The Red Hat Society's Acting Their Age Read online

  But the looks he gave her lately still made her heart skip a beat. Though she’d never admit it to Leanne or Aggie, Mia feared she was the one with a “thing” for Cade, not the other way around. “Tell him to come back here,” she said.

  “No!” The girl stepped toward the three women, one arm thrust out, trembling. “Don’t tell him I’m here.”

  Mia’s heart beat too fast. Why did this child seem so familiar?

  “Please,” the girl whispered. “Just give me a chance.”

  And then, at once, Mia knew. Her eyes had a different shape. The color was wrong, too; brown rather than blue. But the flash of desperation, the lost look in them, was identical to what she’d glimpsed briefly in her own daughter’s eyes before Christy ran away.

  Chapter 2

  Mia walked into the main dining area, followed by Leanne and Aggie.

  Sheriff Cade Sloan stood just inside the front door. “Morning, ladies.” When he tipped his Stetson, Mia’s heart tipped, too. Although he addressed the three of them, his gaze stayed on her. His eyes were the hazy gray of a rainy afternoon and, as usual, spilling mischief. When Mia looked into them, she couldn’t look away; it was as if he wouldn’t allow it. She wanted to, though. Wanted to turn her back on the feelings Cade resurrected in her. Mia didn’t want to admit to herself that she could have such a strong attraction to anyone other than her husband. Dan still lived in her heart; any interest in another man felt like a betrayal.

  Besides all that, Cade seemed to be smiling to himself, and she couldn’t imagine what he thought was so funny. Maybe to him a fifty-year-old woman looked silly in overalls. Or maybe, in his mind, a woman her age was pushing it by wearing her hair in a loose braid over one shoulder. Or maybe a piece of last night’s broccoli was wedged between her front teeth. Who knew?

  No maybe about it, though, it was high time she stopped second-guessing herself whenever Cade looked at her. Especially on this particular morning when she had more important issues on her mind than what was going on in his.

  “Good morning, Sheriff.” Mia struggled to sound normal.

  Aggie echoed the greeting.

  “Cade Sloan, you’re sure on the ball this morning,” Leanne cooed in the honey-coated voice she used whenever she spoke to men. Young, old, good-looking or homely; it didn’t matter to Leanne. They all received the same treatment. Pushing hair away from her face, she said, “We—”

  “—don’t open for another hour and a half,” Mia cut in. “The coffee’s not even on yet.”

  A look of uncertainty crossed Leanne’s face. She stared at Mia with raised brows. “But, we do have something in back that might interest him, don’t we, Mia?”

  Mia sent her friend a quick, barbed glance. “The sweet rolls aren’t quite ready, Leanne.” She turned her brightest smile on Cade. “If you come back in a little while we’ll have a hot one waiting for you with plenty of icing. Just the way you like it.” With a scolding look, she added, “You know better than to show up so early, anyway.”

  Humming a nervous tune, Aggie lifted the top tablecloth from the stack on the counter and unfolded it as she moved around to the nearest table.

  Cade removed his hat, revealing short, dark hair, salted at the temples. He stepped further into the dining room with an easy, self-assured grace that might’ve seemed arrogant on any other man. “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t bother you at this hour, but I’ve got myself a problem.”

  “A problem?” Mia crossed her arms.

  Cade walked to the counter, but didn’t sit. He leaned back against it, elbows propped up, his hat beside him.

  “Late yesterday afternoon, Mack Holden caught a young girl lifting merchandise from his grocery store. The kid had stuffed her backpack with stolen food. A pair of pink suede boots are missing from Jesse’s Boutique, too.”

  “Little packrat,” Leanne murmured, generating a curious stare from Cade and sinking Mia’s heart.

  Aggie’s gaze darted toward the swinging doors that led to the back room then over to Leanne. “Would you help me with this?” she asked in a jittery voice. Her hands visibly shook as she smoothed the first cloth into place on a tabletop then grabbed another one from the stack. “I’ll get the centerpieces.”

  “I’ve been eyeing those pink boots at Jesse’s myself,” Leanne said as she moved around the counter to take the tablecloth Aggie handed her. “The girl has good taste.”

