Page 18 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

“Are you new in town?”

Cash dropped in front of the paint can, then glanced around and pointed at the tool box E. Morrison brought. “I grew up here—”

Danny grabbed a flathead without having to be told and passed it over. “But haven’t been home in a while?”

“Thanks,” Cash chuckled. “Exactly. How about you? Dating the fair Maribelle?”

Danny glanced over at Maribelle, and Cash followed his gaze. She stood with Presley Westwood, one of the owners of Choco-Latte, the best chocolate, coffee, and hot chocolate joint in town. Cash must have missed her in the crowd before they came in. The two women were working together to fix a couple of the shelves that had fallen down.

The noncommittal, blank expression Danny had been wearing faded as he took Maribelle in, a little smile crossing his lips and a twinkle forming in his eye.

“She’s a great gal.” Cash popped the lid off the paint.

Danny yanked his gaze away, then rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “She is.” He dropped to a knee by Cash and held the paint pan as Cash poured the paint in.

Cash glanced up. “We’ll have to paint the entire back wall so you can’t see the paint marks between the old and new paint job.”

Danny stood and went to the counter, grabbing the two paint rollers there. “So, you’re friends with Allie and Jo?”

Jo. Just the sound of her name sent a thrill through him. “Yeah, I spent a lot of time with their family when I was a kid.” When his parents would fight, he’d end up at their house.

Cash glanced at his mom and dad now. His mom was sweeping the floor, and his dad was pulling pieces of glass out of the honey along with Roger and E. Morrison. All three men’s brows were furrowed in deep concentration, and golden honey dripped from their fingers. Cash was suddenly grateful for the paint job.

His mom passed by with the broom and gave his dad a little love tap with it. His dad glanced up and winked at her. She smiled and kept on sweeping.

Cash swallowed hard. He still sometimes had a hard time believing what a change had happened between them. They were so happy now. It seemed nothing short of a miracle. When he’d left town, he’d been sure divorce was right around the corner.

Danny pointed to the spray paint, then did a wide gesture across the space. “We’re going to need to move everything away from the back wall.”

“Right.” Cash popped up, and the two moved the hand-carved cabinet, that Cash was sure Mr. Ward had made, the few dozen jars of different honey, and a few decorative bobbles, out of the way.

Danny stared at the message written in purple spray paint. “Next time we’ll break you,” he read.

Cash clenched his jaw and then his fist. Something was going to break, but it wasn’t going to be the twins. He wasn’t sure what made him so protective of the twins, but he’d been that way with them in high school too. He’d tossed and turned all night long. Gotten up at a quarter to five, gotten ready and made his way downtown. The hardware store had opened at six am, and he’d purchased a deadbolt and slip bolt lock for the back door and a two slip bolts for the front doors, while trying not to snap at the flirt of a woman behind the counter named Barbie who had way too much enthusiasm for six am.

He’d gone to breakfast at the Blue Shadow café with plans to install the locks before leaving today.

“Do you know what this was all about?” Danny asked, glancing around the store.

“Not a clue.”

Last night, when Jo had pulled out of the parking lot, Cash had honestly thought he wouldn’t see her again. He’d come to see his parents and for a few days of reprieve. That was it. But after his restless night, he’d decided that he was going to do whatever he had to to help with this. Despite all the arguments his mind had come up with, none of them could get the look of horror that’d been on Jo’s face out of his mind. He’d never seen her like that, and he never wanted to again.

Before he left, he was going to make sure this was taken care of.

For his sanity, if not for hers.

***

“Allie, I’m not kidding, answer your phone.” Jo drove slowly down Main Street, holding her phone in one hand, the wheel at ten in the other. She was trying hard not to yell. “I can’t believe you did this to me. How can you just leave town right now? Ugh!” She hit end and tossed her phone on the passenger seat. Why was it that people she most relied on always ran out on her when she needed them the most?

Jo’s mom had spent all night crying, and Jo just didn’t have the heart to tell her what had happened at the shop. So, here she was, on the way to the shop, all by herself. How could Allie do this to her? She knew Allie had been having a hard go of things, but she’d seemed different in the last few years—more responsible.

Tears stung at the back of Jo’s eyes, and she hit the steering wheel. She had to relax. In an hour, most of the stores on the block would be open and not long after that the streets would bustle with tourists making their way up and down Main. She took a deep breath and fanned at her eyes with one hand until the tears dried.

She had no hope of getting the store cleaned before the street was teaming with people, but she was sure she could at least get that horrible purple threat scrubbed off the wall. And if it didn’t scrub, she could put something in front of it to block it and then run down the street to the hardware store for some paint.

She took a deep breath as she approached her shop, her heart picking up speed when she noticed a group of people standing inside the building. Someone broke in again? No. She reached for her phone. Then she saw them.

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