“Rose, I need a favor,” she said as soon as I picked up.

Another favor, but she sounded frantic. “What’s wrong?”

“Mike was supposed to pick up the kids, and his parents can’t do it because they went to Arizona. Can you get them?”

I glanced at the time on my phone. “Ashley got out of school ten minutes ago. Is she still there?”

Violet started to cry. “They’re holding her in the office. I didn’t want to call you, but I can’t close early because I have a customer picking up a big order this afternoon. I know I keep asking for favors.”

“Vi, it’s okay. Calm down.” I gave Bruce Wayne a reassuring smile in response to his worried glance. “I love Ashley and Mikey, and Bruce Wayne and I were just packing up. I’ll go get them now.”

“Thank you,” but her words were muffled with her tears. “Just take them to the house if you don’t mind. Mike said he’d pick them up by five-thirty. It’s his night to get them.”

“Okay,” I said, but suddenly my stomach flopped like a fish out of water.

It was the logical place to take them, but it meant I’d risk seeing Violet’s new next-door neighbor.

Joe.

***

Chapter Five

Violet and I were more worked up about picking the kids up late than they were. They were excited to see me, especially when I told them we were going to head out to the farm to get my little dog Muffy before heading back to the house on Meadow Street.

When we parked in the circular drive in front of my two-story white Victorian house, I told the kids they could get out and wander around while I let Muffy take care of her business. They’d only been out to the farm once before and both had been fascinated with the barn and adjacent pasture.

Although Ashley had started kindergarten only a couple of months ago, she now acted like five going on thirteen. But instead of developing the usual tween attitude, she seemed to have cultivated an increased sense of responsibility. She unbuckled her twenty-month-old brother Mikey from his car seat before I could get around to the other side, and helped him down from my pickup truck.

I hurried up the steps to the covered porch and unlocked the front door while Muffy barked her fool head off inside. When I flung the door open, my little brown mutt burst through the open doorway and immediately jumped up on my legs. I leaned over to pet her. “I missed you too, girl, and I’m sorry I didn’t bring you with me. But it’s getting cold outside and I didn’t want you to get sick from being outside all day.” I knew I was an overprotective pet owner. Heavens only knew what kind of helicopter parent I’d be one day.

Ashley stood at the bottom of the porch steps, holding her little brother’s hand. “Why do you talk to her like she’s a real person, Aunt Rose?”

I shrugged. “Well, I guess because I think of her as a person.”

“But she doesn’t talk back.”

“She does in her own way.”

Having sufficiently greeted me, Muffy released a deadly wave of noxious gastrointestinal fumes and ran down the steps toward my niece and nephew. Mikey pulled himself loose from Ashley and clapped his hands. “Muppy.”

My little dog covered him with licks, and he tumbled onto his backside. Mikey squealed with excitement when she climbed onto his lap.

“See?” I said. “Muffy’s talking right now even if she isn’t using words. She’s giving Mikey kisses to say she missed him and she loves him.”

“Just like when you and Joe used to kiss.”

My stomach twisted. “Uh…yeah.” The kids had gotten used to seeing Joe on the weekends and he’d always taken time to play with my niece and nephew. They missed him after our breakup, and given that her own parents were in the process of splitting up, Ashley hadn’t taken it well. “But I’m not with Joe anymore. Remember?”

“I know,” she sighed. “You’re with Mason, but we still play with Joe sometimes.”

I’d been climbing down the steps to join them, but froze in my tracks. “You do?”

“Yeah.” Her head bobbed enthusiastically. “Sometimes he comes over and watches us when Mommy has to go to the store.”

“Huh.” Part of me wasn’t surprised. The kids had known Joe for months, after all, and he was once again living in the little house next door to my old house. The same one he’d lived in when he was undercover and going by the name Joe McAllister. But I was surprised Violet hadn’t told me. And I had to admit that I didn’t like it one bit. A couple of weeks ago she’d made it pretty clear she didn’t approve of Mason. Funny how she hadn’t approved of Joe either until after our breakup.

Muffy took off running toward the barn and we followed behind. Mikey struggled to keep up, so I picked him up and settled him on my hip.

“Are you gonna get horses, Aunt Rose?” Ashley asked as she watched Muffy duck under the wooden fence surrounding the horse pen. “Momma says she thinks Miss Dora had horses.”

“I don’t know. Horses are a lot of work and I can hardly take care of Muffy.”

Ashley giggled.

I let the kids play for another ten minutes before I said, “Come on. I need to get you guys back home.” I didn’t relish facing Joe, so a part of me wanted to ask Mike to pick the kids up from the farm. But I knew I’d have to see Joe at some point, especially if he agreed to Mason’s request about the mug shots.