Unless I reported it to the police. I could do that, but what if the same man who caught me and Finn together came to take the report?
Cold sweat slithered down my spine. I couldn’t risk it. Like I’d done with everything else life had thrown at me, I lifted my chin and met the universe with a smile. “I guess I’m walking to the bank.” I stepped out of Declan’s arms. “Thank you.” My chin trembled, and he reached for me.
“I’m here anytime you need me.”
I nodded. It was all I could manage without falling apart again as I picked up my purse and walked away from yet another problem.
24
RONAN
My phone pinged at eleven fifteen. I rubbed grit from my eyes and set down the blueprint I’d been staring at for the last hour.
Declan: Need to talk. We’re on the porch.
I blinked at the text, trying to understand it.
“Ronan, open up.” Finn rapped the front door in his signature five tap rhythm, then jiggled the knob. “Never mind, we’re coming in.”
I spun in my seat and dragged a bottle of whiskey from the shelf beside the sink, along with three glasses.
Finn smirked when he entered the kitchen. “Ah, you heard us.”
“Figured if Declan dragged you over here in the middle of the night, it was a whiskey kind of conversation.” I poured three glasses and slid theirs across the counter.
Declan caught his at the edge and straddled the bar stool.
Finn paced back and forth between my fridge and the dining table, the whiskey disappearing in a single swallow. “He refusedto talk to me till we were together.” He slapped Declan on the back as he passed. “So talk.”
Declan lifted his whiskey, started to drink, then set it down with aclank. “Something happened to Bree’s car this morning.”
I stilled.
Finn’s gaze narrowed and he stopped pacing. “What kind of something?”
“Someone dumped Lucky Charms all over it.” Declan turned the glass around three times in one of Maeve’s old traditions to ward off bad luck, and drank with a hiss of breath. “The marshmallows melted into the paint. Bree tried to peel them off and took chunks of paint in the process.”
Damn. The wall clock behind me ticked down the seconds. I counted them, my hands tightening around the glass until it threatened to shatter.
Finn slammed his glass down on the counter. “Shayla’s car?”
“Yeah.” Declan rubbed the back of his neck. “I found her crying in the parking lot.”
Finn faced the window, giving us his back. His shoulders hunched around his ears, the tendons in his neck standing out in thick, ropy lines.
Poor Bree. She took every hit that came her way and kept her chin up, but the blows kept coming. I could only imagine her devastation at seeing Shayla’s car destroyed. I’d once cried for a whole day when I found a hole in one of my wife’s old sweaters. Grief didn’t care about being strong.
The fact that Declan had found Bree crying and trying to fix something that could not be fixed showed how badly it had shaken her.
“There’s more.” Declan stared past me toward Finn. “I made a mistake last week.” He explained that he’d spent some time alone with Bree after the burst water pipe, how Dan had shown up early and he’d struggled to come up with an adequate explanation. “Dan might’ve started another rumor, but I know for a fact Tammy suspects.”
“Tammy isn’t a problem.” Finn shook his head. “She confronted me outside the fire house. We had a nice chat.”
“Which brings me back to the Lucky Charms.” Declan held out his cup, and I topped it off. “Bethany gave Bree a box of Lucky Charms as a welcoming gift.”
The name landed with the impact of an explosion.
Finn cursed until he lost his breath, sucked air into his lungs, and started all over again. All the reckless energy flooded out as he resumed pacing, tearing his hands through his hair over and over again. “You’re saying Bethany might be responsible.”
