“You’re a good friend, Annie.” He twined their fingers together. “And Claire knows how much you love her. If anything, I expect she’ll be thrilled with what you’ve done, and want you to stay.”
“From your lips.” She sighed, letting the nerves go. They would be waiting for her in the morning. “Now bring those lips on over here, and I’ll think about making you dinner.”
Laughter burst out of her when he tackled her—then she let out a shriek as they tumbled to the rug. In response, her ring flashed blue sparks. Eric caught her hand before she could hide it.
“I will always be amazed by that. And you having an accurate mood ring will be a real side benefit.”
“Smartass.” Her desire to smack him faded when he kissed her hand, the sparks dancing in his clear blue eyes. “It’s a good thing I love you, or you’d be toad bait right now.”
“A horrible and probably short fate avoided.” He kissed her hand again, used it to pull her in. “As a token of my eternal gratitude, I’ll be cooking you dinner.” A wicked smile crossed his face, sent a thrill shooting through her. “Later.”
“Keep looking at me like that, and it’ll be much later.”
His kiss just got interesting when the doorbell rang. Eric looked at her. “Expecting someone?”
“No—the address is so new hardly anyone knows I’m here.”
He lifted her up, pushed her toward the hallway. “Get in the bedroom, lock the door. You have 911 punched in, and hit send if you hear anything—”
“I’m not deserting—”
“It could be one of them, Annie. We don’t know the anger died with Jane—”
“I do.” He stared at her. “I felt it, when Claire toasted her. There was nothing left. Answer the door, Eric.”
He kept her behind him, slid the safety chain on, then inched the door open.
A familiar voice floated in, and she smiled.
“What took you so long? Damn, I didn’t interrupt you two lovebirds, did I?”
“Jeff?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Annie stepped in front of Eric. “Hi, Jeff—one second.” She shut the door and slid the safety chain off before pulling it wide. “Come in—it’s good to see you.” She raised one eyebrow as she looked over at Eric. “How did you know where to find us?”
“Mr. Organization.” He pointed at Eric. “Fired off a text, probably while you were still moving. It’s habit with us—I moved around so much with the Marines, first thing I always did was update him. The one or two times he uprooted, he did the same.”
“Please—sit down. We were just about to have dinner.” She heard Eric choke back a laugh. “Want to join us?”
“I’m here to take you out—for the promised champagne, and a bribe of dinner, so you all can tell me what really happened in that town. I know what they reported isn’t what went down.”
“Jeff—man, we can’t—”
“Invitation accepted,” Annie said. She held up her hand when Eric started to protest. “He’s your oldest friend, and he got us up there so we could help. I figure you’ll tell him eventually, so he might as well get the whole story while it’s fresh. And being—ex-military?” He nodded. “I’m thinking you can keep a secret. Besides, no one would believe you. That, or they’d give you a nice long stay in a pretty, white padded room.”
Jeff laughed, that brilliant smile she remembered transforming his rugged face. “This is going to be one hell of a story. I’ve got the champagne in my car, so we can order in. No eavesdroppers.” Taking Annie’s hand, he kissed it. “Good to see you again, darlin’. Eric, call back your wandering mind—you’ve got a story to tell. I’ll go get the champagne.”
He was out the door before Annie could do more than nod. She turned to Eric, and laughed; he looked shell-shocked. “Is your friend always so take charge?”
“Drill sergeant, Marines. So—yeah. Can we really tell him?”
She slipped her hand into his. “Do you trust him?”
“With my life.”
“Then, yeah.” She leaned in and kissed him. “We can.”
SIXTEEN
After two weeks of not so forced bed rest, Claire stepped into her shop. Tears stung her eyes, lodged in her throat. It looked the same.
Standing behind the counter, Annie grinned. “Welcome back.”
“You didn’t—why didn’t you change anything?”
“Oh, there are little spots, here and there. You’ll see them when you look around. But you made this place what it is, and I figured why mess with perfection?”