Page 60 of Sweet Home

But it was West’s job to be careful and skeptical when it came to the people he trusted with his precious daughter. And even though he’d replayed it in his mind a hundred times, he still couldn’t decide how he felt about what had happened.

Dulcie glanced up at him, that guilty, kicked-dog look back in her eyes. He hadn’t seen that expression since the first night he brought her here.

He nodded to her, hoping it was enough to set her mind at ease. He would have to do some more thinking tonight about whether to leave her with Elizabeth again tomorrow. But he certainly wasn’t going to kick her out on the street.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he thought about it, and he slid it out to see who it was.

“Hey,” he said as he headed out to the front porch with the phone.

It was the shop. He figured they were just calling to give Dulcie the official news that her car was totaled. Honestly, the old clunker probably had so little value that almost anyrepair would have labeled it as a loss. But from what he’d seen on his way out of the shop that night, he would have been surprised if they could get it back on the road at all.

“West,” old Joe Fournier said, his voice shaking a little. “Glad I caught you.”

“How are you, Joe?” West asked.

“I’ve been better,” Joe said. “I got a call about the young lady’s car.”

“You did?” West asked, wondering who else could possibly be involved in such an obviously doomed transaction.

“Local police had the plate number,” Joe said. “They wanted to know if it was the one I pulled out of the ditch the other night.”

“Oh,” West said, not understanding at all. “Why was that?”

“A guy called them looking for the driver,” Joe said softly. “The car is stolen.”

Stolen?

“Don’t worry, I didn’t turn my back on Dulcie,” Joe went on. “I told ‘em it was the car they were looking for, but the driver got on a bus out of town the next day, so I couldn’t even let him know it was totaled.”

That stopped West in his tracks. Old Joe was honest to a fault. He’d never heard a word from the man that wasn’t the truth. And lying to the police…

“You did?” West asked.

“Whole business felt… wrong to me,” Joe said after a moment. “That girl of yours is no thief. Can you even imagine it?”

Can you imagine her sending a grown man sprawling on the floor? Because I couldn’t have until I saw it happen.

“Thanks for letting me know, Joe,” West told him.

“Will you talk with her about it?” Joe asked.

“Of course,” West said, intending to do just that.

He spotted his mom heading up the porch steps, bundled against the snow. She gave him a little wave and let herself in.

“I’ll uh, can I call you back, Joe?” West asked.

“Sure, if you need me,” Joe said. “Just let her know we can’t give her the car back until we straighten it out. Not that she’d want it, I don’t think.”

West signed off and wandered back into the house to find everyone getting ready to leave.

“I was just coming to see if you all wanted to come over to our place and frost sugar cookies,” Mom told him with a smile. “And I got a big yes from these two.”

“And I can eat one,” Elizabeth said as she pulled on her boots. “Right?”

“Of course you can,” Mom laughed. “That’s what they’re for.”

“I’ll grab our coats,” Dulcie said quietly.

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