Deciding to dive feet-first into an unholy alliance she hoped that Shade would accept, she laid the potatoes down on the counter. “Are you a holy man, Shade?”
“Do I seem like a man of God to you?” his face was impassive as his question was more of an answer. “What are you wanting, Ginny?”
Ignoring the foreboding chill that almost had her second-guessing herself, Ginny bluntly told him her tale. “I went through a lot of trouble for that picture to make it impossible for the West’s to continuing being foster parents. I want it placed in the right hands.”
“So you want me to give it to Knox?”
“I could have done that myself. No, I want you to give it to Tate Porter.”
“Why Tate, and not the sheriff?”
“Knox will have to give it to Ms. Tackett, and she and Lisa are friends. Little Darcy will be eighteen before she gets around to removing her.”
“Why Tate, then?”
“Lisa has a bad habit of lying. I heard her laughing with Dalt about one she told to Sutton Creech. She bragged that it sent Sutton running with her tail tucked between her legs. She’s back in town, and I think that picture will give Tate a bargaining chip to keep Lisa out of his and Sutton’s life forever. In reward for giving him that picture, I want you to get his promise that he’ll get her to stop being a foster parent.”
“Why not confront Lisa yourself?”
“She’s going to be furious. I don’t want her taking it out of Willa when I’m not around since I work for her. She’ll be afraid to mess with Tate.”
He astutely watched as she began washing the potatoes. “Why don’t you give it to him instead of involving me?”
“I can’t. The Porters and the Colemans are feuding.”
“I didn’t think you were still close to your family?”
“I’m not,” Ginny acknowledged. “But I’ll always be a Coleman.”
“I’ll see what I can do. I’m going to town; do you need anything while I’m out?”
“No, I’m good.”
Once the potatoes were cleaned, she set them aside, then started cleaning the house. The rest of the morning flew by. When she saw Shade in line for lunch, neither mentioned that morning.
The kitchen was still full when it was time to leave for the bakery. Making sure Beth and Lily had everything they needed to finish lunch, she left. Opening her car door, she paused from getting inside at the sight of a plastic bag sitting on the bucket seat. Picking it up, she got inside, and once the door was closed, Ginny reached inside to pull out a bag of candy. Grinning, she opened the bag and took out her favorite. Unwrapping the sweet treat, she popped it into her mouth, then opened her purse to dump the rest of the candy inside.
“Darn it, Shade,” Ginny muttered out loud to herself as she started her car. “If I get a cavity, I’m sending you the bill.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ginny 20 / Gavin 33
Ginny placed her clean juice glass back in the cabinet, in the neat row of the same glasses.
Grinning down at the kitten that was rubbing against her leg for attention, she couldn’t resist picking her new baby into her arms. “I can’t play with you now, I have to get ready for work.” She cooed, carrying the kitten into the living room to lay her onto the couch. “Play with your toy.” Laying a plastic mouse within the cat’s reach Ginny laughed when the toy was ignored in favor of kneading the couch cushion. Glad it was a secondhand couch, she could see another one was in her near future. Taking her cell phone, she then went upstairs to the hallway bathroom to finish getting ready for work.
She could have easily moved into the bedroom with the en suite bathroom now that Bliss married Drake and was the new mother of the Wests’ former foster child, Darcy. Ginny had no idea how Shade had accomplished that, but the next morning, when she had gone to work after giving him the picture, Willa had told her that Darcy had been placed in another home. She hadn’t stayed in foster care for long. Then Drake had asked Bliss to marry him, and they had become a family before Christmas.
Ginny hadn’t taken Bliss’s larger room, deciding to save it for Trudy for as soon as Hammer gave the go-ahead and allowed her to spend the occasional night. They were just waiting to live together permanently until he felt confident enough that Trudy was no longer on Allerton’s watch list.
Both she and Trudy thought Hammer was being overly cautious, but their concerns with the other’s safety had them agreeing to wait. Trudy had already tested Hammer’s patience enough by telling Sex Piston, Killyama, Fat Louise, and Crazy Bitch their secrets.
He willingly admitted he screwed up by placing both Killyama and Trudy in the same town, making it easier for him to monitor them. Their grandmother had wanted to give Trudy a fresh start without the memories of before, so he’d moved them to Jamestown. It was also where he’d relocated Peyton and Killyama. Knowing the town was small, there was likelihood that they would meet, but them forming a friendship hadn’t been on his radar.