Page 24 of Hold the Line

I caught my mom’s eye across the table and sighed wistfully. She shot me a satisfied little grin. We were both big fans of Remi with Hannah.

“Phoebe, my love, were you ever going to tell us about your new neighbor?” she asked.

I straightened, surprised at the swift change of subject. “If the topic came up, sure. It isn’t a secret.”

Cormac nudged my arm with his elbow. “You didn’t tell me someone moved in.”

Hannah waved her hand. “A month ago. I completely forgot to ask you about them. Guy or woman? On a scale of one to ten, how much worse are they than me?”

I snorted a laugh. “He’s quiet as a mouse. I don’t know where that fits on your scale.”

So quiet I hadn’t heard a peep in days. Not that I had expected Deacon to come knocking on my door, but I’d thought…well, it didn’t matter. We were both busy people who worked long hours. It wasn’t much of a surprise we hadn’t run into each other.

Caleb turned his attention to me. “A man is living above you? Who is he?”

“I actually know him from school.” I paused in what I knew would be the calm before the storm, taking another second or two of peace. “His name is Deacon Slater.”

Grumbles and hisses came from all sides like surround sound. Hannah was the first to speak, turning to fully face me.

“Richie’s little brother?”

Hannah had dated Richie for a while after she graduated high school. I wouldn’t have said he was a bad influence since Hannah had always had a penchant for getting in trouble, but he’d gleefully brought out the worst in her.

I nodded. “He was a year above me in school. We were…well, not friends, but friendly.”

My father’s brow pinched. “Thought he was in prison.”

My mother’s head whipped in his direction. “Prison? Richie or Phoebe’s neighbor?”

“The neighbor,” Dad gruffed. “Though Richie should most certainly be too.”

My mother whipped back around to me. “Your neighbor was in prison? What did he do?”

Before I could say I didn’t actually know, Caleb interjected, giving us the answer. “His friend, Chris Jacobson, was working on the ranch the summer it all went down. From what I remember, he went in for robbery. Chris ranted to everyone who’d listen about the judge having it out for Deke because he was a Slater and throwing the book at him.”

“He’s been out for a year,” I told them. “He does roadwork and carpentry. And like I said, he’s really quiet and keeps to himself, so I don’t know any of the details.”

My mother clucked her tongue. “What was Joy thinking, renting to a felon—especially when Phoebe’s living below him?”

I bit my tongue so I didn’t leap to defend him. The truth was, I had no idea what Deacon had done to land in prison. The quiet, gentle boy he’d been when we were teens was a memory. He’d lived a lot of life since then. But my instincts told me he wasn’t dangerous—not to me or anyone else.

Fortunately, my father jumped in, taking my mother’s hand in his. “Come on, Ellie. You know better than anyone people can change. The man paid his dues. On top of that, Joy’d never rent the apartment to anyone she didn’t fully vet.”

She sighed, leaning into him. “I suppose that’s true. Well, I liked it better when Hannah was the one sharing the duplex with Phe.”

“Sorry for moving,” Hannah mumbled.

Remi cracked a grin. “Sorry for needing my girl under the same roof as me.”

Dad huffed a laugh. “Never apologize for that, son.”

“He’s Joy’s nephew,” Caleb supplied. “But knowing her, nephew or not, she wouldn’t have rented to him if she didn’t trust him.”

“Joy doesn’t mess around when it comes to her properties,” Cormac added.

“She doesn’t,” I agreed. “Anyway, Deke is a fine neighbor. I’m not worried.”

Hannah raised her eyebrows at me. “I seem to remember you had a huge crush on him back in the day. How is he looking now?”

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