Page 82 of Family Jewels

He spent the next ten minutes showing me about the gun, and then he had us both use the shooting range. Of course, Neely Kate made all her shots—in the head, in the heart, and then quite a few in the groin. My own shots were all over the place—but by the time we finished, I hit the target more often than I missed.

All that shooting must have bled some of the anger from Neely Kate because she was a lot calmer by the time we finished.

Jed walked us to my truck. “Next time we’ll work on some self-defense moves.”

“Next time?” Neely Kate asked.

He turned to her. “Skeeter wants her to be able to defend herself.”

Neely Kate started to protest, but I stopped her. “No, Neely Kate. They’re right. I’ve been in too many situations I didn’t know how to get myself out of.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Jed countered. “You’ve gotten yourself out of plenty of dangerous situations, but you can learn more.” Then he shot Neely Kate a smart-assed grin. “And maybe someday you’ll be as badass as NK.” Then he got into his car and left.

“What was that about?” I asked.

Neely Kate watched his car disappear. “Nothing.”

It was definitely something.

Chapter 17

ItookNeely Kate back to One Eyed Joes to get her car. I half-expected Leah to run out and chase us down, but I didn’t see any sign of her or her friends.

Bruce Wayne, bless his heart, had texted to say he was already at the Hendersons’ and could replant the bushes on his own. Plenty of potential clients had contacted us for consultations, so I called a couple of them and set up appointments for the rest of the afternoon.

By six, I’d just finished the last client and was about to text Neely Kate when my phone rang. Henryetta Animal Clinic popped up on my screen, and my stomach twisted into knots. Should I answer?

I pressed accept before I chickened out.

“Rose, it’s Levi,” he said in a cheerful voice. “I’m calling partially to check on Muffy. How’s she doing?”

I felt like an idiot for worrying it would be a personal call. He was just a good vet, checking on his patient. “She seems to be the same. I haven’t seen her much today because I’ve been working on job sites, but I left her with a friend. However, last night and this morning she was pretty out of it.”

“That’s to be expected. Is she limping as much when you let her down?”

“No, she didn’t seem to favor it as much this morning.”

“Good. Why don’t you cut back on the dosage? Try a half pill twice a day instead of a whole one. But if she gets too frisky, we might have to move it back up to three-quarters.”

“Okay.”

“And how about you bring her in on Monday and let me reexamine her? If the swelling’s gone down, we can cut it back even more.”

“Thanks, Dr. Romano.”

“Levi.” He paused. “Remember how I said Muffy was partially why I was calling? I’m moving on to the next part now.”

My mouth went dry. “Okay.”

“I know we talked about your former boyfriends, but we didn’t go into details.” He paused. “I know you went through a bad breakup last winter.”

“Oh.”

“Like you said, the gossips love to wag their tongues in this town.”

Great. Had he also heard the rumor that I’d hooked up with the notorious outlaw Skeeter Malcolm?

His voice lowered. “But even if I hadn’t gotten the warning, I could tell you were being cautious. I respect that.” He hesitated. “I had a good time with you last night, and I’d like to go out with you again, but I also want to let you know that I’m willing to take this as slow as you want. No pressure. Okay?” For the first time, he sounded unsure of himself.