She just retired about a year ago to go live with her daughter, who went back to work. She asked if Opal would move in to take care of the house and the kids. Only she ended up having more free time than she thought she would have while her grandkids were in school, so she volunteers at the homeless shelter in Tulsa a couple of days a week.
That’s where she met Hallie.
“How’re my girls?” She says over our heads.
We both reply at the same time. “Good.” But our voices are muffled in the fabric of her shirt on her shoulder.
Her arms loosen and we both step back. “Oh, yeah?” Her eyebrow shoots up in disbelief. “That’s not what I heard. Alittle bird told me that a molehill of trouble was a brewin’ around here.”
I roll my eyes. “Is that bird named Kinley?”
Opal laughs. “You know that girl couldn’t keep a secret even if her life depended on it.” Her eyes meet mine. “I also heard that a certain young man has been spending a lot of time around here.”
My cheeks heat and I feel my whole head turn red.
She smiles and winks. “That’s what I thought.”
Hallie’s eyes go wide and she swings her head in my direction. “Is that why Jax is here all the time? I thought he was just eating all the food, I can’t keep him out of the cookies.”
I smile inwardly, Sloane said the same thing before Hallie got here. He’s got a bigger sweet tooth than anyone I’ve ever met.
Opal turns to Hallie. “First, I wanna know how you’re holdin’ up. I can’t believe they let that scat stain out already. I want you to be careful, no leaving the ranch by yourself.” Her tone is strict as she gives the order.
“I know, Mason already read me my rights.”
She squeezes Hallie’s shoulders. “Good. I know my boys won’t let anythin’ happen to you. Come on, let’s go up to the house and I’ll make some lunch.”
It’s almost like old times. Opal makes grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, our favorite when we were kids, and the smell brings everyone to the kitchen. Even Breanna, who just got home from school last week, walks into the kitchen with her nose in the air. The only person missing is Tuck.
Jax walks in with Mason and Gray, and when Opal sees him, she walks over to shake his hand. “You must be the strapping young man I’m hearing about.” Her smile is big as she looks him up and down. “I’m Opal and you don’t knowhow happy I am to meet you.”
He doesn’t miss a beat, he reaches for her hand. “Nice to meet you. Masons talked about you a lot over the years.”
She grabs his shoulders and stands on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. She pauses for a moment next to his ear, as her lips quietly move, Jax’s eyes slide to me. His expression doesn’t change, but when Opal moves away, still holding onto his shoulders, he looks back at her and nods his head.
Everyone is scattered all over the kitchen, at the bar, at the breakfast nook, and dad is standing at the counter eating his grilled cheese while we all laugh and share the fun times as kids when Opal was here. Kinley is at the bar with Breanna, half into the conversation and half in her phone. Nothing new there.
It catches my eye when she sits erect and shoves her phone into Breanna’s face, who looks annoyed at first, but then her eyes are glued to the screen and she snatches the phone from her hand to start reading. They both turn and look at me, shock and concern in their eyes.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” I look between them, but they don’t answer.
Mason gets up from the breakfast nook and grabs the phone from Breanna’s hand and reads what they were reading. I know my brother, and I know when he is trying to hide something from me, which makes me even more worried about what they are reading.
“Don’t do that.” I say to Mason, who looks up from the phone, his face a mask of calm. “You don’t get to hide things from me. I’m not glass, damn it!” The room has become so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. He takes a deep breath and scoots my glass of water close to me and then hands me Kinley’s phone.
It’s a news story and my heart starts beating harder in my chest when I read theheadline.
Popular Gynecologist found dead days after his father, Tulsa County District Attorney, also found dead.
I only get through the first paragraph of the story about Keith and his father before I feel like I’m going to throw up. They were both tortured and killed in their homes within two days of each other. Lifting my fingers to my mouth, I skim through the rest of it. At the time of publication, after they found out he was dead, five women have come forward to report they were touched inappropriately during their gyno appointment.
Lifting my eyes to Mason, my hand drops to the counter and Kinley’s phone slips out of my fingers.
“Are you okay, Mar?” Breanna’s hand is on my arm, but she sounds like she’s in a tunnel.
My head spins and I’m sucking in deep breaths as I look at Mason. “Did you know about this?” But he won’t answer.
In my peripheral, I see Jax push away from the counter on the other side of the island, and based on Mason’s eyes tracking him, he’s moved behind me.
