Free Shadowed by Kariss Lynch

outwitted them. Again. It was time to get to the bottom of this.
They would get home. And they would get answers.

Chapter 9
    K AYLAN COULDN’T WAIT to get off her feet as she entered her house and tossed the
keys on the bar. The guys had been gone for four days, and she’d just gone to check
their house and get the mail. Everything was as she left it. “I guess ole Mrs. Buckner
finally croaked,” Megan said as she stirred pasta in a pan on the stove.
    â€œMegan!”
    â€œIt is what it is, Kaylan.”
    â€œThat’s sad. We didn’t get to say good-bye.” She sank onto a bar stool, her feet
sore from her rotation. This month they had her stationed in a hospital, creating
meal plans for different patients. She loved the nutrition aspect, but she was ready
to finish the internship, take the dreaded registered dietician exam, and become
Kaylan Richards, RD.
    â€œI went by at the beginning of the week and took Mrs. Buckner some soup. She didn’t
look so good. Real pale. Barely able to move on her walker.” Megan glanced at Kaylan.
“It’s kind of sad her family didn’t take care of her. They would have thrown her
in a shabby nursing home and never thought twice. I’ll miss going over there to watch Wheel of Fortune when I take her dinner.”
    Kaylan nodded, thankful for the small glimpses of compassion she saw in Megan. Her
friend was tough out of necessity. Life had dealt her some rough blows. Megan had
lived in the house for a year before Kaylan moved in and had visited her ailing grandmother
for a year prior to inheriting the house. Mrs. Buckner had been friends with her
grandmother, and Kaylan knew Megan had grown more attached to their elderly neighbor
than she let on.
    â€œGuess we will have a new neighbor soon.” Megan smirked. “I’m guessing we’ll take
her cookies? I think your Southern hospitality is rubbing off on me.”
    Kaylan laughed and allowed the full brunt of her Southern accent to color her words.
“Stick around, darlin’. There’s more where that came from.”
    â€œOh, wow. Shoot me if I start talking like that.”
    Kaylan hopped off her stool and began to pull ingredients from the cabinets. “Not
a chance. I’ll have you saying ‘y’all’ in no time.” She held up two bags. “Since
you are making pasta salad, I think I should take cookies to this dinner tonight.
Should we make chocolate chip or M&M?”
    â€œYou’re in the mood for chocolate.”
    Kaylan snuck a small handful of M&Ms. “Always. So what’ll it be?”
    â€œChocolate chips.” Megan turned off the burner and drained the water over the sink.
She preheated the oven, and the two moved around the kitchen in perfect sync, sneaking
handfuls of chocolate until the cookies were in the oven. Their next-door neighbor,
Nina, had invited them over for one of her monthly “Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little”
dinners and tea. She liked to get the ladies on the block together once a month to
gossip and eat. She was on neighborhood watch and took her job very seriously. Megan
had refused to go to dinner until Kaylan accepted for both of them. They had an hour
before the festivities began.
    Megan hopped onto the kitchen counter. “The dough is the best part. We should just
take that.”
    â€œOh, so true.” Kaylan licked the spoon before placing it in the sink and running
the water.
    â€œWhere’s lover boy been lately? Haven’t seen him in a few days.”
    Kaylan didn’t take her eyes off the spoon. “Work got crazy. Both of our hours have
been all over the place this week.” She shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.” She knew
she wasn’t exactly lying, but she wasn’t telling the whole truth either. For a moment
a longing for Sarah Beth hit her, and she physically ached. She never would have
had to lie to her, even about Nick being gone. She