I propped a hand on my thrust-out hip. “Joe Simmons, you should know by now that I do what I want. And besides, I don’t regret bringin’ Muffy. She helped save me.”
A tiny grin played on his lips. “I’ve seen her do the same for Rose. You realize she’s just as much yours as she is ours.”
I glanced down at the dog lying on top of my foot. “She’s special to me too. Even before today.”
“Are you gonna call Rose and tell her what happened?”
“Shoot, no. There’s no way in Hades I’m ruining her weekend. She’s been looking forward to this all week.”
He scratched his head as his focus turned to the deputies surrounding my kidnapper’s car as they waited for their warrant. “That must be one heck of a special event she’s attending.”
“You have no idea.” I couldn’t hide my grin, but thankfully he wasn’t watching me.
The paramedics set me in the back of the ambulance to check me over, letting Muffy sit next to me while Witt stood guard next to the back doors. They declared me fine except for a few scrapes and bruises, telling me to put ice on my swollen knuckles from punching the guy. After a deputy took a few photos of me with the blood spatters on my face and shirt, they sent me inside the diner to clean up. I put Muffy back in my purse, and then Witt took it and carried it on his shoulder while he escorted me inside. “I’ll watch her.”
When I emerged from the bathroom with a freshly scrubbed face, the owner of the diner, an older man with a stained white apron over his paunch and salt-and-pepper hair was waiting for me. He introduced himself as Mel and insisted Witt and I stay inside until the sheriff’s deputies released us to leave.
“Thanks,” I said. “But we’ve got Muffy.” I gestured to Witt. Muffy’s head was sticking out of my purse.
“From what I hear, that dog’s a hero,” he said. “She can stay. I’ll even bring her a hamburger as a reward.” He pushed us into a booth. “I guarantee you’ll never get snatched from this place again, Neely Kate. I’ll personally shoot the next bastard who tries.” Then he showed us the gun tucked in his waistband.
Witt’s face pinched with anger, but I gave the owner a warm smile. “Thank you, Mel.” He insisted I needed his potato soup to help calm my nerves, and since I loved potato soup, I wasn’t about to argue. Witt refused any food, looking like he was a box of fireworks parked next to a bonfire. He’d set my purse next to him, opening it enough for Muffy to get out, but she stayed where she was, looking alert.
“Witt,” I said softly as soon as Mel walked away, “I’m fine.”
He glanced out the window of the parking lot, toward my kidnapper’s car. “I was right here, Neely Kate. Right here and he got you out the fuckin’ door.” He looked on the verge of tears.
Muffy let out a little whimper and climbed out of my purse, resting her head on Witt’s lap. His hand found her head and he began stroking absently.
I slid out of my seat and into his, grabbing his other hand and leaning my head on his shoulder.
Some of the tension left Witt’s body and he slipped an arm around my back, his fingers digging into my hip as though making sure I couldn’t slip away. We sat like that for nearly a minute before he said, “I failed you before, and I failed you again. Maybe I am just a worthless piece of shit.”
I jerked upright and twisted to look into his face, unsure which part of his statement to address first. “When did you fail me?”
“When you went to Ardmore. I should have been there for you. I fucked up my life and wasn’t around when you needed me.”
Witt had fallen in with the wrong crowd and he’d gotten arrested before I’d graduated. But he’d been there when I’d come home. He’d seen me broken—in both body and spirit—and he’d been the one to pull me out of it. Sure, our cousin Allen Jackson had helped, but Witt had been the one at my side through it all. Now I realized he blamed himself for not being there to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Pushing out a heavy sigh, I said, “Witt, I was bound and determined to go to Ardmore, whether you were there or not.”
“But you might have called me when you got into trouble if I’d been around.”
I gave it a moment of thought and said, “No. I was too proud. Too stubborn. Too young.”
Softness filled his eyes. “What happened to you, Neely Kate? This is all part of that, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “It’s leftover Ardmore mess.” He was part of it now too. He needed to know. “But this isn’t the time or place to tell you. When we leave, okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
An older woman walked up to our table. “Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay, dear.”
I gave her a warm smile. “I’m fine. Just a little shaken is all.”
“I should say.” She gave Muffy an appreciative look. “I hear your little dog was a hero.”
“That she was,” Witt said, plastering on a good-natured smile that had to be fake, and I suddenly realized he did that a lot. “She saved the day.”
“You’re lucky to have such a loyal friend.”
I turned to Witt and gave him a tearful smile as I squeezed his hand. “Don’t I know it.”
She walked away, and I said, “You’re not a piece of shit, Witt. I know that the financing on your garage fell through, but there will be something else, okay? Don’t give up hope.”
He shook his head and returned his gaze out the window.
A deputy slid into the booth, across the table from us, just as a waitress showed up with my soup. We both gave our statements, but Witt seemed nervous, not that I blamed him. After his conviction, he’d done his best to stay away from law enforcement officials.
As soon as we finished, Joe showed up looking exhausted. “We can go. They’re booking the guy, but a cursory search leads us to believe he’s Alonzo Adkins from Irving, Texas. He’s not likely to get out on bail. Not after the high-powered weapons we found in his trunk.”
“What did you see in his backseat?” I asked.
He looked like he wasn’t going to answer, but he finally said, “Rope, a hypodermic needle.”
“A big knife,” Witt said in a deadpan voice, still looking out the window. “Some zip ties.”
“So your basic kidnapping kit,” I said in a teasing tone.
Neither man looked amused.
“Okay,” I said. “Enough mopin’. We still have work to do.”
Witt dug his phone out of his pocket and frowned. “You need to answer your phone. Jed’s having a fit.”
“It’s in my purse.”
He rummaged around until he found it and handed it to me. My phone had blown up over the last hour and a half. Calls and texts from Jed, Rose, Maeve, Jonah, and Granny. But the text that caught my attention was the one from Kate.
I see you found your surprise.
I held it up and showed Joe.
“She knew Adkins would be here,” he said. “How’d she know?”
“Franken,” I whispered.
Joe frowned and glanced around, then said, “Let’s go back to the landscaping office and we’ll fill you in. Neely Kate, you’re ridin’ with me.”
I expected an argument from Witt, and the tight set of Joe’s jaw suggested he did too, but Witt just nodded and handed me my purse. Muffy, who was still on Witt’s lap, shifted as he moved.
“Witt,” I said. “Will you take Muffy?”
His brow lifted in surprise. “Why don’t you take her?”
I nodded my head toward her. “I think she needs you right now.” Honestly, I suspected he needed her more—and Muffy knew it—but I wasn’t about to say so.
“Yeah. Sure.” He scooped her up and followed me out of the booth.
“I have a few calls and texts to return,” I told Joe as soon as we got into the car.
He nodded but remained silent as I texted Rose that I was fine, not to worry. Next I called my grandmother, but my cousin answered.
“Hey, Dolly Parton,” I said. “I saw I missed a call from Granny.”
“She’s in the bathroom right now and she just went in. She had wings from Big Bill’s, so it might be a while.”
“Do you know what she was callin’ about?”
“Not a clue.”
Surely Dolly Parton would have known if it was important. “Will you tell her to call me back when she gets a chance?”