Josh's Challenge Read online

  They were silent as they descended the small hill. Once the road leveled out, their strained silence became a comfortable one while they breathed in and out in unison. Josh kept an appropriate body-length distance from her, not touching her but letting her know that he wouldn’t abandon her if they were attacked.

  When they arrived at their row of townhouses they stopped at the lawn in front to catch their breaths. Josh saw a curtain move in Melissa’s upstairs window. “How’s Angie getting to work today?”

  Melissa shrugged. “She’s calling someone. Charlie’s friend, Marco, I think. Apparently he hires himself out giving rides to people around town as a part-time job.”

  Josh raised his eyebrows. “Really?” He thought about that a minute. “Makes sense. There’s no taxi service here, but people still need rides.” He admired the kid’s ingenuity.

  “Yeah, I was surprised, too,” she said with a reluctant smile.

  Before he could ask her to lunch, God help him, she cut him off. “I need to get going. I’ll see you later, Josh.” She was inside her door before he could wish her a good day.

  Feeling like a total ass, he headed for his own townhouse for a quick shower before getting himself to work. Hopefully he wouldn’t take his anger out on anyone—come to think of it, Jason needed a good beating….

  JOSH’S MOOD WAS completely foul. After his less-than-ideal morning with Melissa, he’d been called out to Jason’s, who apparently was having trouble installing the kitchen cabinets. The company had sent the wrong color and he was on a rampage. Julie was still on bedrest, causing Jason to snap at everyone and everything. It wasn’t like him to get so riled up over something so trivial. Errors happened in construction—not very often with King Construction, but they did happen and were usually handled in a professional manner. There was nothing professional about Jason’s behavior this morning.

  When Josh arrived, his brother was red-faced and itching for a fight. He was squaring off with one of the installers, who apparently had no clue that he was about to get his block knocked off. Josh rolled his eyes at the cocky young bastard. “Back off before you get killed, Lane.”

  The young kid turned to Josh. “He called me stupid. No one calls me stupid.”

  Josh sighed. The kid was dyslexic and had a chip on his shoulder about it, but Josh’s idiot brother wasn’t helping matters by pummeling the help.

  “You’re either stupid or color blind. The paperwork clearly stated ‘gray lowers’ on the invoice, so which is it?” Jason accused.

  Josh got between them when Lane charged. “That's enough!” Jason’s chest bumped up against the palm of Josh’s hand trying to push his way toward Lane. Lane, on the other hand, backed off a bit when he got a good look at the maniacal amount of rage in Jason’s eyes.

  Reaching for a calm that he didn’t really have, Josh ordered, “Lane, get in your truck and head back into town. Obviously, the order was mixed up. I’m sure you didn’t load the boxes into the truck, am I right?”

  “No, sir,” Lane said, huffing.

  “That’s what I thought. Go on and get the correct cabinets. I called in before I got here; the order is on the dock waiting for your truck. It’s a mix-up. Nothing to get your face bashed in for.”

  “He should’ve checked it before he left—” Jason began before Josh pushed him back.

  “Get a grip, will you? We’re all worried about Julie. Pulling the heads off everyone around you isn’t going to get this house built,” Josh said into his brother’s face while keeping his voice low enough so that their crew couldn’t hear the exchange.

  Jason sagged his shoulders with a resigned sigh before he sat his ass on the front porch steps. “They’re killing her.”

  “Who’s killing who? What are you talking about?”

  Jason looked up and around at his surroundings. “Uh, the doctors.”

  Josh swore that wasn’t what Jason was talking about, but before Josh could question him, Jason’s phone rang. He answered and listened to the caller a moment before suddenly jumping off the porch and running to his truck. Josh followed on his heels. “What’s going on?”

  “Julie’s been taken to emergency. She’s in labor!” And with that, Jason was gone, tires flinging gravel everywhere, dust flying in the wind.

  Josh left brief instructions with Dennis, their longtime foreman, before he got into his own truck and headed for the hospital behind Jason’s trail of dust.

