Page 144 of Driftwood Daffodil

We both turned to see a lean man in a suit strut in.

It never failed. A customer always had to walk in five minutes before the end of my shift,

Memphis sat up straighter and watched him with a look that I was way too uncomfortable seeing on my best friend’s face, while I smacked my lips together and eyed the obnoxiously soft looking waves in his sandy hair.

His steel stare locked on me, “Novalee Ford?”

“Maybe,” my eyes narrowed. “Depends on what you want?”

He reached in his jacket and pulled out what I assumed to be a wallet, until he flipped it open and I saw the ID with the letters FBI. “I’m Special Agent Jack Donovan.”

“If you’re here about a strange package in the middle of the road, I can’t help you.”

There was no strange package, I just wanted to see what he would do.

Of course Memphis had to ruin my fun.

“Nova,” he scolded me then gave Mr. FBI a charming smirk that made my lip curl. “Don’t listen to her. She has issues.”

Did I somehow get stuck in the middle of one of those romance movies, where the girl's hair would elegantly blow in the wind every time the prince rode past?

“Gird your loins Casanova,” I rolled my eyes at my best friend. “The dastardly duke came to see me, not you.”

Memphis’s face dropped. “You need help.”

Says the guy who’s two seconds away from twirling his hair.

“You have a boyfriend,” I pointed out, then wondered how I became the protector of Memphis’s gag worthy relationship.

Mr. FBI cleared his throat, “I hate to intrude, but could I have a minute of your time Miss. Ford?”

Miss. Ford?

“Well you’re in luck Jack, my ass is still sore from a rather rough morning encounter, and in about five minutes I have to make the difficult decision on which radio station I want to listen to, while I drive to a basketball game I care nothing about. So…” I dropped my elbow on the counter, propped my chin up with my palm, and smiled sweetly up at him. “Today seems to be the day to intrude.”

Memphis facepalmed while Mr. FBI blinked down at me.

“Okay… I’m not quite sure how to respond to that, so I’m just going to bypass it completely.”

The man was honest, I’d give him that.

“Fair enough,” I nodded. “What can I do for you Jack?”

“I was hoping we could do something for each other.”

My brow rose, “Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t it the FBI’s job to hunt down guys that do things for underage girls?”

Just saying.

Honest Jack huffed out a sigh. “I’m with the organized crime unit.”

“I hardly think stealing a couple of kids' Halloween candy constitutes organized crime.” Though I did have a very detailed and intricate plan. Billy and Kyle deserved it. They stole Knox’s first.

“I’m investigating Cesare Mancini.”

That made both Memphis and I straighten up. I looked at him, he looked at me, then I said, “I don’t know how I can help you. I barely know the Mancini’s.”

But I knew enough not to cross them.

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