rolled the dice and got a nine. He moved one pip six, and the other three. “Tell me what’s going to change, sweet pea.”
“Well, we’ll be living together,” she said. “My house or yours?”
She picked up the dice and rolled them. She got a seven, and sent one of his pips to the middle. She did that a lot.
“The Spellman House,” he said as he picked up the dice.
“It has snakes.” She shook her head violently. “No way.”
“We’ll clean out the snakes.”
“You mean the ones that live under the house?”
“You don’t think we have snakes at the ranch?”
The look of sheer terror on her face made him laugh.
“I’ll never go to the ranch again,” she said.
Hawk rolled once more and said, “We’ll talk about snakes later. Right now we need to continue talking about things my mother will ask you besides how we met. I know my mother. She’s going to ask how we fell in love.”
He took his pip off the middle, then moved another one, leaving it open, true, but there was nowhere else he could move. She was good at that, backing him into a corner.
Jessica had the dice in her hand, but she didn’t throw them. Instead she kept her gaze on him, and he was afraid she was going to want to continue talking about snakes. Instead she said, “I fell in love with you when I realized you would move heaven and earth to take care of me. I think I knew before that, but I was too afraid to say it. Now I want to put up a billboard in the middle of town square. What do you think? We could use the one near the bank. We’d use big, bold letters that said, Jessica hearts Hawk. That would let all the ladies in town that want you know that you’re taken.”
She rolled the dice. “Oh look, doubles. I’m coming out on top all over the place tonight.”
“I think I’m the winner,” Hawk said. “Or we’re both winners.”
The light in her eyes made him want to take her in his arms. When she said, “I’ll go for that.” It’s exactly what he did.
Chapter 15
Jessica was happy she wasn’t the one doing the dishes. Not only did Leslie and Jackson show up, but they brought along Austin, Reed, Aurora, Holt, and to her surprise, two of the retirees.
“It’s a good thing we’re not keeping our location private,” Jessica said as she watched Austin and Holt carry in boxes of food. She turned her attention to Frank and Marty. “You two couldn’t keep a secret if your life depended on it.”
“They’re part of the plan,” Jackson said. “Trust me on this. Your lawyer has the papers. You can eat first, and then read them, or do it the other way around. I’m meeting with Dobbs at seven tonight at his home, and I intend to inform him that I want to arrest you, but the phone call isn’t good enough evidence. If it all goes as I think it will, he’ll come to Bookman Springs the next day to plant evidence, being the ring.”
“You don’t think he’s sold it?” Jessica asked.
“I think it’s a trophy to him,” Jackson said. “I think his mother belittled him all his life, and the ring is a representation of his victory over her. He kept it from her, and he used it to send her on a wild goose chase, then he killed her.”
Jessica watched as Austin set out a spread, breakfast casserole, hash browns, donuts, cinnamon rolls, and fruit. He and Reed went back outside and returned with a large urn of coffee. When it was set up, Austin went back outside. Jessica felt as if she should have offered to help, but she was too stunned by the idea that they’d set up a sting that she was supposed to be at the center of, and hadn’t included her in the planning.
“You think he killed her himself?” she asked Jackson. “He didn’t hire someone to do it?”
“I think he pulled the trigger, yes,” Jackson said.
“I don’t think he’d have the guts to do it,” Jessica said. “He was always so… soft-spoken.” She wasn’t sure that was the right word, but it was the only thing that came to mind.”
“Then what attracted you to him?” Hawk asked.
“He was totally different than any man I’d ever known,” she said. “For one thing he was rich, and my mother always told me to go for the rich ones.”
“You failed in