Page 52 of The Sweet Life

Thank you, she mouthed, reaching for the mug.

He frowned. “Is there a reason you’re mouthing your words?” he asked at the same time her sister said, “Did Mom ever mention Spicy Eggplant to—Wait, is that Jake? Is Jake in bed with you? What is going on with my family? You’re all having sex, and no one tells me!”

“Drama much? I’m not having sex, and Jake just brought me a cup of coffee.”

“But you want to have sex with him, don’t you? I can hear it in your voice.”

“What? Did I moan his name or something? And if there was a moany sound in my voice, it was over the coffee, not Jake. He makes really good coffee, and he’s standing right here, by the way, and I have you on speaker, so he’s heard everything you just said.”

“What’s a spicy eggplant?” he asked as he walked around the bed and climbed in with her.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“You keep talking about me being in bed with you, and I wanted to hear about spicy eggplant.” He shrugged, propping a couple of pillows behind his head. “Two birds, one stone.”

Before she could object, he pulled the comforter over her chest and tucked her in, rendering her speechless. Once she’d recovered, she was about to make a suggestive comment just to show him how blasé she was about him being in bed with her, but he beat her to it.

He winked. “You looked cold.”

It took Willow approximately fifteen minutes to fill them in on Spicy Eggplant and his online comments.

“She’s very detailed,” Jake whispered, and Sage had to work to keep from laughing out loud.

But then Willow told them about Spicy Eggplant stalking her mother and Aunt Eva and Cami, and Sage’s amusement dried up.

She sensed the change in Jake right away. It was no longerfun and games. He was hyper-alert. “Willow, do you have a make and model on the car?” he asked.

“Mom took a photo. The police have a copy. She couldn’t get the license plate, though. It was blacked out. Hang on. Honey, can you send Sage the photo Mom took of the creeper’s car?”

A moment later, Sage said, “Got it,” and pulled up the photo. She turned the screen to Jake.

He nodded, his expression grim. “I recognize the car. It was parked outside the restaurant last night for about half an hour.”

He’d gone out front to take a call just before dessert was served. She hadn’t asked him about it. She thought it might have something to do with his mother and figured he’d tell her if he wanted her to know.

“They drove by Alice’s place too.”

“Really?” Sage asked.

“Yeah. When we went back to lock up. They slowed to a crawl as they drove by, but I thought it was related to something else.” He held her gaze.

His mother. She nodded her understanding.

“You or your cousin notice the car around your places?” Jake asked Willow.

“No, and we’ve all been more vigilant since Sage told us about the guy at the Smoke Shack asking about the family.”

“That’s good.” He got off the bed. “I’m going to talk to SBPD, add my information to your family’s. I want a timeline too. I’ll drive over to Alice’s. A couple of her neighbors have doorbell cams.”

“Jake, it’s just after five in the morning,” Sage reminded him.

“By the time I head out, it’ll be closer to eight. I’ll wait until Kendra shows before I go.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Didn’t say you did.”

“You didn’t say it, you implied it.”

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