Page 19 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

There was Roger and Ethan, who said they’d be here this morning at nine, with their wives and kids. Not a break in. She pulled up out front and parked. Mirabelle was there with her new boyfriend, Danny. He’d been taking care of security at the festival, and she’d talked to him a couple times. He was a nice guy. Then there was Dora and Sostenes from Cornucopia Inn. Presley from Choco-Latte was there, and Rosalyn and Jeff Evans. Cash’s parents.

And there was also Cash.

He stood in the middle of the fray. Smiling his broad, friendly smile. The group was gathering together brooms and mops and buckets, and Ethan had a toolbox, along with other things. Mrs. Evans, Rosalyn as she liked to be called, caught sight of her, said something to the group and then waved.

Cash turned his gaze on her and she felt it like a caress as his expression became more somber and his eyes locked with hers.

What was he doing here? What were all these folks doing here?

She fumbled with the handle on her car door and finally pulled it open. She got out and went around her car. Roger pushed the front door open for her as she came up.

“Hey, Jo,” Roger said. “Good morning!”

She held her keys to her chest, the thudding of her heart palpable beneath her hands. “What . . . what are y’all doin’ here?”

Roger signaled for her to come in.

“Rosalyn called us all last night,” Presley said.

Jo glanced around. Her shelves were up, the counter back in place, the honey was off her father’s beautiful wood floors and there wasn’t a scratch on them from the shards that’d been stuck in the honey, everything was picked up and clean, and the creepy message on the wall had been painted over.

“The honey took forever to get off that floor,” Dora said.

“But we saved what we could of it.” Roger chuckled.

Jo paled, thinking of all the glass there’d be in that honey, until Roger’s wife, Lorna, smacked him on the shoulder.

“He’s kidding,” Lorna said.

She glanced at Rosalyn.

Rosalyn smiled at her and patted Cash on his arm. “Cash came home all upset last night,” Jo chanced a peek at him. He glanced down. “Told us everything that happened. So, I made a few calls.”

“Thank you,” Jo said, over a lump in her throat. “Thank you so much. I can’t . . . I don’t know what to say.”

It never would’ve occurred to her to ask for help. That these people showed up to clean her shop for her meant so much. It was something she would’ve done for any of them, but she never would’ve imagined they’d come to her rescue.

Presley stepped forward. “We were happy to do it. What are shop neighbors for? I can’t even imagine if it’d been Choco-Latte.” She glanced at her watch. “Speaking of, I gotta go. I’ve got chocolates to dip before we open.”

Dora and Sostenes passed too, Sostenes patted her on the shoulder as they went.

“We need to be getting back, too,” Dora said. Jo thought she heard her whisper something about Vampire Diaries to Sostenes as they exited, but she couldn’t be sure.

At that, they all slowly started making their way out of the shop.

Mirabelle gave her a good squeeze, then dragged Danny after her on the way out. Jo thanked everyone, offering free honey that they refused. When Cash’s parents came up, Jo squeezed Rosalyn a little harder than she meant to. The woman had been so kind to her since Cash had left town. At first it had freaked her out. She wondered and dreaded the idea that it came from guilt. Whatever it’d been, Rosalyn had barely talked to her before, but now Jo always thought of her fondly.

Rosalyn patted her on the pack. “There, there, Dear. It’ll be all right now.”

Jeff and Rosalyn exited and held hands as they made their way up main street. The last out were Ethan and Roger’s wives and kids, and then the deputies themselves. They stayed behind to talk to her.

“I can’t thank you enough,” she said.

Ethan grinned, and Roger swatted at the air like he was hitting her thanks away.

“We’re happy to help,” Roger said. “We’re not used to having things like this happen in town, and we want to do all we can to set this right.”

“I’ve got the cameras set up,” Ethan said. “I put one at the back door and one on the front door.”

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