Page 15 of Born for Starlight

“Angelica, you can’t go to Brazil. Think about it, it was where you were damn near killed as a child. It will be bad for your psyche. Not to mention there could still be assholes out there with grudges over the fact that Mom and Dad dismantled the whole thing. They would love to take that out on you. We love you too much to have anything happen to you.”

My heart melted.

“If you’re so wound up to do something, then send a delegation in your place. Just don’t go yourself.”

“Renzo, you know it won’t have the same impact, and I need the impact to effect change,” I whispered. “I need to do everything I can to stop what I can. Think of the children.”

He sighed roughly. “Yes, there are children out there, but I can’t help but think of you as a baby, in our arms. Wounded. You’re the one I care about. You’re the one who has my heart.”

“God, Renzo. You kill me.”

“Does that mean you won’t go?”

“No. But I’ll be out there to visit you and Millie real soon. I adore you, brother. You have my heart too. I’ve got to go before I start bawling.”

“I love you, sis.”

“Love you more.”

We hung up.

When my phone rang and it was Marty, I didn’t have the gumption to answer. I got up to go take a shower. I needed coffee. A lot, a lot of coffee.

Chapter Five

I’d finished an early morning run and took a long hot shower in a rusty bathroom. The one thing the LeeHy had to offer was plenty of hot water and strong water pressure. Now that I was feeling human, I headed to the Down Home Diner.

I liked it there because the coffee was good and a man needed somewhere to sit that wasn’t a motel room. Plus, going in there was a kick. There was a woman who was a hundred if she was a day who manned the hostess stand. The first time I came in, she insisted I call her Little Grandma. My guess was she was here before Jasper Creek was even a town. She considered me a regular now, and being teased by her was actually better than the coffee.

“You’re back again,” she said this morning as I came into the restaurant.

“Guilty.”

“You’ve been coming here twenty-one days, only missed one, but I hear that morning you were at the Sheriff’s office, so it made sense. He usually has coffee and pastries when there’s a meeting.”

I frowned. “You knew about that?”

“Child, I know everything that goes on in my town.”

“I come in because I like the coffee.”

“The coffee’s fine, but it’s not that good. The food is really good, though. But why you’re staying at the LeeHy when one of the Drakos would put you up is a true mystery. And I hear that you could get a steep discount at the Whispering Pines Inn. So why are you staying at the LeeHy, are you seriously short on cash, or do you have a martyr complex?”

This was not the teasing I was expecting. “Since you brought up martyrs, is this the inquisition?”

She sighed, and looked over her shoulder. “Your table in the corner near the window is open. Go sit yourself down. I’ll be over in just a minute.”

Oh shit.

Before I knew it I was sitting across from Little Grandma. She had a cup of tea and a biscuit in front of her, and I had the lumberjack special, along with a cinnamon roll and hot coffee in front of me.

“Eat up,” she gestured toward my food.

“Will I get indigestion after you talk to me?”

“You’re heartier than that.” She took a sip of her tea, then broke off a tiny piece of biscuit and put it in her mouth.

I shrugged and started eating. The food was too good to let it go cold.