Page 69 of Whiskey Lullaby
My phone rang, breaking my mind from its rambling thoughts. I didn’t even check the number, I just answered it. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Hannah said. “I, uh… I’m at the jail. Can you, can you come getme?”
“You’re what?” I thought she was screwing with me. “Seriously, where areyou?”
“At the Rockford County Jail. Daddy’s gonna kill me, please come getme.”
“Shit.” I turned in a circle, looking for my keys and finally spotting them on the end table. “Okay. I’ll be there in tenminutes.”
______
The smell of mildew and cigarette smoke hit me like a wet rag when I stepped into the jail’s waiting room. Mary Anne, the wife of the town drunk Jebidiah, was perched on a chair, readingNational Enquirer. She peeked over the top of the magazine, eyeing me up and down before she lifted a cigarette to her lips. I didn’t think you were supposed to smoke inside, but she was a regular visitor and Jeb’s bail money probably paid at least two of thebailiffs.
“Can I help you?” one of the attendants asked from behind the glasswindow.
I stepped over, pulling my ball cap off before I leaned down to the open area of the window. “Hannah Blake,” Iwhispered.
“Who?” She popped the gum in her mouth. “I can’t hearyou.”
“HannahBlake.”
“Hannah Blake,” she said loudly, typing on her keyboard. Her fingers paused over the keys and she quirked a drawn-on brow. “That’s John Blake’s daughter,right?”
Clenching my jaw, Inodded.
“That’s a shame. She was such a goodgirl.”
I heard Mary Anne’s paper crinkle. I glanced over my shoulder to see her staring in my direction. “The preacher’s daughter?” she asked, her eyes going wide. “What’dshedo?”
I shook my head and turned backaround.
“She’ll be right out, hun. Go have aseat.”
I didn’t have a seat. I stood right by the door. When the lock clicked and the buzzer sounded, the door swung open. I expected Hannah to be a complete mess, swollen eyes, splotchy face, but she wasn’t. She walked right out, shoving a yellow piece of paper in her jeans. “Thanks.” She headed toward the doors, waving at Mary Anne. “Hi, Mrs.Lockhead.”
Mary Anne waved as Hannah walked outside. The door nearly hit me in the face, and the second I caught up to Hannah, I grabbed her hand. “What in the hell?” I nearly laughed. “Why were you inthere?”
“I stole aboat.”
“What?”
“Or as you like to call it, borrowed aboat?”
An amused laugh slipped through my lips. “Really?”
“I needed serenity, and someone told me the middle of the lake was the most serene place you could go.” She smirked, and while I found it adorable as fuck, there was a little nagging in the pit of my stomach. I kept hearing that lady inside the jail say, “She used to be a good girl.” Something told me I’d already taintedher.
She stopped beside my car, waiting for me to get the door forher.
“Don’t let me rub off on you, pretty girl.” I yanked open the door and jerked my chin back toward the jail. “You see where it getsyou.”
“I’ll just have you know I made friends with the lady in the cell with me.” She hopped in the car with a grin. God, she was something… “Besides, life is about experiences,right?”
Shaking my head, I went to the driver’s side. I felt her staring at me when I shoved the key in the ignition. I looked over and cocked a brow. “Yes?”
“I’m glad I met you.” She scooted across the seat and grabbed my face, pressing her lips tomine.
Something so damn little, but it meant the world. When she pulled away, I bit my bottom lip on a groan. “Woman, you have no idea what you do tome.”
