Page 10 of A Dead End Fourth of July (Tiger’s Eye Mysteries #14)

Tess

Idecided not to go back to the shop. Half a day there, the encounter with Cletus, the chaos with the brooch, the encounter with hobgoblins … I'd put in a plenty full day for my first day back.

Back home, I plopped down on my comfy couch with my cat and thought about a nap for a while. I was so successful at this that I was sound asleep when Jack came home, scooped me up off the couch and onto his lap.

"You will not believe my day," we both said at once, and I started laughing.

"You know about most of mine, except for Robin and Thistle and the fainting goats," I told him. "You go first."

He raised an eyebrow but then shook his head. "No. I'm not going to ask. Mine is mostly about that one-girl tornado, Shelley. Oh. And the cow who kicked me in the head."

"Jack!" I took his face in my hands and turned it side to side, looking for bruises or lumps.

"It's okay. Tiger metabolism healed it by now, pretty much." He told me about the cow in the road, probably to make me laugh and soften me up for the rest of the story.

"She did what?" I jumped up and started pacing. "Jack, she's going to be in real danger if we don't rein her in. I'm so worried about what she'll do next, not intending any harm, but just because she's a ten-year-old girl with adult-sized magic."

"I know. I'll call Ven. He said Erin is in a big meeting, but he'll get word to her."

Ven, also known as the King's Vengeance, was the younger brother of the king of Atlantis.

His wife, Erin, was an extremely powerful witch and had promised to help us out with our Shelley situation, but she'd gotten pulled into some very high-level magical council stuff and we hadn't heard from her recently.

"If he can't, we're going to have to find someone ourselves. We can't put this off any longer."

"I know. Mike and Ruby weren't the happiest, either." He winced, and I could imagine the earful Aunt Ruby had given him.

And the threatening glares my uncle must have sent Jack's way.

"Just when I think he's starting to like me, I nearly get his newly adopted daughter killed," Jack said glumly.

"That's not your fault, and you know it," I told him, plopping back down on his lap and putting my arms around him. "Uncle Mike knows it, too."

Then I kissed him, because he looked so weary and resigned, and because I could, and because I loved him. And when he kissed me back, I quit worrying about Shelley and Cletus and hobgoblins for quite a long time.

Icalled Eleanor to make our apologies, but we were just not up for a pool party tonight. I also doubted Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby would let Shelley out of their sight after the news of the gators and the planned escapade to Orlando with Zane's cousin.

Eleanor said something in response to my apology, but it was hard to hear her, since there was a lot of shouting in the background.

"Eleanor?"

"What?"

"What is going on there? Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said grimly. "But Oscar might not be. He has Bill tied up—literally."

"Oh, boy."

"See you tomorrow, Tess. I have to go." She hung up.

When I told Jack, he sighed. "Do you want to go over there and make sure they're all right?"

"He's twelve years old. I'm pretty sure Eleanor can handle him."

Jack wandered into our bedroom and came out a few minutes later wearing swim trunks and carrying my new swimsuit. "How about we take some time in the pool, just the two of us?"

"Why not?"

Five minutes later, I was floating in the pool on my inflatable lounger with a glass of lemonade in the beverage holder and a smile on my face. Jack, being Jack, swam laps, passing me by every few minutes. When he finally finished, he swam over and yanked me into the water, sunglasses and all.

I came up sputtering with laughter. "Hey!"

"I told you we should have stayed gone for a month."

"I'm wishing I'd listened," I admitted. "Also, Uncle Mike told me more about the McKee feud than I'd ever heard before, after he got done telling us what a sketchy character Cletus's father was.

Apparently, Cletus Senior was a con artist, dealing in shady or nonexistent investments, but nobody could ever prove it.

He stole from lots of people, but when he stole from his own family, they finally had enough and ran him out of Dead End.

He took Cletus, Junior, with him, and the news has filtered through the grapevine that he's a chip off his dad's crooked block. "

"Great." Jack scrubbed his face with his hand. "Why would your Aunt Ruby contract with him?"

"She never heard the worst of it, I guess. And she didn't tell Uncle Mike she was considering him, so he didn't know to fill her in."

"What happened to Senior?"

I shrugged and headed for the steps to climb out. "Not sure. I guess I can ask Cletus if I see him again."

"I have a feeling we won't be able to avoid seeing him again," Jack said darkly.

"Even though he was brought up by a con artist and maybe was a little crooked himself in the past, he could be on the level now. People can change."

"Not very often, in my experience." Jack jumped out of the pool and grinned at me. "Now, on to happier topics. What should we have for dinner?"