orders, wishing again he wasn’t wasting his time chasing a ghost. Except, he’d gotten the impression from the woman he’d talked to on the phone that Tina did, indeed, work in this—he wasn’t quite sure what to call the enterprise. Oh, well, people needed work, and this was as good a place as any for those poor minimum wage workers.
Finally, he stood face-to-face with a cute blonde taking orders. “One French vanilla iced coffee.”
Hopefully they can’t screw that up too badly.
The smiling girl handed him his receipt. “We’ll have that ready in just a second.”
With a nod, he stepped to the side, grimacing as another wave of coffee-scented air hit him square in the face. As much as he wanted to turn and walk out the door, he couldn’t. He needed to find the woman he’d talked with, the one who’d lied to him about Tina.
A murmur of voices close to him made him wince, and he glanced toward the women. Three women stood, coffee cups in their hands. Two of them appeared in their late twenties or early thirties, dressed in business casual outfits. The third woman was much older, and he immediately straightened when he heard her speak.
It is the woman from the phone call.
“Still short staffed, Gertie?” That was from the brunette.
“Yeah. Tina’s taken some personal time. Remember Elizabeth, the other gal who worked here?”
Jared turned his head slightly, catching the two women nodding at Gertie’s question.
“Turns out Elizabeth had family who was looking for her. This sweet guy came looking for her, and she ended up falling head over heels for him. Lucky girl, because he was quite a catch.”
“I wondered why she hadn’t been around lately.”
“Elizabeth and Shiloh—he’s the man who came and found her—went back to Texas.”
Texas?
“And Tina went to Texas with them? I know they were friends, but that seems a little…I don’t know…odd.” Again the brunette, who seemed to be the more inquisitive of the two women Gertie spoke with. Trying to appear inconspicuous, he eased a little closer, not wanting to miss a single word.
“You know I don’t like to gossip,” Gertie chuckled at her own joke before adding, “but Tina ended up meeting Shiloh’s brother, and he apparently talked her into going to Texas, too. Can’t say I blame her, if he’s anything like Shiloh Boudreau, because he was something else.”
Boudreau? Not a name I’m familiar with, but then I’ve never set foot inside Texas. But if Tina’s there, looks like I’ll be headed there.
“Tina said Elizabeth is deliriously happy, because she’s been reunited with the brother she hadn’t seen since she was a little girl. Apparently, the whole family welcomed her with open arms and she’s planning on staying there. Tina said she’d be back soon. Personally, I can’t wait. She brings so much life to the place, and the customers have missed her like crazy.”
Jared’s brow raised at the praise for his ex-wife. Gertie’s description of the outgoing, friendly woman didn’t sound anything like the woman he knew. Had she changed that much since she’d run away with her tail tucked between her legs?
“Thanks, Gertie. We’ve gotta go, or we’ll be late.”
The perky blonde who’d taken his order walked from behind the counter and handed him his iced coffee, and he took a sip, surprised at the deep, rich flavor. While it wasn’t his favorite Kona blend, it wasn’t half bad.
He headed for the front door, deciding not to speak with Gertie. The information he’d gotten from eavesdropping on the conversation had provided him with a wealth of information, more than he’d expected when he’d walked through the doors.
Slipping outside, he pulled his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and dialed the one person who supported and encouraged his search for Tina.
His mother.
Tina placed her e-reader on the arm of the chair, and leaned her head back, closing her eyes. As much as she loved Jana Deleon’s books, not even the slapstick antics of the crazy old ladies held her attention today. Her mind kept replaying her conversation with Chance before the accident. Their not-so-subtle flirting in the midst of answering personal questions had been a combination of fun and insightful. Opening up to someone for the first time in a long time had felt almost cathartic in a weird way.
The Big House was eerily quiet, though she wasn’t afraid. If she’d been a betting woman, she’d wager somebody was close by, keeping an eye on things. Ms. Patti had driven into Shiloh Springs to deal with her job. After having spent a few weeks with the woman, she understood why she was one of the best realtors in the county. She’d never met anyone who could multitask the way the Boudreau matriarch did. Douglas had headed out to meet up with Liam at one of the construction sites.
