Page 73 of Run to Ground

Her laugh was watery, but it was a laugh. “Fine. Just one more thing.”

He sighed dramatically, making her laugh again.

“I love you, Sam-I-Am.”

His crooked smile made her want to cry again, but she managed to push the tears away.

He shifted, his gaze bouncing around the kitchen. Jules could see some of the tension seep out of him, and she knew they’d moved out of crisis mode and closer to regular teenage awkwardness. “S-so…”

“So what?”

There was the tiniest hint of mischief in his expression, and she had to fight down the almost irresistible urge to jump over the kitchen table and hug out his guts. “A c-c-cop, Ju? Really?”

“I know!” It came out as a wail, and she allowed her forehead to fall to the table onto her crossed arms. “How did this happen?”

“How did what happen?” Ty asked as he wandered into the kitchen.

“JuJ-Ju’s in love w-with a c-cop.”

“Hey!” Her head shot up as she protested. “Who said I’m in love with him?”

“You d-d-did. J-just n-now.”

Jules reran their conversation in her head, and her head dropped back to the table. “I did, didn’t I?” she wailed.

“You’re in love with Theo?” Although Ty sounded startled, there was no judgment in his voice. Jules’s mental critic was a lot harsher than her siblings.

“No.”

“Y-yes.”

“Cool.” Apparently, Ty was accepting Sam’s take over her own. “This way, when we start driving, we’ll never get a ticket. Just remind the cop that we’re Jules’s brothers.”

Jules groaned as Sam and Ty continued their conversation without her input, and the dirty, lovely side of her brain compiled her own list of benefits of dating a cop. When she couldn’t stand either the external or internal conversation anymore, she stood.

“Where’s Tio?”

“Library,” Ty said through a mouthful of apple. They were getting low on groceries again, Jules had noticed. “He asked if you’d pick him up at five.”

Glancing at the clock, she saw it was five minutes before five and gave Ty a pointed look that went right over his head. Going to grab her keys, she asked, “Is this a recreational trip, or is he doing homework?”

“Water heater research.”

Jules groaned. “I hate when he tinkers with the gas appliances. I should just call a repairman.”

With a shrug, Ty banked the apple core off the side of the trash can. It fell neatly inside. “He likes doing it. It’s a challenge.”

“A ch-challenge that m-m-might blow up in h-his face,” Sam grumbled, but he looked much more relaxed than before. “L-literally.”

“Ahh!” Jules yelled, covering her ears as best she could with her keys in her hand. “Stop talking about explosions, y’all! The stove, the barn—can we please go a few days without something blowing up? Honestly, is that too much to ask?”

As she left the kitchen, both Sam and Ty were laughing, and Jules had to smile. Moving to Monroe might not have fixed everything—and everyone—but things were better.

Things were better, and she’d sacrifice a lot to make sure they stayed that way.

Chapter 19

“Pull a pan of caramel rolls from reach-in cooler at four,” Jules muttered out loud as she read the diner opening checklist. “Leave on bread rack to proof.”