Page 55 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

She frowned. “What money?”

Tim frowned. “For your ring?”

She fought the urge to say what ring? Maybe it was just a mistake, or—her spine tingled—maybe Jo had come in. If it was Jo and she said she was Allie, Tim would keep his mouth shut. So she pretended. “Yep. For my ring.”

Tim went to the back, and goosebumps rose on Allie’s arm as dread filled her. For the first time since Tuesday night, she was afraid.Please don’t be grandma’s ring, please don’t be grandma’s ring.

Tim came back, pushed the items that’d been on the glass counter to the side, and sat down the 4-carat oval sapphire ring with diamond insets in a platinum band. Her grandma’s ring. Jo’s ring.

Allie sucked in a gasp.

Had things gotten so desperate that Jo had been forced to give the ring up? When her grandmother had died, she’d left one thing to their mother, this ring. Allie had thought it so beautiful, and everyone assumed that she’d be the one to get it, especially because Jo had said nothing. Jo was always so selfless that she often got overlooked. For one moment, she’d seen Allie’s eyes light up at the sight of the ring, and she knew Jo wanted it.

So, although Jo remained indifferent, Allie had pretended that the ring was too old-fashioned for her tastes, and insisted that Jo have it. Jo had put the ring on and hadn’t taken it off since, not in eight years. And Allie had never regretted that.

How could Jo do this?

The thought halted in her mind quicker than it had come. The only reason she would’ve done this was to pay off their inherited debts. If she’d done this, they were in more trouble than Allie had realized. She would’ve only done it to protect Allie and their mom. To protectSticky and Sweet. Shame washed over Allie. And all Allie’d been doing the last month was crying, and jumping on furniture to keep the movers from taking it, and being overall difficult.

She had no idea what was going on with their finances and debts on the house, or with the company, though Jo had mentioned on more than one occasion that Tony was making more orders than they had stock for. Allie knew what that meant, but had pushed back getting involved, not wanting to confront her fiancé. She’d been content to only deal with the fun aspects of the business and because Jo had said nothing, like with the ring, Allie had taken advantage, unlike with the ring.

Allie slid off her engagement ring. “This ring is valued at twenty-five grand.”

Tim’s gaze shot from the ring to her and back again.

Allie lifted her chin. “I want to trade for that ring,” she pointed at Jo’s ring, “and I’ll take whatever is left in cash.”

“Allie?” Tim asked.

She nodded. “Yep.”

“I thought you were Jo.”

“I know.”

He stared at her diamond engagement ring. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

She shoved the ring across the counter to him, not even bothering to look at it. “A hundred percent.” It was time for her to take care of her sister for once.

Chapter 19

Jo stood in the bathroom, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Unlike Allie, Jo hadn’t purchased her Halloween costume months in advance, and in the hustle of the last few days, she’d forgotten that you needed to have a costume to go to the party at the festival on Halloween night. So, she’d grabbed Allie’s.

The queen bee costume had a fitted yellow and black bodice with capped sleeves, a yellow and black layered too-too that went to just above her knees with a black stinger on the back side, black wings, black nylons, and detached black sleeves, or gloves without fingers—whatever they were called. She’d even pulled her hair up and put on a little gold crown that sat to the side. On Allie, it’d looked stellar. On Jo, twin or not, it looked terrifying. She couldn’t go out in this!

A soft tap sounded at the door. “Jo, you about ready? We have to get going.”

And now Cash was going to see her in this thing. Dagnabbit!

She plopped down on the edge of the tub and pulled on her black army boots, lacing them up like she was going to war. She felt like she was. She could hear Allie’s voice scolding her for picking such a shoe for this outfit and shoved it back with a grunt of irritation. She’d wear whatever boots she wanted. She was worn slap out and had no intention of going anywhere in heels. Besides, she’d taken one look at the stilettos Allie had picked out and thought she was more likely to get a sprained ankle than look good in those things.

She crossed to the door, took a deep breath, and stomped out.

Cash sat on the sofa and perked up at the sight of her. His eyes widened as he stood and crossed the room to face her. His eyes crinkled in the corners as he fought back a smile.

“You think this is funny?” She placed her hands on her fluffy, tootoo-ed hips.

He grinned then. “It’s sexy.”

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