Jules reran their conversation in her head, and her head dropped back to the table. “I did, didn’t I?” she wailed.
“You’re in love with Theo?” Although Ty sounded startled, there was no judgment in his voice. Jules’s mental critic was a lot harsher than her siblings.
“No.”
“Y-yes.”
“Cool.” Apparently, Ty was accepting Sam’s take over her own. “This way, when we start driving, we’ll never get a ticket. Just remind the cop that we’re Jules’s brothers.”
Jules groaned as Sam and Ty continued their conversation without her input, and the dirty, lovely side of her brain compiled her own list of benefits of dating a cop. When she couldn’t stand either the external or internal conversation anymore, she stood.
“Where’s Tio?”
“Library,” Ty said through a mouthful of apple. They were getting low on groceries again, Jules had noticed. “He asked if you’d pick him up at five.”
Glancing at the clock, she saw it was five minutes before five and gave Ty a pointed look that went right over his head. Going to grab her keys, she asked, “Is this a recreational trip, or is he doing homework?”
“Water heater research.”
Jules groaned. “I hate when he tinkers with the gas appliances. I should just call a repairman.”
With a shrug, Ty banked the apple core off the side of the trash can. It fell neatly inside. “He likes doing it. It’s a challenge.”
“A ch-challenge that m-m-might blow up in h-his face,” Sam grumbled, but he looked much more relaxed than before. “L-literally.”
“Ahh!” Jules yelled, covering her ears as best she could with her keys in her hand. “Stop talking about explosions, y’all! The stove, the barn—can we please go a few days without something blowing up? Honestly, is that too much to ask?”
As she left the kitchen, both Sam and Ty were laughing, and Jules had to smile. Moving to Monroe might not have fixed everything—and everyone—but things were better.
Things were better, and she’d sacrifice a lot to make sure they stayed that way.
Chapter 19
“Pull a pan of caramel rolls from reach-in cooler at four,” Jules muttered out loud as she read the diner opening checklist. “Leave on bread rack to proof.”
She yanked open the small refrigerator and pulled out the pan of caramel rolls. True to her word, Megan hadn’t made Jules go into the evil walk-in cooler since Vicki had trapped her in there. Relieved that she didn’t have to venture into the claustrophobic space, especially when she was at the diner alone, Jules gave Megan mental thanks and checked the next item on the list.
“Pull chairs off of tables.” Easy enough.
As she slid the chairs from their upside-down position on the tables, there was a flash of light, almost immediately followed by a crack of thunder. She jumped. Although she usually didn’t mind lightning, Jules was still getting used to Colorado’s violent, short-lived thunderstorms that brought buckets of rain and often hail. She was more used to the quieter sort of storm that lingered, sullen and muggy, all day.
A patter of raindrops on the roof turned into a steady drumming. With the front lights off, the diner was dim, and the flicker of lightning lit the interior in eerie, uneven flashes. Her hands shook a little as she reached for another chair, and she forced a laugh at her silly fears.
A thump-thump-thump on the window made her scream. Whirling around, she saw a figure in a raincoat standing close to the plate-glass window.
The bluish cast to the security light drew strange shadows, hiding the person’s face. Jules’s heart hammered in her chest, and she took an uncertain step back, still holding the chair in front of her. A small corner of her mind told her that she must look ridiculous, like she was trying to imitate a lion tamer, but the rest of her brain was frantically trying to figure out what to do.
The figure at the window lifted a hand and waved. The enthusiastic, harmless-looking gesture killed most of Jules’s panic, and she set down the chair. Then the person tipped her head, allowing the security lights to illuminate her face, and the rest of Jules’s concern washed away. She knew this person. It was Sherry Baker, Hugh’s maybe-possibly future girlfriend.
Sherry knocked on the window again, and Jules realized that she was just standing there, staring at the woman as the rain hammered down outside. Jules hurried over to open the door.
“Oh, thank you!” Sherry gushed as she hurried inside. She placed a large bakery box on a table, wiping water from its glossy, white top. “It’s pouring out there. I didn’t think I’d find anywhere that was open. Would you mind if I stayed in here until the rain lightens up a bit?”