Page 65 of Clumsy in Love

“Why the gloomy faces?” Gwen asked when she came to take their orders. Holly snatched up the yearbook photo before Gwen could see it, shook her head, and shot her a “not now” look.

“I’ll give you guys a minute,” Gwen mumbled before walking away.

They must have been putting off a strong stay-away vibe, because no one approached them. Usually, everyone and their dog stopped by to say hello.

“I can’t speak for everybody,” Alex finally said. “But I think you should testify. If he goes to jail, I doubt his cronies will schlep all the way up here just to kill us.”

“And even if they do,” Tess said. “We can take care of ourselves.”

“You don’t understand,” Holly said. “These are cold-blooded killers. I watched Cruz shoot a man without a second thought. No emotion whatsoever. Life—or lives, as in ours—means nothing to him.”

No one said anything for a minute. Juliet broke the silence. “Have you told Cole?”

Holly shook her head. “You guys are all I have. I can’t lose you.”

The whole gang-member-threatening-to-kill-them put a real damper on dinner. They ordered and talked about inconsequential things, but eventually came back to the subject.

“I feel like we should revisit the threat thing,” Faith said. “I agree with Alex and Tess. You should testify. We can take care of ourselves. And each other.”

“Yeah,” Tess said. “I work in a store surrounded by weapons. Knives, bear spray, bows and arrows.”

“None of that stops a bullet,” Holly muttered.

“I have a kennel full of dogs I could sic on him,” Juliet said. That was a stretch, and they all knew it.

“Most of your dogs are only capable of licking someone to death,” Holly retorted.

“I could dump food on them, then lure ’em into the mountains to get eaten by a bear,” Alex said. The cabins she managed bordered the state park.

“I have scissors and razors at arm’s reach all day,” Faith said. “I could blind him with hairspray, tie him up in a smock, and give him a terrible haircut.”

“This isn’t funny, you guys,” Holly said but couldn’t help smiling. “You can’tHome Aloneyour way out of a bullet.”

“Everyone would be on alert,” Alex said. “We’d know the instant they came to town. If nothing else, we could hide until they got bored and left.”

“There are a million ways we could stay safe, Holly,” Tess said. “You should do what you need to—scratch that—what youwantto do.”

“I’ll think about it.” Holly really did want to testify. She just wasn’t willing to risk her friends’ lives to do it.

She drove home with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Cole would be upset. The entire police department would. And she wouldn’t blame them one bit.

Lady met her at the door, tail wagging. “Hey, girl.”

Holly grabbed a soda and plopped down on the couch. Lady jumped up next to her. Finally, with a quiet moment to herself, everything hit at once—the jilted bride humiliation, the terror of witnessing a murder and subsequent fear of being targeted, her longing for “family,” the shame over her cowardice in declining to testify—and the tears fell fast and furious. Stopping them was impossible, so she didn’t bother to try. Lady stood by faithfully as all the pent-up emotions poured out.

Normally, she wasn’t a big crier, but apparently, there was a ceiling on how much she could take, and she’d breached the breaking point. After a few minutes, the tension eased, and thetears dried up. She blew her nose and wiped her eyes, still unsure how to handle it all but feeling a little better.

“Any advice?” she asked Lady.

Big brown eyes stared at her. No judgment. No conditions on her love. If only life were that easy.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Cole arrived at the station a little early, got some coffee, and was shooting the breeze with one of the detectives when Flanigan approached and poured himself a cup. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Cole said. “Let’s roll.”

They were en route to interview a witness of an armed robbery. Espinoza had stayed back to finish some paperwork, so Cole rode shotgun.

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