Finch’s gaze narrowed, then he shrugged. “I’m sure vaccination tags from my clinic are spread all over the county.”
“This one was over in Midland. You have any clients who bring their animals from Midland?”
“I’m sure I do.” He smiled. “I’m a damn good vet. People come from all over to have their beloved pets cared for by the most charming veterinarian within a hundred miles.” He gave my shoulder a light punch. “I’m sure Mr. Justice will be by to talk, and I’ll help him in any way I can. But like I said, evidence of my veterinary prowess can be found all over Kentucky.”
I scoffed. “Humble much, big brother? But yeah, you’re right. I’m being silly.”
Eight
I lay in bed that night remembering every detail of the day I first met Ethan. He had just moved to Paynes Creek with his father.
I entered Miss Miller’s English class on the third day of eighth grade. My best friend Amy and I had been inseparable all summer. We stumbled into the room, laughing, and found our seats next to each other just as the bell rang. Miss Miller was writing something across the dry erase board when I noticed the new boy. He was sitting on the opposite side of me from Amy. He was thin, with long legs, and his navy, Chuck Taylor–covered feet stretched out in front of him. He looked relaxed, not nervous like most newcomers would feel. His hair was short in the back, but his bangs hung messily across his forehead.
I nudged Amy with my foot, then lifted my head in the boy’s direction. She lifted her brows in recognition of the cute boy. We weren’t that into boys yet—at least, not in an obvious way—but we liked to talk about them when they weren’t around. And this one was an interesting addition to the school. We hadn’t had anyone new in our tiny town in a long time.
When the bell rang after class, I grabbed my books and stood. I was about to follow Amy out the door when Tabitha Blake, a bitchy cheerleader, walked over. She shoved me backward and out of her way, knocking my books out of my hands. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there, Faith.” She continued on over to the new boy. “Want to walk me to my next class?”
The new boy just stared at her. No smile. His dark brows stayed straight. There was no humor in his eyes.
“Are you mute?” Tabitha said. I could only watch as she went from acting like a confident flirt to a dramatic bitch.
He studied her for one second more, then let his eyes drift slowly in my direction. He took a step over to me. Bending down, he picked up my books and handed them to me. “You okay?” he asked.
I nodded, unable to speak.
Tabitha blew out a frustrated growl, then spun around and stormed out of the room.
Amy, who had been waiting for me, burst out laughing. She ran up to the new boy. “That was amazing. I’m Amy. This is Faith. You just moved here.”
“Yeah. My dad and me. I’m Ethan.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Ethan.” Amy bumped me.
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “Good to meet you, Ethan. And thanks for that.”
“No problem.” He grabbed his books and headed for the door. Just as he was about to leave, he turned back. “I’ll see you around, Faith.”
Nine
I spent the entire next day hiding from reality—cleaning my home and working on a couple of side projects. My phone rang a few times during the afternoon, but after verifying it wasn’t Chief Reid or someone from the station, I ignored the calls, paranoid that Ethan was attempting to reach me.
At around six in the evening, I lit two candles and poured myself a drink, and I was about to settle in with a sexy paranormal romance novel about witches and vampires when an unwelcome knock sounded at my door.
Sighing, I rose and opened it.
Luke stood just outside. Concern was etched in the trenches of his forehead, and there was a stiffness in his jaw—though it relaxed when he saw me.
“Something wrong, Agent?”
“Don’t you answer your phone?”
“As a matter of fact I do… when I recognize the caller and feel like talking to people.” I shrugged. “I didn’t feel very social today.” I stood in the doorway, looking down at him. He was a good-looking guy, muscular in all the right places, with a thick head of dark hair. This was not a man who was going to go bald any time soon. I almost chuckled at the thought. Why did I care if he went bald? Besides, he’d still look good with no hair.
Down, Faith. The bourbon must have been kicking in.
“You have another one of those?” He nodded toward my drink.
“Another one of what? The cup or what’s in it?”
“Both.”
I stepped back, giving him room to step up into my tiny home. When Gus rubbed against his shins and wove in between his legs, he stooped down and said hello, giving her a scratch behind her ears. One point for Luke. Anyone who liked Gus and wasn’t greeted by an angry hiss passed the first test, a feat not often accomplished.
“Who’s this?” he asked, standing.
Gus sat and began licking her hind leg.
“Gus. I rescued her.”
“Gus is a ‘her’?”
“I named her before I took her in to Finch to be fixed. He informed me that I had the sex wrong.” I shrugged. “The name had already stuck. It’s short for Asparagus.” When he gave me a strange look, I explained. “You know, from Cats, the musical?” I gave my head a shake when he still looked confused. “Never mind.”
He looked around my trailer, then faced me with a curious grin. “This is not at all what I expected when I heard you lived in a trailer out in the country.”
“An Airstream,” I corrected.
“A what?” he asked, then seemed to understand. “Oh, yeah. A specific type of trailer. But this…” He looked around again. “This is amazing. Cozy. Decorated. Not at all what my grandparents took me camping in when I was a kid. And certainly not the tornado magnet double-wide us city slickers envision when thinking of Kentucky.”
“Thank you. I built it myself.”
“You what?” An eyebrow shot up as he considered me.
“This is a 1969 Airstream that I gutted and remodeled. Everything in this ‘trailer’—as you like to call it—was carefully selected or custom-built and installed by me,” I tilted my head side to side, “with a little help from two very special people in my life.” Namely my uncle and Finch, but I wanted to be vague to throw Luke off-balance, make him wonder if I had a romantic someone or two in my life.
“It’s very impressive.”
I pulled down a sterling silver julep cup from a cabinet, added an oversized ice cube from a mold in the freezer, and opened the bottle of bourbon I had chosen for the evening.
“That’s an awfully fancy cup.”
I shrugged. “It’s a bourbon worthy of fancy.”
“How did a woman living in a trailer come to own expensive barware? Did you inherit them?”
I couldn’t stop the grin that lifted the corners of my lips. “I turned tricks to pay my way through college. When I made a little extra, I put it toward barware worthy of a one-hundred-fifty-dollar bottle of bourbon.”