Page 10 of Tactical Revival

“Man, well, I’m glad she’s okay.”

“Same. So, listen, Chad was at the B&B today.”

“Margot told me.”

“Oh?” His tone leaves little to no room for accusation, but it makes me uneasy anyway. The last thing I want is for him to think I’m moving in on his younger sister. “She called me earlier to ask if I could pick up some paint for the B&B. She mentioned that Elijah sent Silas over when he caught Chad on the camera.”

“So glad we got that facial recognition update to the cameras. Not that Elijah wouldn’t have recognized him anyway. I put his face up like a BOLO.”

I laugh. Mainly because Michael showed Chad’s picture to each of us when the guy left town. “Same. She okay?” She’d sounded fine when I spoke to her earlier, but it’s possible she was just trying to put my mind at ease. Would she have told her brother if she’d been left shaken by the visit of her ex?

“You should know, you clearly talk to her more than I do.” He laughs. “Just kidding. Yeah, she’s good. Anyway, Reyna and I are headed to Boston for the weekend, you need anything before we head out?”

“Nope. You two have fun.”

“Great. See you Monday morning.”

“See you.”

The call ends just as I’m pulling in front of Felix’s hardware store. Climbing out, I take a moment to stretch and breathe in the salty sea air. Living in LA, I was near the ocean, but it was never like this. The air was never quite as crisp, the weather not quite as perfect.

Here, the ocean feels like the center of this town, whereas in LA, the ocean is merely a small part of the big city. You can feel completely alone even as you’re in the center of a crowd. Not in Hope Springs, though. Everyone knows everyone here, and you never feel alone.

“Hey, Mr. Payne!” Lanetti Ester, the newest waitress at Hope Diner now that Lilly is on bed rest, jogs up the sidewalk toward me. Her smile is bright, her blue eyes shining with interest.

I’m at least ten years older than her, but the age gap clearly doesn’t sway her from the interest she seems to have taken in me.

I plaster a friendly smile on my face—but not too friendly—and offer her a wave. “Hey, Lanetti. On your way to work?”

“I am. You coming in for dinner tonight?”

I wish I had other plans. But as of now, I’ve got nothing. And the last thing I want to do is assume I’ll be eating dinner with Margot and Matty. “I am.”

“Great.” She grins and begins to toy with a silver cherry blossom on a chain around her neck. “Well, I’ll see you later then?”

“Sure thing.”

She offers me another smile, then starts down the sidewalk, looking back over her shoulder as she does.

I wish I could find a way to kindly tell her I’m not interested. That even if we were closer in age, I’m still dealing with drama from my ex-wife, and a relationship is just not in the cards for me. But I have no clue how to do that and not completely crush her, so I sigh and head into the hardware store.

Felix glances up from some papers he’s reading behind the counter, and a smile graces his aging face. “Hey, Jaxson, how’s it going?”

“Not too bad. Margot said you have some paint for her?”

“I do.” He sets the papers aside and reaches down to lift a gallon of paint from the floor. He sets it on the counter, along with a wooden paint stick and two brushes. “She doing okay?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I saw Chad earlier. He was headed into the diner.”

“He there now?”

Felix shakes his head. “Alex said he left a few hours ago.” Alex is married to Felix’s daughter, Lilly, and the two of them own the diner. “I just want to make sure she’s okay. Chad was always a troublemaker, but him leaving her and Matthew like that—I wish we could ban him from town altogether.”

Chuckling, I lift the can of paint. “Maybe someday,” I tell him. “Thanks for this.”

“So, listen—” Felix runs a hand through his grey hair, so I set the paint can down again. “If you’re interested in Margot like that, you should know that we’re all really protective of her.”

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