Feels like Rain (Lake Fisher #3) - Tammy Falkner Page 0,117

her everywhere she went.

“You don’t have to be quite so vicious,” I remark.

“You don’t have to be quite so obnoxious,” she replies. She covers her nose with her hand. “And you stink. You smell like moonshine and…” She leans toward me and sniffs, her nose scrunching up. “Is that cow shit?” she asks.

I sniff hard, pointing my nose down toward my chest. “I do not smell like cow shit,” I say. But I can’t quite tell what that is either. Whatever it is, is vile. I’m offending myself, I smell so bad. I lean toward her. “Whatever it is, you smell like it too,” I inform her.

She jerks like I just slapped her. “You take that back, Grady Parker.”

“Make me, Clifford,” I reply.

She sucks in a quick breath, and she lifts her foot to make good on her promise. I block her foot with my hand. “I hate you so much,” she says. She says it like “the flowers smell nice” or “the yard needs mowing.” She says it like something she has said so many times that it no longer comes out as an insult. It’s just there.

“The feeling is mutual,” I assure her.

“Why are you even here?” she asks.

“Ms. Markie said you might have my clothes.” I look around her room, but I don’t see them.

“I have no idea where your clothes are.”

Suddenly, a fireman’s style knock from the front door jerks us both out of our glaring at one another.

“What’s that?” she asks, trying to lean so she can look around me.

“No idea,” I reply.

She shoves me to the side so she can walk out of the bedroom door.

“Hey!” I cry.

“Oh, shut it,” she says. She walks toward the kitchen, where Ms. Markie is standing with Little Robbie Gentry, who is holding a piece of paper in his hand. He’s wearing his state trooper’s uniform and the biggest smile I’ve ever seen him wear.

“Robbie,” I say, as he tips his head in my direction. He looks down at the apron, which is still my only clothing, and his eyebrows shoot up.

“Grady,” he replies.

“What are you doing here, Robbie?” Evelyn asks.

Robbie scratches his head. “I’m here to pick you two up,” he says, refusing to look at either one of us.

I hitch my hip against the counter. “Why?”

“Well, it appears as though somebody drove out to Mr. Jacobson’s place at Lake Fisher last night, and whoever it was vandalized the big old building that sits next to the road.”

“The one that gets tagged by graffiti all the time?” I ask.

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“What’s that got to do with us?” Evelyn asks. She looks at me like she’s waiting for me to give her some great big revelation.

Robbie scratches his head again. “Well, the last time Mr. Jacobson’s building got tagged, him and Jake decided to put up some surveillance cameras in case somebody has the audacity to do it again.”

“That’s actually a really good idea,” I say. Kids were always tagging that building. It had become a right of passage to put your initials on the side of it. Then Jake had to go and cover it all up the next day with fresh paint.

“Well, you’ll never believe who his cameras caught last night.”

I watch as Evelyn goes and pours herself a cup of sweet tea. I would ask her for one, but she’d probably pour it over my head as soon as she’d look at me.

“Who’d it catch?” I ask, although I pretty much already know.

Robbie grins. “You two,” he says, then he snorts out a laugh.

Evelyn lets her glass thud onto the countertop. “That’s not funny,” she says, as her cheeks turn as red as her hair.

“No, ma’am, it’s not,” Robbie says. He tries to look like he doesn’t think this is funny at all, but he does a shit job at it. “It’s tragic. Mr. Jacobson wants to press charges this time.”

“Against us?” I ask. I press my hand against my chest.

“Yep.” Little Robbie is all out grinning now.

“But we didn’t…” We really didn’t do anything that bad. Everybody tags that building. I see Evelyn look down at her hands, which are streaked with red and black paint. On the back of my left hand, I have a similar mark. “Oh, fuck,” I say. Guilt is painted all over me.

Ms. Markie picks up her fly swatter and slaps my naked shoulder with it. “Ow!” I cry.

“Watch your language,” she warns. She shakes that fly swatter while she glares at me.

“Yes, ma’am,” I say quietly, as I rub the sting out of my arm. “Sorry,” I add for good measure.

“I have to take you both in,” Robbie says.

“In where?” Evelyn asks. She looks from Robbie to me and back.

“To the station,” he says. He stands up a little taller and tries to look intimidating, but no matter the uniform, or the gun he’s resting his hand on, he will always be Little Robbie Gentry when I look at him. “So, let’s go.” He motions toward the door.

“You have to be kidding,” Evelyn says.

“Wish I was,” he replies.

Evelyn walks past him toward the door. She points her finger at me. “I’m going to kill you,” she says.

“Did you hear that?” I ask Robbie. “She just threatened my life.”

“I didn’t hear a thing,” Robbie replies. He winks at Evelyn. “Sorry about this, Evelyn,” he says quietly. “Protocol and all that.”

“It’s not your fault, Robbie,” she says. She glares at me. “It’s his.”

I follow them to the car. I still have no idea where my clothes are, so Robbie has me get in wearing the apron. “This is undignified,” I challenge.

Robbie grins. “It rather is,” he says.

He pushes my head down as he puts me in the car. I settle in the back seat, and Evelyn glares at me from her side. “If you so much as touch me,” she warns. She stops, and lets the words hang there in the air.

“Clifford,” I say, “I wouldn’t touch you if you were the last woman on earth.”

“I hate you.” She sits there next to me, seething. I can almost feel the steam coming from her ears. “I hope they lock you up and throw away the key.”

“I’d rather be locked up in a cell for the rest of my life than I would be stuck here with you.” I grumble and adjust my apron around my thighs. When she catches me, she rolls her eyes.

“I hate you so much,” she says, as she stares out the window on her side.

I am well aware of how much she hates me. She has informed me of that very fact every time she has been in my presence for the past twenty-five years. And us having matching tattoos does nothing to change her feelings whatsoever.

Also by Tammy Falkner

Lake Fisher Series

Feels like Summertime

Feels like Home

Feels like Rain

Feels like Trouble

The Reed Brothers Series

Tall, Tatted, and Tempting

Smart, Sexy, and Secretive

Calmly, Carefully, Completely

Just Jelly Beans and Jealousy

Finally Finding Faith

Reagan’s Revenge and Ending Emily’s Engagement

Maybe Matt’s Miracle

Proving Paul’s Promise

Only One

Beautiful Bride

Zip, Zero, Zilch

Christmas with the Reeds

Good Girl Gone

While We Waited

Holding Her Hand

Yes, You

Always, April

I’m In It

A Reed Brothers Valentine’s Day Miracle

Don’t Doubt

Punter Sisters Series

What She Didn’t Know

What She Forgot

The Magic Series

A Lady and Her Magic

The Magic of ‘I Do’

The Magic Between Them