Page 24 of Loving My Enemy

“All right, boys.” Janey stood in front of a booth that held six oversized adult men. She clapped her hands. “This monthly meeting of the Hometown Heroes is now officially in session.” Her bright smile might have been able to fool strangers and other people who hadn’t known her since birth, but I didn’t buy that easy-going cheerleader personality. At all. Janey was a shark in sheep’s clothing, especially when it came to getting her way. Nina leaned against the wall right beside me, thumbs moving a mile a minute over her phone.

“Is this official?” Ry asked with a smirk. “Because, if so, I think there should be a gavel. Maybe even uniforms.”

Nina pushed off the wall. “Uniforms? Oh we can definitely do uniforms,” she said with a smile that could only be called lascivious.

Nate and Will groaned beside me while Preston smirked. “Look what you started, Ry. I thought we talked about this—just be quiet.” Nate tried to fly under the radar and I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but those days were over. Some timein the past month, Janey and Nina, with the mayor’s permission, had kicked the Hometown Heroes calendar into overdrive.

Ry shrugged and leaned back in the booth, not bothered at all by Nate’s grumpiness since it was his normal state. “Just trying to liven things up.”

Janey pointed at him, smiling. “Exactly. We need to keep things lively so the calendars sell like iPhones!” Her excitement would have been contagious if not for the fact that she was trying to convince us to get as naked as possible. For charity sure, but still. It was the principle of it all. “We have more events for you to volunteer for so don’t be shy, boys.”

Moreevents? How in the hell was that even possible? “Isn’t the calendar the event?” I didn’t mind pitching in to help out the folks of Tulip, not even when I was off the clock, but this was turning into a full-time job.

“No, the calendar is you doing your civic duty, deputy. These events are so we can restore Tulip to her former glory, or don’t you care about that?”

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Dammit, Janey.” Instead of arguing, I snatched the clipboard from Nina’s hands and read each one with a suppressed eyeroll. It was too late to pull out of the calendar without suffering the wrath of two pint-sized dynamos, so I was well and truly stuck. Dammit.

“What did you sign up for?” Nate leaned in and read over my shoulder. “Chili cook-off?” He looked to Nina and Janey with hope shining in his eyes. “Is this like a judge type deal because if so, sign me up.”

I agreed with Nate and scribbled my name on the list before handing it off. There was an auction, a car wash, and talking to at-risk youth, all four of them in Tulip, which is exactly why I signed up for it. “All done.”

“For the cook-off, you will be matched with an applicant and your job will be to help them in any capacity they needon the day of the cook-off. And before then, if you’re feeling particularly civic-minded,” Janey added with a heaping dose of guilt dripping from her words.

I had a mother who could pile on the guilt like it was an Olympic sport and Janey, for all her spunk and determination, was an amateur by comparison. By the time the meeting was over, I wished there was some kind of law enforcement training I could escape to until the calendar nonsense was over. On the heels of that thought, my mother’s ring tone sounded, which I was obligated to answer because she’s my mother. “Hey, Mom.”

There was a long pause before she spoke. “Oh, so youdorecognize the number. Funny, since I haven’t heard from you in weeks.”

Now that was some mom-level guilt tripping right there. “I’ve been busy working. You know the thing that pays the bills so I don’t have to mooch off you forever.”

“I’d love to have you live with me again, honey.” She laughed her melodic laugh that was the best damn memory of my childhood. “Seems like maybe I need to come back to Tulip for a while since you’ve forgotten how to treat a woman.”

I should have realized that someone was bound to tell her about Elka. “I haven’t forgotten a thing, Mom. This is different. You don’t understand.” None of them understood and I knew part of that was on me, because I had never spoken about it to anyone other than the department-assigned shrink.

She sighed that completely put-upon sigh and I rolled my eyes because I knew she couldn’t see me. “I may not know exactly what happened to you in New Orleans, but I know something did, Antonio. And I know that a woman was involved, so don’t even bother trying to deny it. You were hurt, honey, and that’s terrible, but it’s also a part of life.”

“I don’t see you out there painting the town red, and Dad’s been gone for nearly a decade.”

Mom snorted and I could see her smiling and rolling her eyes at me in exasperation. “I do just fine with the men, thank you very much. The difference is that I’m not cynical or bitter, nor determined to sleep my way through all the single women in Texas.”

“Not all of them, Mom. I do have standards.” And now we’d veered off into a topic of conversation I vowed never to have with my mother. Ever. “This is different, Mom. I have a feeling about Elka and it isn’t good.”

She smacked her lips. “And you’ve never been wrong about a woman before? So you must be him, then.”

“Who?”

“The smartest man in the world, of course.” She laughed again and it made it hard to be upset with her.

“Very funny.”

“I thought so too.” The sound of Mom’s laughter was exactly what I needed after the past few weeks.

“How are things in Arizona?” She’d taken to spending winters all over the country, determined to see everything she missed out on in her youth.

“Dry and wonderful. But I’m thinking it’s time I made my way back to Texas. Sounds like you need some good old-fashioned mothering.”

I didn’t, but it would be great to see her and enjoy a few of her home-cooked meals. Especially all the Portuguese dishes she’d learned to cook for Dad. “There’s always a bed for you here, Mom.”

“Good. Be bad before I get there and cramp your style.” She cracked herself up and I stood in the middle of my kitchen, smiling, while she laughed her heart out at her own silly joke. “And leave that poor girl alone until I’ve had a chance to sort you out.”

---