Page 62 of Jack

“I don’t know—that’s Shep’s deal. But my bridesmaids and I are going to the Lumberjack’s Table for karaoke.”

“I’d rather have toothpicks shoved under my fingernails.”

“That’s a nice word picture.” She added her glass to the dishwasher, grinning. “I’ll need Harper back for spa day this afternoon.”

He had started out of the kitchen, now turned. “What? Harper back?”

She laughed. “Whatever. She’s up, taking a shower. Also listening toPenny for Your Thoughts,by the way.” She gestured to his phone app.

Really.And just like that, a spark lit inside him, that moment last night on the dance floor when she’d tripped.Gotcha.

Sheesh.

It was like one part of his brain simply deleted all the warning sirens blaring in the back of his head to set the other side free to party.

Boo’s smile at him, the shake of her head, lingered as he headed upstairs to shower. Twenty minutes later, he found Harper in the kitchen, finishing off her coffee and a bagel. Of course she smelled fresh and clean, floral, her short hair curly. Her blue eyes sparked with something he couldn’t place as she saw him. She wore a pair of leggings and a white flannel shirt, and he had the craziest urge to call off this morning’s house call and just . . .

What? Hang out by a cozy fire, playing a game of gin rummy?

Yeah, that would be good idea, and would not at all send him back where everything had gone south.

She might not be way too young for him anymore, but she was still Boo’s best friend. And like a sister to the rest of the family.

Besides, three more days and she’d be heading back to Nashville. And he and Aggie had a date with a wrench and his grandfather’s barn and then, maybe, the road.

“Ready to head back to the Bowman place?” She’d gotten up, tossed her remaining coffee into the sink, then loaded her mug into the dishwasher.

“Have you tried calling Penelope again?” He followed Harper as she headed out to the entryway for her jacket.

“Yes. Voicemail.”

Shoot.Still. “Conrad isn’t back yet. Maybe she met him after the game and they went out.”

“Did you call him?” she said, pulling on her UGGs, then winding a scarf around her neck.

“Left a voicemail.” He shrugged on his jacket. “But Steinbeck got in touch with our cousin. He works on a tactical team and they put me in touch with a white-hat hacker named Coco. Ranger texted that Coco said we could drop the phone off with her today—she’d see if she could get into it.”

Harper pulled on her white puffer jacket, then grabbed a hat. “Maybe we should go to the police.”

He had his hand on the door, now glanced at her.

“If Mrs. Bowman isn’t there.”

He sighed. Nodded.

The Geo fought awakening but finally turned over, and he slid the heater on full. The sun had started to thaw the frost gathered on his window. “I should check on Aggie. I was able to limp her into the market’s side lot last night, but I should probably swing by and make sure there are no vandals.”

“Why a schoolie?”

He glanced at her and read her real question in her eyes. “Because I needed something to consume my brain after Sabrina’s death. Fixing up Aggie worked. As did writing the book. And then I answered my first reward posting, and I guess that’s when I dove in. It felt right.”

“Looking for missing people?”

He’d pulled out of the driveway. “Not just missing people. I once answered an ad to find a missing pet goat.”

“A goat.”

“She was the school mascot. Turned out an opposing team had kidnapped her. I was the town hero.”

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