Page 76 of For the Birds

“Somehow I don’t think I am.” He paused. “I don’t want you two gettin’ mixed up in Scooter Malcolm’s disappearance. I’m certain this is a power play, and the last thing I want is for you two to get stuck in the middle ofit.”

Little did heknow.

“We hear you, Joe,” Neely Kate said with a bright smile as she opened thedoor.

“Oh, I know you hear me. It’s the listening part you seem to have troublewith.”

He walked out the door, and Muffy started to whine.

Neely Kate spun around to face me. “What in Sam Hill were you thinkin’? What possessed you to ask him about Scooter?”

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “My lack of sleep. My desperation to find Scooter. The deficit of clues. Joe was the one to tell me he was missin’. I thought maybe he might tell me more. Obviously I misjudged.”

She gave me a coy look. “How much sleep did you actually get last night?”

A blush rose to my cheeks. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not happening again. It was a one-time thing.”

“How can you be so sure aboutthat?”

“Because we both agreed tothat.”

Neely Kate snorted. “That’s a crock of malarkey. That man’s stupid in love withyou.”

I gasped and turned to her. “NeelyKate.”

“Which part are you protesting? The part about him being stupid, or being in love withyou?”

“Neither,” I grumbled.

“He might love you, but it’s in his own possessive way. Bottom line is that Skeeter Malcolm thinks of Skeeter Malcolm and no oneelse.”

That wasn’t true. I’d seen James put the needs of the county above his own. Staying in his role was a sacrifice—one he continued to pay for dearly and daily—but James truly believed he was stuck. That if he left, he’d be responsible for the actions of whoever took over next. Of course, if I confessed this to Neely Kate, she’d likely dismiss it as a lie, not that I blamed her. The man James showed the world didn’t care about anyone.

“We both know a relationship with James won’t work,” I said with a sigh. “But I still keep thinkin’ about him. Last night was probably a mistake.”

“Which is why you’re going to give Levi another chance.”

I grimaced. “I can’t do that to Levi. It’s notfair.”

She was quiet for a moment. “If you didn’t like Levi and were just using him, then I’d tell you to end it. But you do like him. You’re just used to fallin’ fast for guys, and look where that’s landed you in the past. Sometimes slow isokay.”

“Do you really believethat?”

She gave me a sad smile. “You know what? I’m the absolute worst person to be askin’ for love or life advice.”

“But you’re much more experienced than me,” I said—and immediately regretted it when she stiffened. “I didn’t mean anything bad bythat.”

Neely Kate put her hand on my shoulder. “I know, but you’re right. I’ve been dating since high school. You only started dating last year, but I’m pretty doggone sure you know more about love than I do. You’ve had real love twice. I don’t think I’ve ever had it at all, so maybe you should be the one givin’ meadvice.”

“Don’t be silly. What about Ronnie?” I asked.

She shook her head and turned quiet. “I realized some things last week in Oklahoma, and one of them was that I married Ronnie for all the wrong reasons. Turns out love wasn’t one ofthem.”

“Oh, Neely Kate, I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “Now I just need to find him to serve him the divorce papers so we can both get on with our lives.”

I felt badly for her. Ronnie had disappeared soon after her miscarriage. She’d discovered he had some ties to the criminal world, so she’d presumed he was dead. But Joe had tracked her wayward husband to New Orleans, only to see Ronnie boarding a bus to Memphis with another woman. And the wedding ring on his hand hadn’t been the one Neely Kate had givenhim.

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