Page 25 of Hard Knock Hero

I wanted to find out what they were saying.

Stepping carefully, I stole toward the saloon parking lot along the edges of the buildings. I was regretting my decision not to wear a coat. It was way below freezing, and I only had my jeans and long-sleeved tee to keep me warm. But I wasn’t going to retreat now just because of a little chill.

Their voices were getting louder.

My boots slipped on the slick ice. Finally, I got close enough to make out the words they were saying.

“—not the right time for this fucking nonsense,” Dale said.

“But Jeremy’s on his way. He’s just waiting for the bridge to open up again. You told me to make sure she was gone by the time he—”

“I gave you permission. But I didn’t tell you to be a damn idiot about it, drawing Owen’s attention and half the town’s. We can’t afford prying eyes. This conflict with Jessi Novo is over now, you hear me?”

“But what about that brother of hers? What he did to me?” Chester pointed at his face, which filled me with enough satisfaction to stave off the cold. “What aboutJeremy?”

“You both have more important—”

I missed the rest of it. Dale was heading back to the driver’s side of his car, and Chester got in along with him after a few more seconds of arguing. Dale started his engine. They drove away, leaving me wondering what that had been about.

* * *

“There you are.” Jessi poked her head out of the diner’s back door. “Where’d you go?”

I strolled toward her. I had waited until Dale and Chester were out of sight before I walked back. “Worried about me again, like you were this morning?”

She rolled her eyes and went back inside.

After locking the door behind us, I followed her to the dining room. She’d finished the dishes. “I just overheard an interesting conversation.”

Jessi’s eyes brightened as I told her about Dale and Chester’s argument. She opened up a variety box of Hart-Made candy that Sawyer had left behind. There were filled chocolates inside, plus some shards of caramelized sugar that the box called brown sugar brittle. Jessi selected something that looked like a chocolate-covered cherry.

“I wonder if Sawyer said something to Dale,” Jessi mused. “Maybe Sawyer told him to make Chester stop bothering me.”

“Could be. If Sawyer said Dale’s boys were making the family look bad, it would explain why Dale called them off. Dale clearly knew that Chester had been trying to intimidate you. Maybe Sawyer knew it too, or maybe not. Either way, the elder Rigsbys have put the kibosh on Chester and Jeremy’s plan to push you out.”

“Kibosh? What is this, an old black-and-white movie? A film noir?”

“Isn’t that how you talk here in Hartley?”

“Maybe. But it’s extra cute when you do it.”

“Cute? That word doesn’t describe me.”

“Too bad. I say it does.” She was in a more buoyant mood than I’d seen before. Grinning, cheeks flushed. Jessi popped another chocolate into her mouth, then pushed the candy box over to me. I picked up a shard of brown sugar brittle. It had some spice and salt to it. Not bad.

“I’m not flirting with you, by the way,” she added. “Just so we’re clear.”

“Didn’t think you were.” I felt a smile tease my lips. She seemed to have that effect on me. She was happy, and I liked seeing that. It was a simple pleasure. Maybe as good as relaxing in front of a fireplace in a remote cabin.

Jessi turned thoughtful as she chewed. “But what is it that Chester and Jeremy are supposed to be focused on instead of me? What did Dale mean by ‘not the right time’?”

“Are you afraid they’ll decide a later time is better to harass you again?”

“Or maybe I just don’t trust anything they’re up to.”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t either.”

Her phone pinged, and she checked the notification. “That’s Trace. He’s finally on his way.” She glanced up, cringing. “But he’s driving instead of flying. The airlines are having some kind of major computer meltdown because of the storm, and he wasn’t going to get another flight until later in the week.”

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