Page 48 of Every Deadly Suspicion

“No. I told him, of course, but they are in the middle of a competition. I don’t want him to cut his trip short. How’s Gizmo?” Mandy asked.

“He’s good. Seems happy at my house. Cute dog.”

“He was Edda’s baby. I know that you’ll be good for each other.”

Hanna smiled. “He is the sweetest little thing. Would it be fair for me to keep him?”

“You’ll work it out, my friend.” Mandy smiled and patted Hanna’s hand. “Maybe you need the watchdog with an ex-con coming to live with you.”

“Ha, funny. Thanks, friend.” Hanna was happy to see Mandy perk up a little bit. It was good to see, considering the next news she wanted to share.

“I went out and saw Jared today.”

Mandy’s head jerked up. She was still mad that Jared left town and abandoned Hanna. It did break Hanna’s heart.

“Why on earth would you do that?”

“Because I needed his perspective on Joe. You and Jared are my oldest friends. You both understand what I went through growing up. I had a weird meeting with the mayor about Joe, and I needed to run the whole thing by Jared.”

“What happened with the mayor?”

Hanna told her.

“Maybe she’s afraid there will be negative media attention. She obviously didn’t make you change your mind.”

“No. In fact, Jared helped me stay on track. Like I texted you, I’m meeting with parole tomorrow. They’re coming over to make sure my house is an okay setup for Joe.”

“When will he be here?”

“I’m not sure on the timing.” Hanna took a bite of her sandwich.

“And you’ll let me talk to him?”

“Of course.” Hanna finished chewing. “Are you ever going to forgive Jared?”

Mandy huffed. “He didn’t devastate me; he devastated my best friend.”

“I’m over it. Yeah, it hurt at the time, but...” Hanna smiled as she remembered what Jared had said about Romans 8:28. “I’ve forgiven him. I can’t forget how close Jared and I used to be.”

“What’s funny?”

“Sorry, just something Jared said about God working all things out for good. Jared needed to leave for his own faith journey. Now I’m glad to know that he’s embraced faith. That’s a good thing.”

“Yeah. Leaving you is certainly his loss.” Mandy gave her the side-eye.

“What?”

“Just make sure you’re looking at Jared in the rearview mirror. Nathan’s a nice guy.”

“Please.” Hanna frowned. “Just because I spent five minutes talking to Jared doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten Nathan. He’s a s—great guy.” Hanna swallowed when she realized she’d almost saidsafeinstead ofgreat. Mandy didn’t seem to notice.

“Okay, I can lighten up. What did he have to say about Joe?”

“He pointed out that I would have to live with my decision, whichever one I made. And I don’t think I could live with saying no. Unless something comes up tomorrow that I can’t handle.”

“Then let’s pray that doesn’t happen.”

“And that Joe finally comes clean.”

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