“Things have not always been so serene on Landslide, Luna.The best way I can describe it is being a bit like the Wild West.”
“Gun fights at noon?”I’m back to teasing him again.
“Folks died, yes.”
Okay, definitely nothing to joke about there!
Shadow continues, watching me closely from underneath his dark lashes.
“Tempest was determined to fix things.It was like an obsession with her.”Shadow shifts, as if he wants to test out if I’m ready to handle the information.“Your aunt did something terrible when she was young… and she wanted to make it right.So, she concocted the recipe.And it worked.It worked better than what anyone could ever imagine.It put Landslide on the map.”
I have to disagree.“Actually, Landslide is not on the map, Shadow.Google does not even mention there’s a craft brewery here.”
Scoffing, Shadow moves to stand in front of me.Somehow, I feel as light as air when he puts his heavy arms around me.“This drink Tempest brewed, Luna, it’s better than beer.It’s more like a life-saving elixir.”
He pauses, as if he’s waiting for a loud drumroll to announce his next statement, but there’s no need.I already know what Shadow is going to say.
“And you want me to start making it again.”
His shoulders go up and down in a quick shrug.“Yeah, you could say that, darlin’.Although it would be completely underestimating the drink’s importance.Come, I’ll help you collect all the recipe pages.Let’s try and make some sense out of the instructions.”
Some things aren't adding up.
“Whoa, Mister.Hold your horses.Didn’t you just say some whacky thief broke in here to steal the recipe?So then, why did they leave all these papers behind?”
Shadow freezes in the middle of picking up printed sheets with pencil annotations scrawled in the margins.It’s like he refuses to allow my negative suggestion to pollute his hope.
“The sooner we collect the pages, the sooner we will know.”
I’m back to fuming over this stupid housework in the middle of the night, but at least it gives me the chance to ask more questions as we tidy up the room.
“What terrible thing did my aunt do?”
Shadow stops mid-pickup.He seems to be putting a lot of thought into how much he should tell me.Eventually, he seems to hit upon a diplomatic way of sharing some of Tempest’s story with me.
“Landslide has rules for a reason, Luna.Small place like this?Gotta keep it ticking over smoothly.Get grime in the gas tank, and boom!The engine grinds to a halt.”
Does he have any idea how cute he is when he uses machinery as an analogy?Just when I start to think Shadow is one of a kind, he goes and says something to make himself sound like a typical man.
Smiling to myself, I start laying out the papers on the desk.None of the pages are numbered, so I trying piecing sentences together instead.
“Did Tempest have an affair with one of the locals?Celia mentioned something to me about that being against the law here.”
Shadow grunts, which I am free to take as a “yes.”Ooh, now I’m really curious about who my aunt bumped boots with!I need to take another look at the map Ben and Celia made for me.Was it Mr.Farmer, Linda’s dad?Or maybe it was what's-his-name, Vince Pruitt down at the marina?I haven’t met him yet, but I think I will most definitely make a push to do so at the first chance I get.
Chuckling, I take a shot in the dark.“Please don’t tell me it was a cousin?Celia says that’s forbidden—but you know what they say about the forbidden fruit.”
The need to find out more about my aunt’s lover transcends my interest in sorting pages.
“Shadooow, tell me!Please.”
The overhead light flickers as the generator hiccups.It happens at exactly the same time as Shadow turns around.For that split second, he does not look human.That infinitesimal flash of darkness distorts his features.
He goes from being a big, broad-shouldered biker with tangled dark blond hair and ruggedly handsome looks into a hulking brutish phantasm in less than a blink of an eye.
Screaming with terror, my knees give way as I crash to the floor.
ChapterFourteen
