Making It Right (Most Likely To #3)

“Why go after me? Why not go after Karl?”


Caroline’s back straightened, her lips pushed together. “Karl’s a good, honorable man.”

“A man you’ve cheated on for years.”

Caroline swallowed hard.

Gill moved between them, blocking Jo’s eye contact.

“It looks to me as if Stan has been framing Karl from the start . . . JoAnne’s father’s death, the attempts on Jo’s life. Even all the animals.”

Caroline nodded.

“If Stan discredits Karl, maybe Karl doesn’t hold the same ‘honorable’ mention in your head.”

Caroline stared, mouth open.

“Maybe Karl is deemed the bad guy in all of his, the man responsible for killing the father of his illegitimate son, and maybe then taking the life of the woman who took the job he should have had.”

Horror reached Caroline’s eyes.

“And maybe then all those obstacles are gone, and you’d have nowhere else to go but into his arms.”

Gill stopped watching Caroline and stared at Jo.

While her heart tore open, some of it healed.

At least now she knew.



Jo stumbled outside the room, leaving Gill and Caroline. Jo met Drew’s gaze.

She attempted a grin. If there was a silver lining to any of this, it was the fact she had a brother.

Karl stood at Drew’s side. The sight of the two of them together twisted her gut.

Drew said something to his dad, and Karl offered a half smile to Jo before nodding in her direction.

“Hey.” Jo sat on a waiting room couch, patted the seat beside her.

Drew, still wearing the uniform for the day’s track meet and the scent of a kid who had been running most of the day, sat beside her. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m fine, Drew. Pissed off about Stan, but . . .”

Drew huffed. “We’re all ticked off at him.”

“There are some things you need to know,” she said.

“My mom’s been messing with him.” Drew’s words cut her off.

“I know.”

“Is my mom in trouble?”

“We have a lot of questions for her.”

Drew bit his bottom lip. “Is what he said about your dad true?”

Jo covered her hand with his. “Yes.”

Drew sucked in three rapid breaths. “Does that mean . . . ?” His question hung in the air.

Jo found Karl watching them, humility on his face.

She squeezed his hand. “You still have a father, Drew. But . . .”

He turned and looked at her.

“You’ve gained a sister.”

Moisture filled his eyes.

Damn hers for doing the same thing.

“I like that,” he said.

She needed a bigger smile on Drew’s face. The adrenaline of the day was starting to dump out of her system, and she guessed it was doing the same in his. “Just means I get more than chocolate at Christmas.”

He found his grin. The sneaky-ass one she saw many times in her own mirror. “Means I get to call you JoAnne.”

Her smile dropped. “No one calls me JoAnne.”

Drew did one of those faces kids do to pretend he was contemplating her suggestion. “Well, as I see it, you can’t fail me in track . . . you can’t take away my diploma . . . and Christmas is months away, JoAnne.”

She swallowed hard. “I see how this is going to be.”

“No, you don’t. You might be many things before I was . . . but we became family at the exact same time.” He squeezed her hand back. “We’re going to learn this together.”

Damn kid was going to make her cry.

“Dork.”

Drew pulled her into a quick hug before moving back to his father.





Epilogue




Caroline stayed through Drew’s graduation before packing her belongings and leaving River Bend. The investigation didn’t find her guilty of anything other than infidelity. The town gossip spread like a case of the flu, especially when it came to light that Joseph Ward . . . trusted sheriff of River Bend . . . was just as guilty as Caroline for their transgressions.

Standing beside Drew and her deputy, Karl, Gill held Jo’s hand during the graduation ceremonies of River Bend High.

They were a strange family, one born of lies and deceit. But Jo was happy for it.

Jo had a brother. While she never thought she was missing something in her life, she realized when he became more than just another kid on the field, another attitude-filled teen, she missed a whole lot.

Gill insisted on staying with her the week that followed.

Mel and Zoe moved into the role of reunion alumni committee without having any connection with the class that had graduated three years after them.

The six of them stood around the bar, listening to Principal Mason score free drinks off the graduating class of ten years before. With little to entertain the small town, many showed up regardless of the fact that several of them had graduated more than twenty years before.

“Can you believe this? Thirteen years since we left this school,” Zoe said as she leaned on Luke’s arm.

“I don’t feel like I’ve ever left, and this isn’t where I grew up,” Wyatt said, laughing.

“So, Zoe,” Jo said. “What are you going to do with the family home?” Zoe’s siblings had been paid for their portion, her mother was still serving time, and her father was dead. But the house that had haunted Jo’s BFF still stood.

“Felix had a great idea,” she told them. Felix was her longtime director and friend.

“Oh?”

“Yeah . . . we’re gonna blow it up.”

Jo paused. Gill squeezed her hand.

“Blow it up?” Gill asked.

“Kitchen disasters. You know. The typical ‘I blew up my kitchen cooking a turkey’ episode.”

Mel frowned. “No one blows up a kitchen cooking a turkey.”

Wyatt nudged her.

“I didn’t blow up anything. That stove was defective!”

They all laughed.

The music slowed, and Luke pulled Zoe onto the dance floor.

Mel and Wyatt followed.

“Wanna dance?” Gill asked.

Jo put the drink in her hand down and shook her head. “No. Dancing isn’t what I want to do.”

Gill raised an eyebrow and grinned.

Two hours later, as they rolled over on the bed long after they’d exercised every possible muscle either of them owned, Jo snuggled into the crook of Gill’s arm.

“I’ve been thinking,” Gill said.

“Sounds like trouble.”

He laughed. “There’s a promotion available for me with the bureau.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“It is. I wouldn’t have to leave Eugene.”

She didn’t even realize she’d been holding her breath. “Are you taking it?”

“I’m thinking about it. Which means that Shauna will need a new partner.”

Jo shifted her weight, damn shoulder still ached, even though the sling had been off for less than a week. “Sucks for her.”

He paused. “Unless it’s you.”

Jo lay perfectly still. “Me?”

“Well, I mean . . . you’d have to apply, pass the agility, which you’d ace. You might be eligible with your years of experience as a sheriff, and if not, a few classes to get your degree can work.”

Jo leaned up on an elbow. “You think I need to go back to school?”