  Cade studied Leanne a moment longer before shifting his attention back to Mia. “Right as I pulled up at Mack’s, she got away and took off running. I recognized her from a photo the Amarillo PD posted. They’ve been looking for her a couple of days now. She’s a runaway. A fourteen-year-old foster kid name of Rachel Nye. The foster parents reported that she was missing when they woke up Wednesday morning.” He heaved a tired sigh, and Mia wondered if he had slept last night. “I thought I had her cornered, but she slipped right past me and disappeared.”

  Aggie pulled vases of dried flowers from beneath the inside counter. “That poor, poor, girl,” she said. “Her family’s probably worried sick about her.”

  “There are only the foster parents, and she hasn’t been with them more than a few months.” Cade pushed away from the counter and walked to the small fireplace at the side of the room. He glanced back at Mia. “You want me to get this going?”

  When she nodded, he slid aside the screen and rearranged the logs. He took a match from the mantel and lit it. Flames leaped, danced, and crackled as he tossed it in and turned on the gas beneath the logs. “Stupid kids,” he rumbled. “They just don’t think.”

  “Same as when we were young,” Leanne said, a frustrated edge to her tone. She fanned the checkered cloth she held, flapping it until it billowed.

  Cade watched the fire until the logs took hold of the flame. Then he turned off the gas and replaced the screen. “Anyway,” he continued, standing, “You ladies are my first stop this morning. I plan on dropping by all the local businesses to give them a heads-up. I’d appreciate a call if you see any sign of her. She has a history of stealing. Nothing seemed out of place in here this morning, did it?”

  Leanne glanced up from her work. She blinked at Mia then said, “Nothing except the fact that in our storage closet we found—”

  “—a mouse,” Mia blurted just as Aggie made a quick turn and knocked a vase from the table behind her. The vase didn’t break, but dried flowers scattered across the floor.

  “For heaven’s sake!” Aggie’s voice fluttered along with her hands as she stooped to clean up the mess.

  Leanne, Cade, and Mia converged to help.

  Cade chuckled. “What’s got you so jumpy this morning, Aggie?”

  Aggie blinked worriedly. Leanne started to answer him, but Mia cut her off. “Post holiday jitters, most likely. I know I have them. Too many Christmas goodies.”

  When the flowers were all back in the vase, everyone stood. Cade went to the counter for his hat, tugged it on then started for the door.

  Suddenly, the phone on the wall behind the counter rang. Aggie gasped, jumped, and stumbled backward against a table.

  Cade crossed to her quickly. “You okay?”

  She pressed a palm to her chest. “Just startled.” Her face turned as splotchy red as the checks on the tablecloths. “Who would be calling at this hour?”

  “You did eat too much sugar.” He smiled as she hurried past him, rounding the counter to answer the phone. “I thought maybe you saw that mouse.”

  “Oh, hello, Roy,” Aggie said after picking up. She paused. “Clean socks? They’re in the dryer. I didn’t get around to folding them.” Another pause. “There’s no such thing as a left sock and a right. Just take out two and put them on.”

  Listening to the phone conversation, Mia smiled at Leanne, who continued dressing the tables. Leanne didn’t smile back. She looked up at Mia with pursed lips, then said, “We don’t have a mouse, we have a packrat.” Her scowl left no question that she disagreed with Mia’s decision to cover for the runawa
y girl.

  “A packrat?” Cade looked back and forth between the two women. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s how you referred to Rachel Nye a minute ago.”

  Before Leanne could respond, Aggie hung up the phone and said, “That husband of mine . . . I swear I don’t know how he’d take care of himself if I wasn’t around.” She tightened her apron sash.

  Mia bit her lip as she locked gazes with Leanne. She wished she’d had a chance to talk with her before Cade arrived. She wanted more time with the girl, wanted to hear her side of the story. What harm could come of another hour or two? Mia guessed her eyes conveyed that message because Leanne’s expression suddenly shifted. She looked torn, undecided. Still irritated, yes, but Mia couldn’t blame her for that.

  Leanne finished with the tables then walked to the cash register, unlocked it and pulled the empty money tray out. “What happened to the girl’s real folks?”