  THE WAITING ROOM was filled with his family. Lauren was pacing back and forth, one hand on her throat, the other on her lower back as she mumbled her silent prayers. Lauren wasn’t religious, but she’d been attending Mass regularly with the family. Josh’s mother, on the other hand, had her rosary out and was fingering the beads in well-practiced fashion. Next to her sat James, who had one arm around her shoulders in loving support; his granddaughter sat calmly on his lap with her blue blanket. For once, Jessica wasn’t sharing her smiles with the family. Jarod hadn’t arrived yet, and Josh assumed he was still on patrol. When Lauren saw Josh, she quit her pacing to hug him. She’d been crying.

  “Oh, Josh, I’m so scared. Her water broke, but then she’d began to bleed and…” she cried before she covered her mouth.

  Josh’s heart stopped. He pulled Lauren into a hug and saw the fear in his mother’s eyes when he glanced over Lauren’s shoulder. Jarod arrived at that moment and carefully removed his wife from Josh’s arms. “What’s happening? Marguerite said Julie’d been rushed here in an ambulance?”

  James’s voice was calm as he explained the situation. “She went into labor early, but there are complications. Jason’s with her now. The nurse said she’d keep us informed.” Josh heard the fear in his father’s voice and knew things were pretty bad.

  “Has anyone told Charlie?” Josh asked.

  Just then, Charlie arrived with Marco, his best friend from school. They were both in swim trunks and t-shirts. It looked like they’d been tubing in the river, as two high school graduates should be doing the summer before heading off to college. “Where’s my sister? How is she?” Charlie’s voice was tinged with fear and rage. They’d all worked with him to control a temper that could be fierce when life’s challenges had threatened Charlie’s self-control.

  Josh knew how to handle the kid because he’d practically raised him. You didn’t baby Charlie; you gave him the blunt truth. The cruel past had done something to the boy. Josh explained what little he knew about Julie and that they were all waiting to hear from the nurse. Charlie’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down a few times before the kid got control of himself and resumed the pacing that Lauren had abandoned earlier. Marco leaned against a wall out of the way, showing support for his friend simply by being there.

  Soon, a nurse gave them the news that Julie had been prepped for surgery and that her husband would be with her during the caesarean section. That was it. Nothing about her condition or that of the baby. Josh wanted to drag the nurse back and demand that she give them more information. She left without a backward glance, as if it were nothing at all for a pregnant woman to be rushed, hemorrhaging, to the hospital. As that thought formed, Charlie punched one of the vending machines sitting in the waiting room. Two colas rolled out and hit the floor. He stared at the cans for a few seconds, breathing in and out through his nose, before grabbing them and handing one to Marco. The young men popped the tops as if nothing had happened. Charlie took a long drink before he resumed his pacing.

  Forty-five minutes after that, a haggard-looking Jason entered the waiting room wearing scrubs, tears falling down his face. Everything in Josh’s chest squeezed tight. Lauren swallowed a cry and Jessica asked, “Where’s my Joojee, Huncle Jase?”

  Smiling as he cried, Jason announced, “Boys! Two healthy boys!”

  The room remained in shocked silence for about three seconds before everyone started asking questions.

  “Twins?”

  “What the hell? Are you kidding?”

  “You hid this from me?”
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br />   “How’s my sister?” Charlie asked the most important question of all.

  Jason wasted no time in engulfing his young brother-in-law in a bear hug. “She’s beautiful, wonderful! She’s doing great! They’re sewing her up now, and when they move her to a room you can all come see her.” He didn’t let go of Charlie, and the smile on his face seemed to grow wider.

  Josh sat down in relief before it dawned on him that those two had kept a pretty big secret from the rest of the family. “You guys lied to us!” he accused.

  Jason sighed. “It was Julie’s idea. She wanted to reveal the ultrasound pictures at the baby shower.”

  “That is the dumbest idea she’s ever had!” Lauren declared. Tears of relief were still wet on her cheeks. Josh had to agree. No wonder Julie had been so big. She’d been carrying his two nephews. Lauren hiccuped and asked, “She’s really fine?”

  Jason let go of Charlie to give Lauren a kiss on the forehead, “Yeah, Sassy, she’s perfect.”

