Page 18 of Spiritwarrior (The Colemans’ Legacy #2)

Chapter Seventeen

“ I don’t know what to do. I don’t want her to go to jail, which I guess settles it. I’m just going to sell the diner and move away.”

“What does you dropping the charges have to do with you having to move away?” Jody’s jaw clenched.

“I certainly don’t want to live next door to her or in the same building.”

“I can’t blame her there.” Ginny looked at her brother, nodding her head.

Jody nodded back. “There is another option, one that I think will be much safer and more convenient for you, anyway.”

Sophie looked at Jody. “Such as?”

“We have an empty trailer here you can live in. It’s not very large, but it’s comfortable. Also, once you start milking the goats for us, you’ll already be here. You could milk them before you go to work in the morning. It would be a fair exchange.”

“How would it be a fair exchange? Milking a few goats isn’t going to be worth the rent of a trailer.”

“The trailer is just sitting empty. We wouldn’t have to worry about any animals making a home inside.”

Sophie bit her lip. The offer was tempting. She hated living in the apartment without any yard of her own.

“At first, you thought the man whom Marty owes money was the one who broke into your apartment. Obviously, he frightened you. You wouldn’t have to worry about that if you lived here. No one steps on our property unless we know about it.”

Ginny took over convincing her when Jody stopped. “When your parents come to town, they can take over the apartment for you … unless you were planning on living with them.”

“I don’t think the trailer would be big enough for all of you to live in,” Jody hastened to add.

“I wasn’t going to live with them. I was going to find another apartment when they moved to town.”

“This would save you a lot of money from renting another place, especially with the diner just starting out.”

“True. That is … if I decide to stay.”

“You haven’t given the diner a chance. Are you sure you even want to own a restaurant?”

Giving Jody a hostile glance, she stuck her chin out stubbornly. “I’m sure. The problem is I should have looked before I leaped. I don’t have enough capital to make it until it thrives. When I sell the diner, it could give me the capital I need.”

“How? Any money you make from the sale will have to go to purchasing a new one, unless you’re thinking of renting. You own the diner free and clear, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

“There you go. You may be operating on a shoestring budget now, but it’ll perk up.”

Sophie put her hands up in the air. “How am I supposed to say no when both of you are wearing me down?”

“Good.” Ginny grinned happily.

Jody stood up. “Come on. I’ll follow you to your apartment and call Knox to tell him you’re on your way. You can pick out what you want to move to the trailer, and I’ll bring it back so you’ll have it waiting for you when you get off work.”

“You don’t need to go with me. I can load what I want to take in my car—”

“It’ll be quicker if I go with you. That way, you can go on to the diner. Ginny can open it for you.”

“Are you sure?” she asked Ginny.

“I’d love to. My sister-in-law is babysitting for me. She’ll be upset if I told her I didn’t need her.”

“If you’re sure …” She looked at both of them.

“We are.” Jody reached for their coffee cups.

Handing Ginny the keys to the restaurant, Sophie allowed Jody to usher her out of the house.

She took in the beauty of the surroundings and couldn’t believe she was going to be able to live here. Owning a restaurant wasn’t her only dream; she had dreamed of having enough money to live in a wide-open space with trees and grass, where she had her own yard, even a puppy. She really, really wanted a puppy.

“Are you ready?” Jody brought her back from her imaginings.

“Sorry. It’s beautiful here. Ginny’s lucky.”

“We all are. We each have a section of property on the mountain. We own over seventy acres. If you close the diner before dark, I can show you the trailer while it’s still light enough to see.”

“Okay.”

Walking to her car, she was conscious of Jody following behind her.

“I’ll meet you at your apartment. My truck is parked at Silas’ house.” Jody pointed to the small road branching off Ginny’s driveway. “Take that road. When you come to the end, make a right. That will lead you straight into town.”

“I remember driving here last night.”

“Cool. I’ll see you there.”

Relieved when Jody left, she got into her car, happy she could drop the poker face she had to maintain anytime he was near her; it was becoming harder to do. When she was near his vicinity, she felt as if there was an electrical charge coming off him. The closer she was to him, the stronger the charge she felt. Just thinking about it made her feel silly.

Following Jody’s directions, she drove into town without incident. The sheriff was already there with his squad car parked out front.

“Sophie.”

Shaking the hand he held out to her, she made a face at the apartment building. “I dread going inside,” she confessed.

“Don’t be. Baylin is in a holding cell until after you come to a decision.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. It’s been overwhelming to find out a neighbor could do this to me. At least you were able to get her to confess.”

“I had nothing to do with her confession. Jody figured it out and had a talk with her. Baylin probably confessed because it was safer to than getting on the bad side of the Coleman clan.”

Shocked at what the sheriff had said, it took a minute for her to respond. “Why would she be afraid of the Colemans? They’ve been very sweet to me.”

The way the sheriff stared at her, she didn’t think the Colemans and sweet had been used in the same sentence before.

“They aren’t nice?”

“Sweet? Nice? I wouldn’t use those terms to describe them. They stay to themselves, stay out of town, and don’t make trouble unless you go looking for it.”

“And if someone does?”

“Then I would advise them not to. There are two clans in this town who will shoot you dead if you hurt something that belongs to them. The Colemans is one.”

“Who’s the other?”

“The Porters.”

“Doesn’t Greer Porter work for you?”

The sheriff’s face twisted into a painful grimace. “Don’t remind me.”

“I’ve met him.” Sophie laughed. “I can’t say I blame you.”

“You ready to go inside?”

Sophie looked around. Jody wasn’t there yet. “Jody was supposed to meet me here.”

The sheriff nodded. “When I talked to him, he said he needed to drop some groceries off at the diner for Ginny and would come right over when he was finished.”

“All right, I guess we can go inside.”

Her breathing escalated as they started through the door.

“There’s Jody, parking.”

Looking to where the sheriff was pointing, she felt her breathing slow down. She put on her poker face as they waited for Jody and lowered her eyes when he came to stand with them at the elevator.

All three of them filed into the elevator when it opened. Jody and the sheriff discussed the weather as they rode upward. Then the sheriff walked ahead of them as they stepped off the elevator.

“Thank you for dropping the groceries off at the diner. I’m glad Ginny remembered they were in the refrigerator.”

“No problem.” Jody gave her a questioning glance as they neared her door. “Are you up for this?”

“I guess I have to be, don’t I?”

Jody pulled her to a stop. “No, you don’t. I can pack everything up that isn’t broken and take pictures of what is. The boys and I can clean up and have it ready for when your parents arrive.”

“I can’t ask you to do that for me.”

“You aren’t asking. I’m offering.”

“I can do this.” Sophie strengthened her resolve. “Besides, I have to get out of these jeans—they’re cutting me in two.”