Simon grinned. “Good to know.”
“I like to help out where I can.”
He waited in the parking lot for a few minutes, letting the words roll around in his head. By the time he went back inside, he was trying to figure out exactly what needed to be done to unqualify himself as nice.
Chapter Three
Monday, September 5, 2022
“All right, ladies,” Violet said to thegroup gathered at the back of the store. “It’s time to call it a night.”
“Aww. Do we have to?” her cousin Sadie said with a dramatic pout.
“I’m afraid so.” Violet held up the empty box that Ramona had brought over a short time ago. “We’re outta cupcakes. No reason to stick around.”
Laughter echoed in the store as the Monday night book club started packing up their things. It was one of three that were held there every single week. Mondays were dedicated to romance with a spicy edge, while Tuesdays were all about mysteries and thrillers, and Thursdays belonged to the fantasy fanatics.
Although Violet made a point to attend all the book club meetings whenever she had the opportunity, this was the one she loved the most.
It probably had something to do with the women who gathered to discuss the latest romance book they were reading. Back when the group first started gathering, they’d tried to go for cleaner fiction, but that had lasted all of one book. Turned out housewife porn was a real thing. And it wasn’t just for housewives.
It also didn’t hurt that Violet was related to the majority of the women in attendance. Most of them were her cousins, although her sister Whitney had started coming three months ago after she moved back to Coyote Ridge and in with their mother, after she had a falling out with her loser boyfriend. Violet had begged her to give it a chance, and Whitney was hooked from the jump.
The only two attendees she wasn’t related to either directly or by marriage were Ramona Weber, the owner of Batter & Bliss, and Bianca Stewart, the beloved mayor of Coyote Ridge.
“Same time next week,” Sadie noted. “I’ll bring the wine.”
Violet waited until everyone had slipped out before she locked the front door and went out the back, where she’d parked her car. As she was locking the door behind her, she heard footsteps on the metal stairs leading up to the second floor.
Considering JJ had been kidnapped just a few feet from where she stood, Violet hesitated in the doorway.
“Holt, is that you?” she called out.
He was the only person she knew who would be lingering at this time of the night. After Rafe had moved out, Holt had takenover the lease of the apartment Violet owned in the small strip center. He used it as a writing cave when he needed some peace and quiet.
“Not Holt,” someone answered.
The familiar voice caused a sigh of relief. She stepped out of the doorway and into the alley to peer up at the second floor. “Simon?”
“Yeah.”
“Is Holt up there?”
Simon held something up and jiggled it. “He gave me the key. Wanted me to look at … something.”
His lack of answer piqued her curiosity, and before she knew what she was doing, she said, “Can I see?”
He chuckled, then disappeared from view. “If you’re sure you want to.”
One day, her curiosity probably would get her in hot water, but she found she couldn’t pass up the chance to possibly find out what Simon was working on. That was the only reason Holt would send him over here, right? Or maybe Holt wanted Simon to check out his latest manuscript. Violet definitely wouldn’t mind seeing that. Provided it was finished, of course. Otherwise, with her luck, she’d read a part of it only to find a cliffhanger that left her baffled and anxious until it was all tied up in a neat little bow.
So she wouldn’t take a peek at the manuscript. No matter what.
Probably.
With a spring in her step, Violet ascended the stairs.
Downtown Coyote Ridge wasn’t a booming metropolis, but it held a handful of businesses that catered to the residents. Between the three houses converted to commercial spaces and the two separate buildings that had been there since the town was originally established, there were currently seven thriving businesses and room for one more.
