Chapter 1
“Aja Marie Everett, you’d better get your hind parts down here before this food you had me cook gets cold.”
Had her cook?Aja rolled her eyes from the safety of her bedroom. Once finished getting dressed, she rushed into the kitchen to the stove and placed a gentle kiss on her aunt’s cheek. “Morning, Auntie. Smells like heaven in here.” Aja pulled a mug from the cabinet and poured herself a cup of coffee before sitting at the eat-in counter.
As she sipped, Aunt Jo placed a piping-hot bowl of creamy grits in front of Aja. She took a long sniff of the buttery scent wafting up at her and hummed in appreciation.
“I didn’t make biscuits and sausage because you said you had to get an early start.”
Aja waved a hand. “This is more than fine. The girls and I have a lot on our agenda this morning.” That was especially true after yesterday’s collapsed construction scaffold. The shock of how close she’d come to being injured, or worse, made her insides quake with cold. Determined to chase the chill away, she blew on the steaming spoonful of grits and slowly slurped them into her mouth. “I swear you make the best grits in Texas, Auntie.” She let a satisfied moan slip, then tucked into the dish. She was halfway through her meal when she looked up and caught sight of the bright smile lighting up Jo’s face.
“What are you smiling about?”
“You.” The single word spoke volumes. Two years ago, Aja had run from the pain of her younger sister’s death in Brooklyn and showed up on Jo’s doorstep. It had taken three months of Jo’s tender care for her to do more than shuffle from the bed to the couch. “Helping those girls has done you a world of good, hasn’t it?”
“Sure has,” Aja answered with a smile. “And if I’m going to continue to help them, I’ve got to get to my office—”
“You mean that old empty barn?”
Aja smiled at her aunt’s sass. It was no wonder Aja never met a smart comment she didn’t love. Sarcasm was a hereditary trait, it seemed.
“My temporary office. I need to make a few calls.”
“I assume to the sheriff. Has he decided to do his job yet?”
Aja’s spoon was midway to her mouth when her appetite soured. She placed the utensil back in the bowl and sat up straight. Fighting on a full stomach would do terrible things to her digestion, so she pushed the unfinished meal away and decided breakfast was over.
“I called him twice yesterday after the scaffolding came down. He said to make sure I wanted him to come out here, because if he does, chances are any investigation he opens will focus on the two people he believes most likely to be responsible—Seneca and Brooklyn.”
Jo huffed and sucked her teeth before responding to Aja. “That no-count man is unbelievable.”
Aja slumped her shoulders. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a choice but to deal with him.”
“You have a choice, Aja. You’re just choosing to ignore it.”
Aja pressed the first two fingers of her right hand to her temple and rubbed. She was about to close her eyes to give in to the soothing comfort, but the sight of her aunt fiddling with the frayed edge of a dish towel made her focus sharpen instead. Josephine Henry was the epitome of calm and collected. The only time she wasn’t was when she was up to no good.
“What did you do, Aunt Jo?”
By now she was nearly tearing the poor towel to shreds. “I called Ricky.”
“Really, Aunt Jo?” Aja threw up her hands in defeat. “After I specifically asked you not to?”
“He can help. If the sheriff won’t do his job, Ricky can make him.”
As a Hays County sitting judge, he could. Aja didn’t doubt that. But having her uncle involved meant him coming in and taking over. Aja couldn’t deal with that.
“You know how your brother is. He’s gonna make it worse, Aunt Jo.”
“Chile, somebody seems bent on hurting, maybe even killing you. It don’t get much worse than that.”
“Auntie,” Aja moaned.
“He’ll fix it, chile. You’ll see.”
Aja stood and walked around to her aunt. She wrapped her arms around Jo and reveled in the peace one only knew when they were surrounded by love. She may not agree with her aunt’s method of handling things, but she knew her actions came from a good place.
Headed for her office, Aja stepped out onto her front porch. She closed her eyes and breathed in as much of the sweet country air as she could, then opened them again. The deep-green and earthy-brown hues covering the expanse of her land were breathtaking. Restoration Ranch, or the idea of it, had helped Aja heal when the loss of her sister made her survival in this world questionable. It would soon be finished. She wouldn’t let anyone keep that dream from becoming reality.
