Page 5 of Shielding Serena

She and Addie hadn't been frenemies simply because of their age. It had mostly been because of Walker. He'd chosen Serena over Addie that final summer and in return Addie had made it her mission in life to torture Serena. But always with a toothpaste-bright grin and nothing that could truly be held against her.

Serena thought of that summer and smiled. It'd been more than worth Addie’s hate. She and Walker had spent a glorious three months with each other. Had been each other's firsts--and not only when it came to sex. They'd truly loved each other, in the way that only seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds could.

Now, she had more than a little regret that they'd made the unspoken decision to keep things friendly instead of rekindling their romance. They were both trying to establish themselves in the community; she was trying to break out as herself, not Madeline's niece, and he was working to regain trust after the horrific shootout at the ranch that’d thrown the community into upheaval not two weeks before she arrived.

Thank goodness no one had been killed, but from what she’d heard it'd been a close thing, and the scandal of a multimillionaire coming to town and trying to murder one of the owners of the ranch had barely stopped being the topic of local gossip and speculation within the last month or so.

So yeah, neither of them had time for the complications of a relationship. But it didn’t stop her from appreciating his long lean body, and the fact that he had aged like fine wine. He carried the weight of his time in the military well, and even though he was only in his late thirties, like her, the gray hair beginning to show at his temples gave him a sexy gravitas she appreciated on a very feminine level.

She understood the weight of responsibility all too well. Her devotion to building the business right from day one had given her almost no downtime, so she still hadn’t watched the movie Walker and his friends had been a part of. And every time she saw him in the flesh she wondered why she hadn’t made it a priority. Shouldn’t she have?

Gena hollered from the back and pulled Serena’s mind away from Walker. And instead of thinking of her past, she looked around the room and appreciated her future.

"I'm out, boss," Gena poked her head around the doorjamb, dark curls a riot around her pretty face now that she’d pulled it out of the bun she kept it in to serve. As a single mother, spending time with her son Jackson was always paramount. Gena and Jackson lived with her mom Carmen, a teacher at Cottonwood Elementary, so childcare was built in, and Carmen adored her grandson.

Serena was happy she'd found the woman and that they worked together so well. "Enjoy your days off, and say hi to your mom for me.”

Because the business was so new, she and Gena were still figuring out flow and the best working hours, but being there at five a.m. to start finishing the pastries and protein offerings they’d prepped the night before was solid, except on Wednesdays and Thursdays, when Serena was on her own.

She hung her apron on the vintage iron spinning coat rack, which had been painted turquoise blue, and smiled at the decor as she did.

She'd kept the 'eclectic' decorating when she'd reimagined the building's function. A mix of taxidermy and the funky art her aunt had collected in her youth adorned the walls, lit by a collection of mismatched chandeliers that ranged from crystal to papier mache. A half dozen tables in every imaginable style dotted the living area, coupled with chairs that were just as offbeat.

Three parlors branched off of the main room and still contained the ‘best’ of the curio shop’s collections. Each of those rooms also had a single six-seat table and sideboard. They went mostly unused, but Serena had high hopes and was thinking about converting one into a mini library that doubled as a comfy workspace but hadn’t gone that far.

She’d even repurposed the old jewelry case into a counter and kept her aunt’s collection of jarred coins and seashells and costume jewelry on the shelves behind the register along with pretty gift boxes she used to package purchased treasures.

It didn't seem like any of the chaos should work, aesthetically, and she'd had to deploy all of her skills in public relations to describe it on the application to open an eatery before the health inspector had shown up for his inaugural look-see. But once you were here, in the space, it felt like you were visiting a favorite aunt who was a bit on the kooky side.

That described Madeline Blackstone in a nutshell, and Serena missed the woman every single day. Her aunt’s around-the-world cruise excursion was a few days short of a year long, with eight more months before her return.

Madeline had been a kind of mentor to Serena when it came to ... becoming.

The woman gave exactly zero shits about what anyone thought of her, her crazy store or the way she conducted her life. While Serena hadn’t quite risen to that level of awesomeness, she had figured out how to best use it in her corporate life, at least until she’d walked away from it.

Her career and her shiny life in Dallas seemed so distant now. But every time she thought of it fondly, she remembered the ulcer her corporate PR job had given her. Remembered the breakneck speed everything moved at, where everything seemed to be about work, even your relationships.

Remembered the dickheads she'd had to work with, both as peers and as clientele. Roaming hands and innuendo had been alive and well in her industry, and after fifteen years of trying to land clients without tearing up the sheets with them, she'd been exhausted. Tired of trying to unconsciously fulfill her father’s expectations, tired of failed relationships that made her wonder how much her cold-ass excuse for a father had passed on to her when it came to allowing herself to be vulnerable. To anyone.

When Aunt Madeline decided to embark on one last world tour and deeded the old Victorian, which included the upstairs living quarters, to Serena, she'd taken it like the gift it was.

Her benefactor still had a house up on the hill in Jerome that was as funky as the shop she'd established over the course of forty years, before the wineries arrived and tourists flocked to the red rocks of Sedona and the art district in Jerome.

Serena strode into the kitchen and performed a quick walk-through, making sure everything was shut down. She trusted Gena implicitly, but it was still her shop, her home, and the routine made her feel settled after a long day of being on her feet.

CHAPTER 4

Early the next morning Walker bumped down the dirt road from the ranch in the pre-dawn light, his big truck taking the ruts easily, his headlights bouncing off the piñon scrub and gnarled mesquite in the pre-dawn light.

They’d left the road rough on purpose to keep the tourists at bay. Even though they were miles away from Sedona proper, once you got to the top of the peak the ranch was situated against, the view of the famed red rocks was stunning, and people did like to hike into the wilderness.

Garrett’s throwaway comment yesterday about them being close to Bradshaw Ranch wasn’t off either. A recent “reality” television show had ramped up interest in the area, sending all manner of conspiracy theorists into the back country. It was annoying, but nothing dangerous, and they’d recently equipped the outer perimeter sensors with an automated voice option that informed hikers they were on private land in a very loud, very stern voice. It’d worked so far, even on the looky-loos and “influencers” still poking around after the shootout.

This morning he was headed into the village to coordinate with Joseph “Kujo” Kuntz, Hank Patterson’s second-in-command, to give him a preview of the closest civilization before they returned to the ranch. He’d spent a decent amount of time with the man during his time in Montana and had immediately liked him and his military working dog, Six.

Last Light Security would be the first Brotherhood Protectors offshoot in Arizona and Hank wanted Kujo there to eyeball the setup and make sure it hit all the marks. Walker understood needing that confirmation. He’d do the same thing if their positions were reversed.

When he pulled into the parking lot of The Menagerie, the lights to the entire house were still dark, which was strange. He’d timed it so he’d arrive right at opening time of six a.m., so he could grab coffee and something to eat before Kujo showed at seven. Maybe spend some time with Serena when there weren’t a ton of other people around.