Page 126 of The Talk of Coyote Canyon

“Too late.” Hendrix wanted them to have them—as a reminder not to jump to conclusions and judge someone before they had all the details, if nothing else. “Where’s Leo?” he asked, finding it strange that he hadn’t heard a peep from his cousin.

“I guess he’s taking a nap.”

Hendrix gave him a funny look. “He never takes a nap. It can even be difficult to get him to go to sleep at night.”

Stuart sighed as he kicked a rock off the walkway. “He refused to come out of his room for dinner—must’ve cried himself to sleep. He’s taking the...uh...rift between us pretty hard.”

Hendrix shook his head. “That’s too bad because there doesn’t have to be a rift,” he said, and he walked away.

When Ellen heard Hendrix come in the front door, she closed her laptop and shoved it away. “How’d it go?” she asked, getting up from the table as he walked into the kitchen.

“About as well as could be expected.” He dropped his keys on the counter. “My aunt’s being her typical stubborn self. I’m getting to where I don’t care if she forgives me or not. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Ellen crossed the floor so she could step into his arms. “I don’t want to be the cause of any pain, especially when it comes to you.”

Holding her close, he rested his chin on her head. “She’s causing all the pain, not you.You, for all your toughness, can’t even bear to kill a spider. You made me take one outside.” He smiled down at her. “But I love you for your inherent kindness.”

Not wanting to appear weak, she scowled at him. “Insect populations all over the world are at risk.”

“Well, you’re certainly doing your part to save them.” He let go of her, poured himself a glass of water and gestured at her laptop. “Any word?”

She knew he was referring to the DNA results. She couldn’t get them off her mind. Even when she was distracted by who’d sabotaged the well, it was there, haunting her—always. “I wasn’t checking,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, I was just logging in to look around.”

He laughed. “I can see why you’d be nervous and impatient, but it’s far too early to start checking.”

“Not necessarily,” she argued. “If Stuart shipped our samples overnight, a technician could’ve opened the envelope and run the test first thing this morning. Maybe he wanted to post the results to have it over and done with before going home.”

“Was that the case?” he asked.

She frowned at his skepticism. “No.”

“Exactly. You’re assuming those technicians are far more diligent and efficient than they probably are. To them, one test is like another. It’s just what they do all day.”

“But to me...” She went to the freezer and took out a carton of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. “What do you think Averil’s going to say when she finds out that we know she’s the one who damaged the well?”

“What can she say?” he asked, getting two bowls and two spoons for the ice cream. “We have proof.”

“But will there really be any type of punishment? Plenty of people do worse things and face no consequences.”

He took the lid off the ice cream. “That depends on you, remember?”

Ellen pictured her name spray-painted in red on the chicken coop along with the wordbitch. She wasn’t likely to forget that image anytime soon and couldn’t believe Averil would go so far. She knew Talulah was shocked, too. “What doyouthink I should do?”

“I’d probably make her pay you $1499 for the day you spent fixing the damage she caused. Then the police can decide what to do from there. If they go ahead and charge her, it’ll only be a misdemeanor and won’t destroy the next few years of her life.”

“All she has to do to ruin the next few years of her life is continue to date Jordan,” Ellen said.

Hendrix grinned at her joke. “Then that will be on her. If you keep her from getting into too much trouble, maybe her opinion of you will improve—or she’ll be grateful enough to calm down and behave. She has a lot of family and friends in the area who would probably be grateful to you, too.”

“Are you saying it might be good for business?” she said with a gasp.

“I’m just saying it doesn’t hurt to have so many people in the area think highly of you.”

Ellen wasn’t holding a huge grudge against Averil. She just didn’t admire her very much. But that wasn’t new; she never had. Still, what would happen to her son if she went to jail even for a few months? “Yeah. I think that’s what I’ll do—for her son’s sake if not for all the rest of it. Then maybe she’ll forgive Jane and Talulah for coming forward and the incident can be forgotten.”

---