Page 147 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

“Hi, Jess,” Cat said, biting back the urge to ask about Jared. It had been four days since she’d seen him. She missed him more every second that passed.

“Hi,” Jess said, studying Cat’s cart. “You cook?”

“I even enjoy it,” Cat confessed.

“Eww!” Jess shuddered, clutching a six-pack of cola and a package of fig newtons to her chest. “How’s school going?”

“So far so good,” Cat answered. “The kids were a little rowdy on the first day, but they’ll settle in. With one exception, of course.”

“Of course.” Jess grinned. “So who’s the resident troublemaker?”

“Ty Pearson.” Cat sighed. “Know him?”

“Actually, yeah.” Jess frowned. “Very rough home life.”

“I suspected as much.” Cat chewed her lip.

“What are you going to do?” Jess asked.

“Love him as much as I can while he’s in my class.” Cat shrugged. “It’s my job to teach him that he’s valuable, and that school is his only way out of that so-called home.”

“You’ll do it.” Jess nodded.

“How can you be so sure?” Cat asked. “I’m not even sure myself.”

“Because I saw what you did for Jared,” Jess answered softly.

“What did I do for Jared?” Cat wheeled her cart through produce toward canned goods, trying to feign indifference.

“I don’t know exactly.” Jess laughed. “All I know is that my brother has never, in all my life, told me that he loved me. Not even when I got shot.”

Cat’s gaze flew to Jess’s in surprise.

“Oh, I always knew he did,” Jess continued. “But he never said it. I think he felt too vulnerable. Like if he acknowledged how he felt, then it all might be taken away. He told you that our mother died when we were young?”

“Yeah,” Cat whispered around the lump in her throat.

“Well, I guess he was always afraid that if he admitted that he cared, then Dad and I would be taken away, too.” Jess paused. “That’s just my theory, but it’s totally irrelevant now. Thanks to you.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Cat protested, her breath coming in shallow gasps.

“Yeah, right.” Jess tilted her head and studied Cat closely. “When my brother showed up with you, that first night on the ranch, he told me he loved me. If he hadn’t been hugging me, I’d have fallen down. I don’t know what’s happening between you and Jared or what will happen. All I know, is that you gave me a part of my brother I thought I’d never see. Thank you, Cat.”

“I didn’t. I couldn’t. It’s not what you think.” Cat shook her head.

Jess gently pried loose the can of tomato soup Cat unwittingly clutched in her hands.

“Thank you, Cat,” she repeated as she put the can in the cart, spun on her heel and left the grocery store.

Dazed, Cat followed in Jess’s wake with nothing more in her cart than a can of soup.

Cat spent the afternoon unpacking the last of her boxes with Lucy at her feet. Sally had cleared out some of her bookshelves and Cat was happily filling them up when she came upon a purple satin box, a bit larger than a shoe box, mixed in with her books.

The purple box! On the first day of their trip, Jared had said he found a purple box in the back of the van and had packed it in another box for safekeeping. Cat had completely forgotten about it.

She ran her hand over the smooth satin surface. She had never owned a box like this. She wondered if it was a present from Cameron and Julia. Cat flipped open the old-fashioned clasp and lifted the lid.

Winking at her in the late afternoon light from a bed of satin was the most breathtaking necklace Cat had ever seen. She slammed the lid down. This was not a gift for her. She opened the box again and lifted the necklace from its nest. It was cold and heavy and shimmered in the light as if it were alive. Three rows of small diamonds made up the choker and a large square ruby the size of Cat’s thumb sat in the middle.