Buried in Secrets (Carly Moore #4) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,15

the urge to suggest a side salad instead of the starch, I headed to the food counter with his order.

“What’s goin’ on with Jerry?” Ruth asked as she came back to pick up an order.

“He’s not going to be coming around as often. He got a promotion.”

“At the jobsite?” she asked in disbelief. “What’s that got to do with him comin’ in or not?”

“Because he’s going to be working for Bart Drummond himself. He’s giving Jerry the overseer job.”

“You’re kiddin’ me,” she said in a flat voice.

“I wish I were.”

She sucked in a breath as she studied Jerry from across the room. “What’s that old man up to?”

“You think he’s up to something too?” I asked.

She wrinkled her brow. “Of course he is. There’s no way Jerry’s qualified for that job.”

Was that Drummond’s plan? Put Jerry in a position that was over his head and make him feel like a failure? Use him to mess with me? Hurt him in retaliation for killing Carson?

Could I stand by and let any of that happen?

I really needed to speak to Marco.

We were busy for another hour, and I didn’t get a chance to talk to Max until after Jerry had eaten his meal and left.

“Did Jerry say when he was moving out?” I asked him when I finally got a chance. It stood to reason that Jerry would have to give him notice since Max ran the motel.

“Tomorrow.”

I gasped.

“Now we don’t know that my father’s up to anything sinister,” Max said with a sigh as he leaned his hand against the counter. “He often does hire people based on their work ethic.” The conflict in his eyes told me how much he was trying to convince himself.

“And do you truly believe that’s the case now?”

He swallowed and didn’t answer.

“We’ll never see him,” I said, my stomach churning.

“He said he’d drop by from time to time, but he seemed to think he’d be too busy to leave the property much.”

“You have to stop this, Max.”

He turned to me in surprise. “I can’t.”

“Then tell me why he’s doing this.”

“Because it’s a promotion,” he said in exasperation. “It’s more money than he’s ever made in his life, and he thinks he’ll be respected.”

I heard the doubt in his voice, and while I shared it, he’d misunderstood the question. “Not Jerry, Max. Your father.”

But he didn’t have an answer either.

Chapter Six

When I still hadn’t heard from Marco by ten, I started to get worried. I tallied up my tips and left Tiny’s share in Max’s office, then headed out the back door to my car, my pepper spray firmly in hand. I never went out the back door at night without it. I’d been caught off guard on a few occasions, and it wasn’t happening again. For a split second, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a figure leaning against the trunk of my car, his arms crossed over his chest, but then I saw Marco’s Explorer parked next to it.

Marco didn’t move when he saw me, just watched as I came closer. He always looked good in whatever he wore, whether it was his sheriff’s deputy uniform or the jeans and light gray T-shirt he had on now. His blond hair had been trimmed since we last saw each other, which made the separation feel longer. I hadn’t even realized he’d had an appointment. His eyes were glued on me and held a heat that had nothing to do with the summer evening.

I flushed with a heat of my own.

My heart skipped a beat for an entirely different reason this time. I’d missed this man more than I’d ever missed anyone besides my mother, and we’d only been apart less than a week. How long could we keep pretending we were just friends? It had worked for a few months, but it was getting harder and harder. The fact I hadn’t seen him made me wonder if Marco had finally hit a wall.

“Hey,” I said, as I approached him. I was yearning to reach out and touch him, but I kept my hands at my sides.

He shifted his weight, dropping his arms. The heat in his eyes dimmed, replaced with determination.

“Is everything okay? Why didn’t you come inside?” I asked, suddenly afraid to hear the answer. Had he grown tired of waiting for me to change my mind? Was he cutting me off out of self-preservation?

“I got off work late, so I decided I’d take a chance and drop by. Figured you’d get