  “From what I could gather from her caseworker, she’s been in the system since she was four,” Cade answered. “Her mother was a crackhead. No father in the picture.”

  “Mack and Jesse plan to press charges?” Mia asked, sympathy squeezing her heart.

  “Afraid so. But first I’ve got to catch her.”

  Cade rubbed his fingers across his jaw, and Mia noticed he’d failed to shave. A mixture of silver and dark brown stubble covered his face. A tough, weathered face that, at the moment, looked tired and vulnerable, but as strong as always. The lines beside his eyes seemed more deeply etched than she remembered them being before. But the eyes themselves were clear. Alert.

  “Well, I hope her foster parents get good news soon,” Aggie said, placing another centerpiece on a table.

  “I’m afraid she’s not their worry now. Seems this thing with Mack and Jesse makes for the kid’s third strike. Strike one was also shoplifting. Strike two was an MIP.”

  Aggie frowned. “MIP?”

  “Minor in possession of alcohol,” Leanne answered before Cade had a chance, and Mia noticed that she suddenly looked pale.

  “Heavens.” Alarm rang in Aggie’s voice. “And the girl’s only fourteen?”

  Cade nodded. “Once I catch her and haul her back to Amarillo, she’ll most likely be looking at time in a juvenile placement facility.”

  He sounded as disturbed over the girl’s situation as Mia felt. The child had no real family to lean on, to offer guidance and love and unconditional acceptance. Fourteen. The girl’s future should hold limitless possibilities, and yet, right now, what were her choices? A prison for kids, or making it on the streets. Alone.

  Give me a chance.

  “I hate to hear that,” Mia said, meeting Leanne’s gaze. Leanne’s nod was so slight, Mia knew she was the only one who saw it.

  To avoid Cade’s scrutiny, she went to a cabinet for a box of sugar packets. “Good luck finding her, Cade. We’ll call you first thing if we see anything.”

  Cade started to leave when a rustling noise drifted from the back room. Everyone looked toward the swinging doors and Mia held her breath.

  “Why don’t you let me see if I can catch that mouse for you?” he asked, pausing at the door.

  Mia shook her head. “That’s okay. We already took care of her.”

  “Her? You mean to tell me you know the mouse was a female?”

  “The little Prada handbag was a dead giveaway,” Aggie quipped, her expression deadpan serious.

  “Not to mention the tiny slingback pumps,” Leanne joined in. “Four of them. Hot pink with pointed toes and polka dot bows.”

  Aggie’s cheek twitched as she started around the counter. “Cute as pigs’ feet, those shoes.”

  Despite the awkwardness of the silly conversation, Mia was glad to hear Aggie sounding more like her fun-loving self again. And glad to know that Leanne had relented and was going to help them buy the girl some time. “The rolls, Aggie,” she said, with a nod toward the kitchen when the oven timer sounded.

  Leanne looked from Cade to Mia and said, “I’ll help you, Ag.”

  When the two women left, Mia met Cade’s gaze straight-on and steady, despite the fact her insides flip-flopped like a beached fish. She wasn’t used to lying and hated doing so now. But she kept hearing the young girl’s plea, kept seeing all those troubled emotions in her eyes. Emotions she’d failed to take seriously enough when her own daughter had displayed them.

  The silence stretched on too long. Mia glanced down at Cade’s boots and the melted puddle of snow around them. “Look at my clean floor,” she scolded, just to make noise. “I know good and well your mother taught you to wipe your feet before you come into a room.”

  He lifted one foot, then the other, using the soles of his boots to swipe unproductively at the dirty water. “Sorry about that. Show me to a mop and I’ll clean it up.”

  “I’m teasing you. No use fighting puddles on a day like today.”

  Cade shot her an arrow-straight stare from beneath the brim of his Stetson. “You’ll tell me if anything out of the ordinary comes up, right, Mia?”

  The question seemed a command rather than a request. For once, Mia saw more in his expression than flirtation; she saw suspicion. She drew a silent breath, released it, smiled. “Of course I will, Sheriff. You’ll be the first to know.”

