Free In Place of Never by Julie Anne Lindsey

drummed, from joy or concern, I wasn’t sure. Cross arrived first. He stepped between Mark and me. Anton moved in beside Cross. Neither guy appeared to notice Mark or the girl. “Coffee?” Cross extended two cups to Pru and me.
    Pru grabbed hers with a wide smile. I accepted the other.
    Anton passed the cup in his left hand to Cross. “What’re you two lovely ladies up to this morning?” His deep baritone lifted a small smile on my cheeks. So far, Anton seemed as harmless as anyone I’d ever met but he looked like a freight train. It was kind of funny.
    “Hey.” Mark stepped around Cross, towing the blonde with him. “We were talking.”
    Cross lifted his chin a fraction of an inch. His deep-set eyes locked with mine. “You want to talk to him?”
    “Nope.”
    Anton turned on Mark with a smile. “Later, man.”
    Emotions rolled over Mark’s face. The line of people waiting at White Water Coffee gawked. How would big-talking, fat-headed Mark Dobbs handle a confrontation with someone his own size and one quite larger? A fistfight on the street before lunch? Not very impressive. Especially not when Anton inevitably handed his ass to him.
    The sign over Red’s fluttered in the wind and recognition dawned on Mark’s dumbfounded face. He threw his head back and laughed like a hyena. “Oh.” He slapped his thigh. “That’s perfect. Hysterical and really, really sad, but perfect. You always were just like your sister.” He shook his head and sauntered off, looking mighty proud of himself. “Wait till your daddy hears about this.”
    Pru squinted at me, shading her eyes with one hand. “What?”
    “Us.” Anton moved behind me, blocking the sun from Pru’s eyes. “He meant us. I knew your sister.”
    * * * *
    The four of us settled around a picnic table at the pavilion near the cemetery. Warm winds swept through the willows and cattails along the river.
    I folded my legs on the narrow bench and chipped green paint off the wooden slats with my fingernails. “Are there two other people somewhere waiting on these coffees?”
    Cross rested his elbows on the table beside me. “Nah. We were headed to your place with them.”
    Pru blew a long raspberry. “That’s not a good idea. Dad’s hosting a planning party for his how-to-run-the-Lovells-out-of-town movement.”
    Anton nodded. “That sounds about right.”
    “That’s it.” Pru set her coffee down and looked at each of our faces. “I need a whole lot of answers. I got caught with my pants down on the worst day of the year and my whole world imploded. It’s like I woke up in Wonderland this morning.”
    I smiled. It was the same thing I’d thought yesterday.
    Anton snorted, but it didn’t stop Pru’s rant.
    Pru pointed at me. “She’s smiling. I have no idea what that’s about. Dad’s lost his ever-loving mind. He thinks your sideshow somehow killed our sister. Oh, and it brings ‘trouble’ to the town.” She formed air quotes with her fingers. “He and his old-man crew are probably polishing their pitchforks as we speak. Mercy’s hanging with me on purpose and two hot guys bought us coffee. I don’t get it.” She raised both eyebrows. “Explain.”
    I filled in the details as quickly as possible, avoiding the hard words like “death” and “suicide.” I concentrated on the dash of hope that had woken me before the roosters and focused on new possibilities. Faith wasn’t coming back, but it hurt less to think I might get some answers about the night she died.
    Pru mulled over the mass amount of new information for an entire thirty seconds before her questions started again. “Dad knows Faith and her friends partied with you guys that night? Is that why he wants your family gone?”
    Cross waved one finger. “Not me. I wasn’t part of the team that year.”
    “Whatever.”
    His eyebrows crowded together.
    I bit back a laugh.
    Pru turned to Anton. “You were with her though. How much did she drink? Were you swimming? Was she? Where