“Is that—” Nora starts.
“Jake!” her grandmother says with obvious glee at the same time.
“Jake!” Nora hops off her stool, nearly knocking over her coffee.
The guy bounces the child in his arms and beams. “My Moons!”
My Moons?My Moons?!
While I’m struggling to process what he just said, Nora practically launches into his hug, grabbing the man and the toddler into her embrace like they are long-lost relatives.
Jake gives Nora a squeeze. A verytightone.
I stay seated and alert. That’s the Jake whose name Moon remembers just fine. With one arm wrapped around Nora’s shoulders and with the kid in the other, Jake makes his way over, eyes finding mine before he passes the kid to the woman by his side.
“So you’re the bum who moved into my house,” he says, hand out. Friendly but suspicious.
I raise a brow. “So you’re the bum who used to live there and destroyed it.”
Nora snorts, glancing my way.
“Who told you that?” Jake asks with narrowed eyes.
“Jonah.” I narrow mine back. “The realtor.”
The woman next to him cackles.
“Figures,” Jake says, sending her a glare. “Jonah’s Brodie’s godfather. He says worse to my face.”
His hand is still extended, and a few seconds later he slowly raises a brow. On instinct, my eyes dart toward his arm still wrapped around Nora. When he notices, a slow, understanding smile crosses his face, and he retreats his arm and tucks it around the woman to his side instead.
At this, I relax and quickly grab his hand before he changes his mind. I don’t want to get on Moon’s shit list, and I’m very close to it considering the nasty stare Cheryl’s sending my way.
We shake hands. It’s solid. Friendly.
“You must be Jericho,” Jake says, inspecting me like I’m a used car he’s considering buying. “Cheryl’s been texting me about you.”
I throw a look at Cheryl who simply shrugs, unashamed.Great, so this guy knows all about me. I wonder what else Cheryl has shared with him and vice versa. How well does this Jake fella know Little Hope’s sheriff?
“And this,” Jake says, pulling the woman beside him closer, “is my wife, Olivia, and our son, Brodie.”
Olivia offers her hand, which I take quickly. She’s small, but her handshake is firm, and her eyes are sharp. There’s something evaluating in her gaze, like she’s sizing me up, which seems to be what everyone else is doing recently. The toddler in her arms babbles and reaches toward me with grabby hands.
“He likes you,” Olivia says, sounding surprised.
“Brodie has good taste,” Nora chimes in, and my neck heats up again.
Moon slides off her stool and waddles over to Jake, arms wide. “My boy,” she says, wrapping him in a hug that looks like it might crack his ribs. “Finally decided to grace us with your presence.”
“We’ve been texting every day, Moon,” Jake laughs, hugging her back.
“Steve,” Moon says, turning to me, “this is Jake. He used to be our resident troublemaker before you took his position.”
“Jericho,” I correct again, feeling like I’m talking to a wall.
“Here,” Olivia says, suddenly thrusting the babbling toddler toward me. “Hold him while I get my coffee. He won’t stop squirming, and mommy could use a break.”
Before I can protest, I’m holding a small human who’s staring at me with wide, curious eyes. The kid’s heavier than he looks, and I adjust my grip awkwardly, not sure where to put my hands.