The hard rap on the front door startled her enough, she knocked the e-reader onto the floor. Leaning down and picking it up, she walked over and pulled the door open, finding a dark-haired pixie standing on the other side. She was dressed from head to toe in black jeans, a black tank, with a large canvas messenger bag hung across her body. Sparkling blue eyes shone with intelligence and a hint of mischief, and Tina recognized a kindred spirit within the petite package. She spotted a tattoo peeking out from the top of the tank, bright vivid colors, though whatever the design was couldn’t be interpreted easily. Except maybe she spotted…wings?
“Hi. I’m Destiny.”
“Tina. Can I help you? I’m afraid Ms. Patti and Douglas aren’t around.”
“That’s okay, I’m actually here looking for you.”
That took her aback for a second. Why would somebody be looking for her—wait, Destiny? Where had she heard that name before?
“Why are you looking for me?”
Destiny tugged on the crossbody messenger bag, the action looking like habit more than discomfort. Blowing her bangs out of her face, she gave a delicate shrug.
“Could I come in? This might take a few minutes to explain. Or, if you’re not comfortable with that, we can sit out here on the porch. I work for Ridge Boudreau, if that helps.”
Of course, that’s where she’d heard Destiny’s name before. Chance had mentioned her when they’d talked with his parents. She was the hacker who’d done a deep dive into Tina’s background, giving Chance the info about her past.
“Come in. I’m going to grab something to drink, so why don’t we head into the kitchen. Would you like something?”
“Sweet tea if you’ve got any.” Destiny followed her into the kitchen, and Tina noticed the woman appeared quite at home in the Boudreau house. For some reason, that made her feel a little better. If she tried anything weird, she could always yell. She was sure Dane was around somewhere close.
“There’s always sweet tea around here. I think I’ve gained five pounds since I’ve been here, just from drinking it.”
Pulling two glasses from the cupboard, Tina filled them with ice and poured the tea from the pitcher in the refrigerator that always seemed ready and waiting. It was like one of those mystery spots, where no matter how much you took, the next time you looked it was filled again.
Passing one of the glasses to Destiny, she slid onto the chair across from her, curious about what the hacker wanted from her.
“You’re wondering why I showed up on your doorstep, right?”
“I’ll admit, I’m curious.”
Destiny’s grin was infectious, lighting her gamine face and turning her from being cute to stunning. Her dark hair was cut into a pixie style, with bits and pieces pulled around her face. It was an attractive style, but Tina had the feeling it fell that way naturally and wasn’t something Destiny put a lot of effort into.
“This is a bit awkward, so I’m just going to plunge in instead of pussyfooting around. Honestly, that’s not my style anyway.” Reaching around behind her, she stuck her hand into the messenger bag she’d hung on the chair back, and pulled out a tattered file folder, and slid it across the table.
“What’s this?”
“A few weeks ago, when they found out about Renee being in Portland and her involvement with you, I was asked to do a file on you. Look into your background, basically find out everything I could about you, and whether you were a danger to Renee.”
Tina stared at the file folder, eyeing it like a coiled rattler sitting in front of her. The contents held details about her life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Probably way too much ugly stuff she didn’t want to have to confront a second time. If only she could grab matches and burn it, never open it and relive her moments of shame and humiliation. But that was the coward’s way out, and she’d never go back to being a meek, timid doormat. Never again.
“I’d never hurt Renee. She’s my friend.”
“I know. Which is exactly what I told—”
“Chance. Yes, I know he’s the one who had you looking into my life, dissecting everything under a microscope. He told me.”
Surprise colored Destiny’s expression. Guess she hadn’t expected that.
“You’re right. I gave him everything I had. Well, everything I had at the time.”