  Ginger wasn’t in the house when Missy returned from her jog with Josh. Though it wasn’t a habit to let the cat out on her own, it had happened a couple of times by accident, but Ginger always kept close to the townhouse when she did make her “escapes.” She was a people-cat after all, and Missy was sure the kitten had abandonment issues. However, Missy was going to be late for work if the kitten didn’t reappear soon.

  “Angie, have you seen Ginger?” she shouted as she readied the cat carrier. Her keys and bag were on the table next to the carrier, and all she needed was the damn cat so she could get going.

  “No!” came a shout from Angie’s bedroom upstairs.

  Missy opened up the front door again and scanned the lawn, but there was no sign of Ginger. Josh had left about five minutes ago. She’d heard the big engine of his Dodge Ram turn over and then rev up down the road. She walked all the way out to the sidewalk calling, “Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” to no avail. She checked her watch again, then went back inside, grabbed her keys and bag, and yelled up the stairs once again to Angelica, “Can you look for her before you leave this morning? I can’t find her.”

  Her roommate appeared on the upstairs landing, answering with concern, “Of course I will.” She smiled down at Missy. “I’m sure she’s just off exploring. I promise to look before I leave, and when I find her, I’ll bring her inside.” Feeling only slightly satisfied with that answer, Missy thanked Angelica and dashed out the front door. She was late!

  The drive to the clinic was lonely without Ginger. Missy had become attached to Ginger in the short time that she’d had her. A pet was therapeutic, providing comfort to Missy when her anxiety came creeping in. Ginger was a very friendly cat, comfortable around people even though she had been abandoned early on. The kitten should’ve been feral after living in the wild for so long. It was a miracle that she was so sweet, and Missy prayed that Angelica would find her before the end of the day.

  Maybe she should call Josh. Ginger was half his, after all.

  No, if Josh was her stalker, then encouraging him wasn’t a smart idea. But what if Josh wasn’t the stalker and the real one had stolen Ginger? What if he hurt her cat?

  Maybe she should call Jarod. He was the sheriff, after all, and he had made her promise to call if anything out of the ordinary happened. Would he take her missing cat as a sign of a possible threat, or was she just being paranoid?

  Splitting the difference, she dialed the sheriff’s office anyway. Marguerite would know if Jarod could help find her cat.

  “Hey, it’s me,” Missy said after Marguerite’s formal greeting from the sheriff’s station.

  “Hey, Me! Oh, guess what! Julie’s in labor. They’re all at the hospital now,” Marguerite informed her. As the town crier, Marguerite loved sharing community information—better known as town gossip.

  “Wow, she’s early, isn’t she?” Missy thought about Julie’s large belly and remembered thinking that they’d miscalculated her due date.

  “Yes, there are complications, though. Apparently she was hemorrhaging and needed to be taken by ambulance. I’m still waiting to hear from Jarod.”

  Missy had just parked her car in the back lot of the animal hospital. She reached over to get the cat carrier before she remembered that she didn’t have it with her. “I lost Ginger this morning. Do you think I should bother Jarod with finding her?”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line. Missy swore she could hear the cogs turning in her sister’s head. Finally, Marguerite said, “I’ll let him know as soon as I hear from him. He’s got good instincts, Missy. Can you tell me the last time you saw Ginger so we can puzzle out when she went missing?”

  That’s why she loved her sister so much. Marguerite could be superficial and nosy, but she was rational in times of crisis, and losing Ginger felt like a crisis to Missy. She explained about seeing Ginger on the back of the couch before she left for her jog, about Josh scaring her and possibly being her stalker, and about Angelica’s car not working and their late night. Marguerite seemed to take it all in, and, before Missy knew it, they were ending the call with Marguerite’s promise to call her sister with any news at all. Marguerite didn’t debate her suspicions about Josh, which was surprising, but, again, that was Marguerite. She only disagreed with you when you needed to hear it.

  After the call, Missy grabbed her bag and rushed through the animal clinic’s back door. The kennels were full. She was greeted with happy barks and a few whines for attention, which she gave to the most demanding patients before hurrying to the main area of the hospital. Doc and the staff were well into the morning meeting.

