Page 22 of Make Her Mine

JEFFERSON

The little bell above the door jingles happily as I push open the door to Scott’s Sweets and let Harlow pass in front of me.

Her mom, Peyton, one of my favorite people despite her hardheaded, feisty, smart-mouthed offspring, is behind the counter.

Her face lights up when she sees us. “Well, hi, you two!”

“Hi, Mom,” Harlow says, her entire countenance changing as she crosses the shop and rounds the front counter to give her mom a hug. “I’m in desperate need of coffee and an orange scone.”

“Your wish is my command,” Peyton teases. “I’ve got nothing else going on.”

Harlow laughs. “I know you’re slammed in here. I can serve myself.”

Peyton glances at me then back at her daughter who is already at the coffee pot. “Are you going to get Jefferson anything?”

Harlow doesn’t even look at me. “Jefferson knows where everything is in here too.”

Peyton props a hand on her hip and looks between Harlow and me. “You know we have windows on this shop, right?”

Harlow turns with her mug and leans her hip against the counter. “What do you mean?”

“That I saw you walking up the sidewalk holding hands.”

Harlow doesn’t react. She sips from her cup. “Yeah, we have something to tell you.”

Peyton’s brows arch.

I continue to just stand in the middle of the shop, my hands tucked in the front pockets of my jeans. I’m happy to let Harlow take the lead here. It will be amusing to see how she explains this to her mother. Of course, I’d been shocked that she’d asked for my help. But a simple help me from Harlow and my body automatically turned for the front door of the diner.

But now we’ve got a situation, and our moms are just two of the many people that need to be brought up to speed.

I wouldn’t call Peyton Hansen laid-back. Not at all, in fact. Peyton is a hot-blooded, protective, feisty woman. Her temper flares hot and fast. There are many stories about young Peyton smashing headlights and even noses when needed. The best storyteller is her husband, the guy who was the cop back then too, as a matter of fact. She was a hellraiser. Though it seems she always channeled her ire and vengeance on people who deserved it.

Peyton is extremely protective of her inner circle. But I’m not worried that she’ll turn any of that on me. I’m in that inner circle.

I was on my way over here to the bakery when Harlow waylaid me. I’d planned to chat with both of our moms and just enjoy one of my summer mornings off. Football practice doesn’t start for a couple of months yet, and I’m not teaching any summer classes this year. I also got out of driver’s ed and they didn’t need my help with baseball this year, so I have a relatively low-key June and July ahead. I’m looking forward to it.

“I’m all ears,” Peyton says, nudging her daughter's foot with her own.

“Is Adrianne around?” Harlow asks. “We might as well tell you both at once.”

“Did you kill someone?” Peyton asks her.

Harlow doesn’t actually act as shocked as you might expect. She laughs. “That’s your first guess?”

Peyton shrugs. “That you would kill someone, and Jefferson would help you bury the body? It’s in the top three.”

I chuckle. I’m not offended by the assumption that I’d help Harlow cover up a crime. We don’t get along, but that’s because we approach life very differently. She’s completely right about that. We love people differently. But we both love big and hard. So our people feel it. We are both pretty big influences in the lives of the people we care about.

And, because we share a lot of people and our lives overlap, we’ve butted heads. Graham is the main one she’s pissed about, but he’s not the only one. And, by the way, she’s influenced some of our mutuals in ways that piss me off too.

No, we do not see eye to eye on things like what support and encouragement mean, but…do I think she’s a good person? Yes. Do I think she truly does care about the right things? Yes. Would I help her bury a body? Yes.

And is it possible there would be a body to bury?

Yes.

Peyton’s protectiveness has been passed on to Harlow. Harlow fights for the people she loves. But she seemingly lacks her mother’s fire. Seemingly. On the surface, Harlow seems to take after her dad—the laid-back, rocksteady, even-more-stubborn-than-Peyton town cop who ended up smitten with the bad girl.

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