Page 12 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

He disconnected before she could say anything else.

This was ridiculous. She couldn’t go anywhere. Not right now. She and Jo had a lot of work to do atSticky and Sweet, especially now that they’d had to let go of all but Tony and two other employees. Even their mom had been taking shifts to help cover them. The idea that she’d just pack up and leave right now of all times was absurd.

In the past, she might have run off, but not anymore. Not now.

She dialed Jo, even though she knew she was working the booth, and it went to voice mail as expected. “Hey, Jo. I just got a call from Tony. He wants to go away for a few days.” She sighed. He was supposed to be there on Thursday when the investors got here. He was the one that had done all the talking, all the negotiating with them on the phone, and he was the one they wanted to meet with. “I don’t know what’s going on with him, but he’s been acting strange. I need to talk to him, but—”

A large, black SUV stopped in front of her aunt’s. Two burly men got out and started up the path.

“Wait, hold on,” Allie said to her message, then covered the receiver with her hand.

The men, who looked like bouncers, stopped at the bottom of the steps.

“Can I help you?” Allie asked.

The bigger of the two men, with blond hair, spoke. “We’re looking for Tony.”

Her heart skittered to a stop in her chest. She removed her hand from the phone. “I’ll call you back, Josie.” Then hung up. “What do you want from him?”

“Are you his fiancée?” The one with a wide nose asked. “Allie?”

“Yes, that’s me.” Allie crossed her arms over her chest. Honey growled, low and deep.

Blondie placed one foot on the first step. “I’m going to need you to come with me.”

She scoffed. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She’d seen that movie. No way was she going anywhere with either of them.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Wide Nose said.

“How comforting.” She tapped her foot.

Then Blondie pulled a gun. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to insist.”

***

Jo wasn’t sure what she’d been thinking when she’d agreed to let Cash help her. Maybe he thought he had the upper hand, but the reality was she could’ve gotten rid of him. But when he’d leapt her counter, and then placed his hands on her shoulders, guiding her back to the stool, she’d felt her heart flutter. She was still bugged by his presumption, which is why she’d told him to go jump in the lake, but she’d known that wouldn’t bother him in the least.

Which was ridiculous. He wasn’t the same person he was as a kid; he couldn’t be. She wasn’t. She hoped he wasn’t. But still, there’d been something comforting in his boisterous laugh. And much to her surprise, that last hour she’d so been dreading, had flown by.

She grabbed the canvas cover off the top booth, let it drop over the counter, and tied it down in front. She did the one on the right and Cash got the one on the left.

“That’s it?” he asked.

She nodded, reaching for the over-sized hikers backpack that she’d shoved the rest of the day’s inventory in. Over the years she’d gotten really good at predicting just how much they’d need each day, and she barely ever had much she needed to take back to the shop. “Yep.”

Cash took the bag from her grasp. “I’ll walk you.”

“Isn’t your mother expecting you?” She hoped it didn’t sound snippy, but sometimes her manners took breaks when he was around, like anything goes.

“She is,” he said, “but she’d whip me if she found out I let you walk by yourself without offering my help. I may not have lived in Virginia for some time, but I haven’t forgotten my southern manners.”

She smiled, and grabbed the register from the ground where she’d sat it next to the backpack, a metal box with a heavy-duty lock on it. Not that she thought that the lock was needed. This town was as safe as houses.

Turning, they passed the other tents and vendors as they closed up for the night, neither saying anything. While they were working, they hadn’t needed to think about what to say, but now that they didn’t have that as a buffer, she thought of everything that hadn’t been said between them. She glanced up at him, catching him in a stare, like she used to do when they were kids, and shivered.

“Are you cold?”

She was actually. In her haste to get everything done that needed done today, she’d forgotten her jacket before she’d gone to the festival for the night. She’d been fine until the sun had set at around six-thirty and after that she’d been mostly fine in the confines of her booth, with exception of a few light breezes. Then Cash had shown up, and she’d been downright warm, as her embarrassment came and refused to leave. It didn’t help when he was staring at her like that. “I’m fine.”

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