The bottom dropped out of Tina’s stomach as her words settled over her like a weighted blanket, only they provided no comfort, no sense of safety and security like the cover would. Instead, an overwhelming feeling of dread coursed through her, an eerie premonition of something bad coalescing in her gut.
“Everything’s in here, isn’t it?” Her fingertips skimmed across the folder.
Destiny nodded, her gaze filled with sympathy. “Yeah. I haven’t told Chance what I found. I’m not sure that it’s any of his business, to be honest.”
Tina picked up her glass, amazed that her hand wasn’t spilling the tea all over the tabletop. Lifting it, she guzzled down half before wiping the cool glass against her forehead.
“He knows most of it already. I talked with Douglas and Ms. Patti, too. Ms. Patti had already figured out most of it.”
“I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Boudreau yet, although Ridge talks about her all the time. Sounds like she’s quite a character.”
“You have no idea.”
When her hand reached to flip open the folder, Destiny’s hand landed lightly on top of it, and Tina lifted her gaze to meet the other woman’s.
“Before you open that, you should know if you don’t want anybody else finding this information, I can bury it deep enough nobody will find it. It’s nobody’s business but yours.”
“I don’t care if Chance finds out, but…thank you.”
“By the way, whoever did your documents in Portland, he’s good. Really good. Like they would’ve passed more than a cursory inspection. But he’s got a few holes in your background info, but a couple of hours work can fix that.”
Good to know Nico hasn’t totally lost his touch.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the folder and looked at the detailed report Destiny had prepared. She had to admit, the woman had serious skills. Flipping page after page, looking at her life outlined in black and white, it didn’t paint a pretty picture. She’d been foolish and stupid, and she’d been paying the price for her idealistic naivety and the horrible choices she’d made because she’d thought she loved Jared. Seeing the results of her actions, she realized she’d been an idiot.
“There’s more.” Destiny’s voice was almost a whisper.
“More than this?” Tina gestured toward the folder. “You seemed to have found everything.” She wished she could keep the bitterness from her voice, but it bled through.
“Look, I was just doing my job, what I’d been hired to do. Add in the fact I like the Boudreaus, and didn’t want anybody scamming them, or putting them in somebody’s crosshairs—”
“I’m sorry. You’re right, and I shouldn’t take my frustrations out on you. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and bad choices I’m not proud of, and seeing them like this,” she gestured toward the pages, “it’s hard.”
Destiny blew out another huffed breath, her bangs again moving slightly. “I wasn’t sure I was going to show you this, but I like you. After reading that,” she nodded toward the file, “I think you deserve to know what’s happening. Honestly, girl, how could you stay with that…I want to call him some really nasty names, but I’ll refrain.”
“You can’t possibly call him anything I haven’t more than once.”
“Yeah, but you’re still blaming yourself for something that wasn’t your fault.”
Tina blinked, her eyes awash with tears. Most of the time, she liked to think she was strong, that she’d grown and become a capable woman. Then the past would rear its ugly head, and she’d be back to being the passive milquetoast she’d been when she lived with Jared.
“You said you’ve got more? Might as well hit me with it.”
Twisting around in her chair, Destiny reached into her bag, and Tina spotted another tattoo on her left shoulder, mostly hidden by the black tank. Looked like Destiny liked decorating her body with pretty ink.
Another folder hit the table, smaller than the first, but still making Tina feel physically ill. Whatever was in that second folder had the little hairs on her neck standing at attention, and not in a good way.
“Did you know your ex-husband is in Portland?”
“No. I knew he called my work, talked to my boss, because she called and told me. I thought he was still in California. He usually has private investigators trying to find me. He only shows up once they’ve told him where I’m at.”
“He flew to Portland late last night. Guess he thinks that’s where you’re at. Will your boss tell him where you’re at?”
Tina shook her head. “Absolutely not.”
“Good. Next question, what can you tell me about Randolph Webster?
“He’s my father-in-law, I mean my ex-father-in-law. Why?”
Destiny hesitated for a fraction of a second before she spoke. “Because I think he’s dead.”