Chapter Seven
Main Street Diner
Jill got to the diner early. Grandma had been up whistling and rustling in the kitchen at six, and Jill hadn’t been able to fall back asleep, so she figured she might as well get an early start.
She’d had a mug of coffee with Grandma and watched the sun rise, wrapped together under a blanket against the morning chill.
Not a bad way to start the day. Then she’d gotten dressed and driven into town. Cal hadn’t replied to her email with the scene she’d sent him anyway. Maybe after she ate something, answered some emails, she’d go over to Honor’s Edge and try to track him down.
Or was that too pushy? She chewed on her bottom lip, staring out the diner window, trying to decide.
She felt a kind of shadow cross the table and looked up, half expecting to see Cal there.
But it was Detective Jake Hayes. Not just passing by her table, but standing there, looking directly at her.
A little sliver of unease moved through her, but she managed to smile politely. “Oh, good morning, Detective.”
“Call me Jake.” He smiled. “Would you mind if I joined you for a few?”
Even though his smile was kind, Jill couldn’t help but tense.
A detective wanting to join her for a few didn’t feel innocuous.
And she just … never could get it out of her head that he’d been so condescending last winter about Cal’s traumatic amnesia.
Maybe she shouldn’t hold it against him—Cal didn’t seem to—but she couldn’t quite let it go since she thought of it every time she saw him.
“I’m not questioning you,” he said when she didn’t answer.
Which was good to know, but… “Then what are you doing?”
His smile crinkled the skin around his eyes. There was just a hint of gray in the dark hair at his temple. “Ah. Hm. Community outreach with the pretty women of the morning diner crowd?”
It was kind of funny, and she found herself smiling.
He had to be at least ten years older than her, if not more.
But she couldn’t deny that he was handsome and had a nice smile.
And, yeah, maybe she was a sucker for being flirted with.
Because she really had been cooped up on that mountain with just her grandmother for too long.
And what was wrong with a little flirt when she hadn’t even been on a date in something like four years?
As long as it really was a flirt and not more trouble on the horizon. Well, she might as well find out either way. She gestured at the seat across from her.
He slid into the booth and pointed to her computer. “I read one of your books.”
She blinked in surprise. “You did?”
“Sure. It’s not every day you meet a famous writer. Felt like I had to make an effort.”
She was pretty sure the famous was meant to flatter, since she was nothing of the kind. “I hope you’re not bringing it up to tell me you hated it. Or maybe that it’s not your kind of thing.”
He chuckled, shook his head. “No. Do people really do that?”
She sighed. “Yeah, people really do that.”
He shook his head. “I guess it’s like that thing when people find out I’m a detective and have to tell me about all the times they’ve been unjustly targeted by law enforcement.”
She wrinkled her nose. “People really do that?”
“Oh yeah. More than they don’t, in fact.” He leaned back in his seat, seeming casual and at ease. When the waitress came over and offered to fill up the mug in front of him, he nodded.
“I mentioned it because I liked your book,” he said when the waitress left. “And I didn’t even think you did half bad with the crime scene part.”
“Half bad, huh?” She studied his face. “I feel like that might be high praise coming from you, Detective.”
“Jake.”
“Jake.” Sure, why not?
First-name basis with the handsome detective who was too old for her, probably. A little morning conversation because he thought she was pretty. Why not? Grandma said she needed to get some kind of social life.
Well, here she was being social.
“So, is this one going to be another mystery?” he asked, gesturing at her computer. “Or do you not talk about books while you’re writing them?”
Jill looked at her screen. She didn’t mind talking about them usually, but the fact she was using Cal’s traumatic amnesia, or at least the idea of it, made her a bit uncomfortable sharing with Detective Hayes.
Jake.
But thinking about her book, and the fact Cal hadn’t gotten back to her, made her consider… “I guess you’ve been in a few courtrooms.”
“Yeah, a few.”
“I don’t suppose I could ask you a few questions about procedures and the like? One of my main characters is a small-town deputy, and she’s on the stand for a criminal trial. It’d be great to get your take on what that’s like, if you don’t mind.”
He leaned forward, like he was eager and interested, that smile never leaving his face. “Lay ’em on me.”
*
Cal woke with a start, sunlight streaming onto his face. He looked around. He was in his bed, so that was a plus. He didn’t think he’d been dreaming, didn’t remember anything anyway.
