Page 27 of Seaside Cowboy's Fairy Tale

Chapter Eight

RACHEL GOT UP FROMthe carpet and sighed. “Nope, Button isn’t under the bed. And I already checked everything I could think of.”

Kennedy picked up the cookie from the floor and closed the peanut butter jar. “So what’s our next move?”

“We’ll have to ask the neighbors if they saw my mouse.” Rachel checked the cabinets once again, then every shoe and boot in her closet, thankful she didn’t have much footwear.

Kennedy grimaced. “I can imagine how wonderful that’s going to go.”

Rachel crawled under the kitchen sink for the third time, then repeated the process in the bathroom. “Didn’t you tell me you found a pet alligator in a hotel room?”

“Yes, but an alligator wouldn’t have crawled through a pencil-sized hole.”

Rachel put back the cleaning solutions and straightened out. “Good point. Um, you don’t have to go with me.” Despite being the head of a large corporation, Kennedy was shy around strangers.

“No. Let’s do it.” Kennedy fit her hands on her hips, then winked. “Meanwhile, you can tell me all about how your date with Tex went.”

Rachel groaned as she picked up her keys. Yet her heart skipped a beat just at his name. At least Kennedy didn’t ask much about the stolen ring. Not having any news for her friend needled. And the coincidence of both pieces of stolen jewelry coming from the same collection needled her even more.

“Nothing happened.” She jiggled the keys in her hand. “We went to eat and then walked on the beach. That’s it.”

“That’s not just it. That’s a lot.” Kennedy followed Rachel outside her apartment that was probably the size of Tex’s living room. “Did he ask you for another date? Oooooh, he did.” Kennedy clapped, and she usually didn’t express her emotions. Was taught not to.

“It’s not a big deal.” Rachel knocked on the first door to her left. She spent so little time at home she didn’t know her neighbors. Knowing them sure would’ve come in handy now.

“It is a big deal. I can tell that you like him. Why are you fighting it?” Kennedy asked as they waited for someone to answer.

Rachel swallowed back a yearning. Oh how much she wished things between her and Tex were possible. “There are obstacles. And complications. And, well, difficulties.”

The neighbor answered, sparing Rachel from explaining what kind of obstacles, complications, and difficulties those were. He was bald and hadn’t shaved for days. Maybe he misplaced his razor. His dirty T-shirt, which might’ve been white—no, gray—with stains she was reluctant to identify, was stretched tight over a belly that could provide rain cover for two middle-sized dogs and a cat. Maybe without the cat because the man tried to suck in his stomach when he saw them. “What can I do for you, ladies?”

Rachel resisted the urge to step back from the cigarette stench billowing from the guy and his apartment. He must’ve misplaced his toothbrush with his razor. Then she plastered on a smile. She needed this person’s help, after all. “I’m searching for a mouse.”

“Are you pest control or something? I ain’t got no rodents in my apartment.” He puffed on his cigarette and released the smoke in her face.

She coughed out the smoke. Too bad, he hadn’t misplaced the cigarettes where he’d placed his razor and toothbrush. “No. I have pet mice, and one of them ran away.”

“You gotta be messing with me.”

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