  Nodding once, he turned toward the door then looked back at her, his eyes sparkling with sudden amusement. “How long have we known each other?”

  “I’m not sure.” Mia shrugged. “When did you move here? Junior High?”

  “Seventh grade. Sat behind you in Miss Goforth’s history class, remember?” One corner of his mouth curved up. “I do. Every day for the better part of nine months I wished I could get up the nerve to call you.”

  Heat crept into her cheeks. “You never told me that.”

  “Now you know.” He grinned.

  “Well if you’re trying to make me feel sorry for you, forget it. You got over me. By the time we got to high school, anyway. Sophomore year, I remember you asking to borrow my Carole King “Tapestry” eight-track right after you got your driver’s license. You wanted to take Lynnette Byers to Cooper Lake and make out.”

  “I did?”

  “If you want to play innocent, do it with someone who didn’t know you back then.” She tilted her head. “As I recall, somebody told you that Carole King’s music really put girls in the mood.”

  His grin broadened. “Now that you mention it, I do remember. You loaned that tape to me, too.”

  “And you never gave it back. So, I’m guessing it must’ve worked.”

  “I don’t kiss and tell.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “No comment.” Cade laughed again, assessing her. “See? That’s my point. We share a lot of memories. By my count, we’ve known each other thirty-eight years, give or take.”

  “That sounds right to me.”

  “So, since when did you stop calling me Cade and start calling me Sheriff?”

  Something fluttered at the base of Mia’s throat. “Since you were first elected, I guess.”

  He shook his head. “That was more than five years ago. It’s only been in the last few months you started being so formal.”

  “Have I? I guess I didn’t notice.”

  Cade opened the door then closed it and returned to where she stood, reaching an arm around her.

  Startled, she stiffened. He had never touched her before. No man had since Dan.

  Cade’s hand brushed her back, just beneath her shoulder blade, then came away quickly. He lifted his hand. Icing covered his forefinger. He brought it to his mouth, his smiling eyes on hers. “Lots of icing,” he said in a low voice. “Just the way I like it.” Then he left the shop.

  And left Mia breathless.

  She locked the door.

  When Mia returned to the kitchen, the back door stood open and Leanne was nowhere in sight. The runaway sat on a stool in front of the center island work counter. Aggie served her a coffee mug full of milk and a warm swee
t roll fresh off the first pan pulled from the oven.

  “Mia, meet Rachel,” Aggie crooned, smiling at their uninvited guest. “She’s starved to death, poor thing.”

  “Hi, Rachel.”

  Rachel took a huge bite of the roll. With a full mouth, she mumbled, “Hey.” She didn’t look up from the plate.

  “Where’s Leanne?” Mia asked.

  Shaking her head and looking frustrated, Aggie answered, “Outside smoking.”

  “I thought she quit?”

  “I did.” Leanne entered through the back door, shut it then lifted the cigarette pack for Mia to see. “I took this away from our new friend. Little thief stole it from my coat pocket. Anyway, New Year’s resolutions are meant to be broken.” Leanne walked to where her coat hung and returned the pack to her pocket. “Anyway, that was last week. Before our little packrat showed up and you turned me into an aider and abettor of fugitives.”

  Rachel glanced back at her. “I really like your coat.”

  “And my cigarettes, too, apparently.” Leanne shifted her scowl from Rachel to Mia. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Leanne.” With widened eyes, Aggie tilted her head toward the girl and hissed, “Your language.”

  Smirking, Leanne said, “Look at her.” She walked toward the others and nodded at Rachel. “Doesn’t impress me as the type to be shocked by an off-color word. You shocked, packrat?”

  Chewing, Rachel pointed at Leanne’s coat. “If I say ‘yes,’ will you let me borrow that?”

  “’Fraid not, but nice try.” Leanne looked pointedly at Mia. “So?”

  Dragging another stool up to the island, Mia sat across from Rachel. “I’d like to hear what she has to say.”

  The girl took another bite and met Mia’s gaze before averting her eyes.

  “So, what do you have to say, Rachel? Why should we give you a chance?”

  Rachel gulped her milk then lowered the mug. “If I go back, they’ll lock me up.”

  “Do you deserve to be locked up?”