Owen and I exchanged glances and headed over. Lila was smiling, as always, her arm around Willa Savard, the town doctor—she’d recently taken over for her father—and chatting with a tall, striking woman with short pink hair.
“Magnolia,” Owen said, getting her attention.
The woman, who was easily six feet tall and wearing the kind of trendy clothing I didn’t understand, turned our way, her eyes bright.
Owen held a hand out, gesturing toward us. “I want to introduce you to my brother and some friends.”
The statuesque, artsy Magnolia took one look at the small, scowly JJ and smiled broadly. Huh. I would not have expected that. After no more than a sentence or two in greeting, the two women wandered off to the bar, leaving us all staring at one another in disbelief.
“Oh God,” Karl whined as the women blatantly flirted with one another. “She’s gonna get herself a small-town hottie and leave me all alone, isn’t she?”
Chloe patted his cheek. “Says the man who created a countdown calendar for his return to Seattle.”
“I miss good sushi,” he replied, his shoulders drooping.
We hung for a while, laughing and chatting with everyone. It was a lot of peopling for me, but Chloe was enjoying herself, and she needed to let loose. She was carrying such a heavy mental load, and more than anything, I wanted to lighten it.
We’d driven down to Bangor two days ago to meet with the FBI. They had arrested the punk who set the fire. He had several priors, so he was being held, which was a major relief.
Less comforting, however, was that he wasn’t talking, and they still had no idea who he worked for or was affiliated with.
“Ooh. Food trucks,” Chloe cheered, steering me toward them. “I could murder a soft pretzel.”
“Then we better feed you,” I said, slinging my arm around her shoulders. “Can’t risk you biting me again.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Gus,” she hissed. “That was one time.”
I gave her a wink. I hadn’t minded a bit when she’d come so hard she bit my shoulder and broke the skin. I was pretty proud of myself, actually, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have some fun with her.
We headed over to the food area, but halfway there, she abruptly stopped walking.
Stomach sinking, I assessed her. “Are you okay?”
She looked up at me and shook her head. “Yes. Sorry. I think I recognize that man.”
On the other side of the crowd, Charles Huxley was standing with Mayor Lambert and several of their cronies. My dad had once been one of them, hobnobbing with these men regularly. Now they’d all turned their backs on us.
“He’s Charles Huxley,” I said. “Local businessman. Was lieutenant governor a decade ago and thinks that makes him important.”
She continued to stare, her brows furrowed in concern. “And the man next to him?”
I craned my neck. The man standing next to him was a nondescript white guy in his fifties. “Never seen him before. But a lot of the people here aren’t local.”
She hummed, her concern mixing with confusion.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, pulling her into my side. “Are you feeling okay? I can take you home.”
She shook her head. “No reason. Just a weird feeling.”
I dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “How about I try to win you a prize?”
Tipping her head back, she smiled up at me.
After she’d polished off a pretzel, we headed to the games area, laughing it up with Finn and Adele, who were way better at them than we were. Adele had already won several stuffed animals. The woman had deadly aim.
Finn and I were trash talking our way through a complicated ring toss. He got me the first time, and then I called best of three. There was no way I was going down without a fight.
I looked over at Chloe, who had her phone to her ear. She held one finger up and walked away. I hoped it wasn’t work related. She’d been pushing herself so hard lately, especially with trying to wrap up the FBI investigation.
“I’m gonna get you, old man,” Finn said, flipping the yellow ring toward the targets.
When my blue ring landed on the moving target, I threw my arms up in celebration. Tied one to one, we agreed on one more game.
He elbowed me.
“You look happy, big brother.”
Grinning, I turned, searching for the source of my happiness, but Chloe was nowhere to be found.
When I didn’t immediately see her, my chest constricted. So I picked up the stuffed unicorn I’d won for her and wandered over to the food area. Maybe she’d decided on another snack to keep the nausea at bay. But as I searched, I saw no sign of her.
It was almost dark now, and Jude’s band was warming up for the evening entertainment.
Had Chloe gone to the ladies’ room?
Logically, I knew she was probably just chatting or grabbing food, but my mind immediately wandered to the strange feeling she’d mentioned earlier. Did this have something to do with the people who had followed her?
Chapter 34Chloe