  “Missy, there you are. We were beginning to worry,” Gale said.

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t find Ginger this morning.”

  That announcement was met with sympathetic looks from everyone before they resumed going over the day’s schedule. When the meeting was finished, the day began to fly. Patients filled the waiting room. Doc had left on an emergency or two, which left Missy to hold down the fort while he was out.

  The Timbisha phone tree had been activated, and the news of the twins being born to Jason and Julie King was met with both joy and relief. She hadn’t been the only person worried about Julie’s size. Gossip had begun to spread about how the young couple had known they were having twins but chosen to keep that knowledge a secret. The town now speculated that Camille King would have something to say about that. Missy couldn’t imagine anyone going up against her. Camille was not hard to get along with, and she was well known for her kind heart and generosity in Timbisha County. However, when it came to her family, Camille was a lioness protecting her pride. Missy hoped the deception wouldn’t cause that lioness to eat her young.

  MARGUERITE DRUMMED HER fingers on the desk next to her keyboard while she decided what to do about Ginger. A missing kitty was a small matter, but that cat was important to Missy and therefore it was important to Marguerite. Add to that the mysterious and threatening messages left by her sister’s stalker, a missing pet felt like much more than a coincidence.

  Missy thinks Josh is responsible? Marguerite rolled her eyes at that stupid theory because it was obvious to anyone who’d been around them the past few weeks that Josh was in love with Missy, but Missy was too close to the situation to see it, and Josh, God bless him, lost his famous charm whenever he was around her. It was just too cute. However, Marguerite feared that she would have to intervene and help her little sister catch that King.

  “What’s got your brow furrowed up, honey?” came a deep Southern accent from the other side of the counter.

  She looked up into warm, brown eyes and cursed. There was just something about Declan McKinley that rubbed her the wrong way. He wasn’t rude, per se, but he wasn’t polite either. “My sister’s cat has gone missing.”

  Warm eyes widened with lifted eyebrows. “When?”

  That he would take an interest in a missing cat was disconcerting since she’d been worried about it herself. “This morning, after he
r jog. Why? What do you know?” Her heart beat a little faster at his change in demeanor.

  He adjusted the cowboy hat he was sporting and stared out the plate glass window of the station house. “Have you told her about Harold yet?”

  “You said not to.”

  Brow furrowed, he asked, “Have you told your sheriff about the cat?”

  “Not yet, he’s at the hospital with his family. His sister-in-law went into labor. Should I call him now?” Her anxiety amped up with every question he asked.

  The marshal shook his head. “No, let’s wait. Family comes first.”

  “Missy is my family, Marshal. She comes first for me, so is she in danger or not?”

  He sighed. “Look, honey, I meant no disrespect to you or your sister. I’m gonna take a ride over to her condo. You wanna tag along? Maybe assure yourself that she’s safe?”

  He’d done it again. Patronized her concern for her sister and treated her like a dumb blonde. “No, thanks. Missy is at work.” She turned her chair to face her computer, ignoring Declan.

  “Suit yourself. Let the good sheriff know I was in, would ya?” he drawled as he sauntered out the door. She was glad he was leaving for two reasons: First, simply because he was going, and second, because he was giving her a fantastic view of his backside in those jeans.

  Hell, she thought as she rolled her eyes heavenward. She knew herself too well. That pain-in-the-ass marshal was going to be on her mind until he left Timbisha County. She could only pray they’d catch Harold so Declan would get out of town and her head.

  GOD HELP HIM, but that woman chapped his hide. There was no getting around her stuck-up attitude. Declan sighed to himself. Who was he fooling? She was way too young for him. She had to be in her mid-twenties and he was…not. Dismissing the delectable Ms. Theroux, he clicked his key fob to unlock the driver’s side door of his pickup. He cursed the blazing hot handle as it burned his fingers before he hopped behind the wheel. Black was not a good color choice for a Nevada summer. Even the steering wheel was hot. He turned the engine over and cranked up the air conditioning. The radio was on an eighties station, which suited him just fine. Van Halen’s “Panama” beat through the speakers as he headed out onto the main road on his way to Melissa Theroux’s condo.