Page 76 of Love Me Fierce

“Are you okay with me asking her out?” I ask.

“Heck yeah.” His cheeks flush. “Just, like, don’t tell me stuff about it, okay? It’s weird.”

“Got it.”

We head back inside, and I convince Logan to help with cleaning up. He’s used to the Sunday routine, and I’m used to his grumbles, but we do laundry and scrub bathrooms. He finishes changing his sheets and packs up his schoolwork without me having to ask, so when his best friend Grant stops by asking if Logan can come shoot hoops for a while, I say yes.

I’m making a grocery list when my cell buzzes from my pocket. I don’t recognize the number.

“Hello?”

“Is this Deputy Rumsey?” It’s an older woman.

“Speaking,” I reply.

“This is Beverly Ovenell, from The Meadows. I have a message to return your call?”

“Mrs. Ovenell, yes, thank you for calling me back.” I head to my office where I left my notebook and settle into the chair. “Is now a good time to talk?”

“I’ll be home tomorrow. Would you like to come by?”

“Sure,” I say. “One quick question though, if you don’t mind. Were you home during the day on Tuesday?”

“Indeed, I was,” she replies. “Such awful business,” she adds, an edge to her tone.

“Is afternoon okay? Say two o’clock?” My morning’s already booked with The Lamberts.

“I’ll be ready,” she says.

We hang up, and I return to the kitchen, a little thrill dancing under my skin. Mrs. Ovenell might just be exactly what I have yet to obtain in this crime: a witness.

Chapter Twenty-One

VIVIAN

The momentI step into the bungalow, a tingle of excitement races over my skin. It’s practically a mansion compared to the trailer, with two big bedrooms, a tidy kitchen with new appliances and a breakfast nook, and plenty of windows to let in the light. No garage but that’s probably a pipe dream considering my tight budget. And after two winters in Finn River, I have shoveling and defrosting down to an art.

Mateo gazes up at me, the lollipop I surprised him with to keep him happy during this chore already half gone. “Do you like it, Mom?”

He’s so sweet I could melt. When I told him about the trailer being damaged and that we might have to move, he got upset. The last time we moved was when we left California, and though I did my best to make it an adventure, the break from our old life was hard on him, and confusing. But once I reassured him that he would get to take all of his things this time, and that he’d have a yard we could play in, he started to come around.

“Yep. Do you?”

He gives me an exaggerated shrug and a hint of a smile.

I squat down so we’re eye to eye. A thought hits me from thin air—how much longer until he’s grown to my height, or taller? “You’ll be able to have a friend over.”

He slurps his lollipop. His new front tooth has already grown in halfway. “Do I get to keep my trains in my room again?”

“Of course.”

His grin brightens. “Then yeah I like it.”

We head back outside, where the landlord, an elderly man with a head of thick white hair, is walking toward us on the path that leads from the back of his house, which shares the property with his rental.

“Well?” he asks with a curious smile.

Though it goes against my original plan to keep saving for a down payment on our own place, maybe this could be like a half step? The cost is a little high for my budget, but if I get more work from Professor Milankovitch, I’ll be able to swing it.

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