Page 10 of Rebels and Roses

“Which side are you on?”

“I think they will be. Zack thinks Christmas is more likely, but Albert is completely smitten. Ruth is all blushes and smiles when they’re together. I don’t think it will take long.”

The octogenarian couple were seriously adorable. Before long, the whole town would be rooting for them.

“Jane, is there anything that you want to tell me?”

Lucy’s question had Jane physically tensing in response. She did have something she wanted to tell.

So, she lied.

“No. No, everything is fine. You’re worrying too much. I’m just stressed because of school, that’s all.”

Lucy gave her a shrewd look that said she didn’t believe a word out of Jane’s mouth.

Okay, my acting skills suck. But thank you, Lucy, for not pushing and calling me out. You know I’m lying.

“Then we should do something that will knock that stress right out. How about a girl’s night? Rom-coms, pizza, ice cream. What do you say?”

“I think I say yes. It sounds like the perfect evening.”

“Good, let’s make plans. You’ll be relaxed in no time.”

Normally, Jane would agree wholeheartedly. But as of now, the future was iffy. Cooper’s ex-wife Fiona was in Winslow Heights.

It was going to be major news when it hit.

And there was nothing this town loved more than a good story.

“We’re goingto talk to some small-town cop?” Tom whined the next morning as they walked to the sheriff’s office a few blocks down. “Fiona said that you knew detectives and FBI men in the States plus inspectors from Scotland Yard. She said you knew ex-KGB and Massod.”

Is it too early in the day to drink? I’m not sure I have the patience for this. Why am I even entertaining this nonsense?

Right. Guilt. It’s a powerful force.

“I do, and they’re not going to be interested in a guy who thinks he’s being followed but can’t prove it. Let’s start with Finn and go from there,” Cooper replied.

Cooper was once again reminded of why he and Fiona had divorced - one of the reasons anyway. She’d been a bit spoiled and self-centered. Tom, unfortunately, had inherited those traits as well. They’d had many other problems during their marriage, of course. He wasn’t any great prize of a husband, to be honest, so it was probably all even.

As a roommate, Tom wasn’t great. And it had only been one night.

He’d hogged the hot water, and he snored like a buffalo. Cooper wanted to take him aside and tell him to see a doctor. Anyone that snored that loudly needed a sleep studyor something. The guy wasn’t even forty yet, and he wasn’t overweight either.

Tom was also an early riser. The worst kind that thought that because they were up, everyone else needed to be up and at ‘em, too. He’d been banging around the kitchen making coffee and toast around five-thirty. Cooper had vivid memories of a younger Tom sleeping until noon every day. Funny how some things change, and some other things don’t.

If I can solve his problem, will he go home?

“How do I know I can trust this guy?” Tom asked as they walked into the sheriff’s station. “Do you trust him?”

“I do. Wholeheartedly. But I’m not sure why you don’t, to be honest. Do you think he’s somehow involved in the shadowy figures that have been following you?”

“Now you’re just making fun of me.”

“I’m not, although I could.” Perhaps it was time to be a bit blunter than he’d been in the last twelve hours. “Tom, you are not the main character that the rest of us simply orbit around. We all have our own lives and problems. Until I introduce you in a few moments, Finn doesn’t have a clue as to who you are, and his life will be full and happy whether he meets you or not.”

Tom didn’t appear to take offense, simply smiling more widely.

“I’ve actually heard you say almost the same words to Fiona.”

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