He sat up on a yawn. His laptop was at a precarious angle, leaning against his side.
Right. He must have fallen asleep reading through all the emails from Jules Hyatt that Nate had forwarded to him. Pretty boring stuff. Definitely nothing that would incriminate a guy for murder.
Cal ran a hand through his unruly hair. Probably needed a cut, but not today. Too much to do to make sure Nate didn’t catch any more heat.
He righted the computer, then remembered he’d also read the chapter Jill had sent him. He had a few notes for her, but he wanted to deliver them in person. Hadn’t she said she’d be at the diner or library today?
He checked his phone. She hadn’t texted or emailed or anything, but that wasn’t Jill. She was never pushy about anything, especially book stuff. She tiptoed around it like she was afraid to offend or ask too much.
He couldn’t decide if it was still because she was using traumatic amnesia in the book and felt uncomfortable being inspired by his shit, or just because she didn’t want to feel like a nuisance, even though he was volunteering his help.
Maybe both.
He figured that was still partially his fault. He’d tried to express to her that something about the character she was writing … mattered to him in a personal kind of way.
It was pretty ridiculous to feel personally validated by her work of fiction, but, well … he did. It made him want to help, want to be involved.
And then there was the fact he liked talking to her about it. Something about talking to Jill … it didn’t feel connected to Marietta, even though she was so connected to a woman who’d been equal parts savior and nightmare for most of his childhood.
But Jill Harrington didn’t have all the strings pretty much everyone else he came into contact with did, including her grandmother. She was just her own person, and he liked that.
Or maybe Cal just needed to get out more.
“That’s probably the one,” he muttered to himself as he got out of bed.
He rushed through a shower, then figured he’d walk down to the diner for some breakfast. If Jill was there, he’d talk about her scene. If she wasn’t, he’d email her the notes he’d taken and ask if she wanted to meet up to go over it.
Outside, the sun was shining. The air danced with spring. Maybe a good omen, if he believed in that kind of thing.
But when he stepped into the diner, he came to a sudden stop.
Jill was in the corner booth with her laptop out and a half-eaten breakfast in front of her. But she was also laughing. At a man across the table from her. And even though Cal could just see maybe a quarter of the man’s profile, he immediately knew who it was.
“Looks like you’ve got competition, Cal.”
Cal blinked, looked over at the waitress who was almost always here in the mornings. They’d gone to high school together, though she was a year or two older. He’d been friends with her husband once upon a time.
Even though he felt a bit like he’d been hit with a gong, he smiled at her now. “How could that be when I’ve got my eyes on you?”
She rolled her eyes, patted her very pregnant belly. Which made him think about Aly yesterday. Putting her hand on her stomach kind of like that.
But surely not already. Unless that was why she and Landon had gotten married so quickly.
And definitely none of your business.
“Uh-huh. You want some coffee over there or your own table?” Ashley asked.
“Coffee over at Jill’s table will be fine. Thanks.” Which forced him to move.
Across the diner. Jill spotted him before he fully made it over. She aimed that smile at him, so Cal smiled back.
Or tried.
“Hi. I didn’t know if you’d be coming. Oh, here.” She scooted her things over, offering him a seat next to her.
Which he had to admit was a better seat than Jake’s.
“I read that scene you sent me. Just have a few notes,” Cal said, taking a seat next to her, keeping his attention on her rather than Jake.
“Oh, great.” Her enthusiasm seemed so genuine. “Actually, this is great. A police perspective.” She gestured at Jake. “And a lawyer’s perspective.”
“You’re just missing a criminal’s perspective,” Jake offered.
Cal figured he could look at him now. Jake’s posture was languid. His gaze was pointed. A little smirk, no doubt over the word criminal.
Cal held the gaze, took a page out of Nate’s book, and didn’t react. Just held the stare until Jake was the one who looked away.
What was he doing here anyway? Did he think he could get some kind of dirt on Nate from Jill of all people? He supposed they all ran in the same circle now, but Jill was certainly a reach to be bothering.
Jake shifted in his seat, pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
He pulled out a card, held it out across the table to Jill.
“I need to get into the station, but if you have any other law enforcement questions, I’d be happy to help.
Call me at the office, or my cell is on there too. Reach out any time, Jill.”
“Thanks. Jake.”
The first name seemed a little tacked on, but she smiled and took the card and watched as Jake slid out of the booth.