Her Holiday Family. Ruth Herne Logan

don’t like that he or she hightailed it up here toward Dad’s store when he thought he’d been spotted.”

      “Me, neither. I could start sleeping here. Add an ounce of Fort Bragg protection to the local mix.”

      “Mom would go crazy with that. And Dad would worry, and the last thing we want to do is make Dad worry.”

      “No argument there. So what do we do?”

      “For now, go home.” Tina offered the suggestion as she turned back toward Overlook Drive. “Although the likelihood of getting more sleep is pretty much impossible now.”

      “Because?” Max left the comment open-ended, hoping for the right answer. She supplied it, and wasted no time doing it.

      “There’s only one reason someone would be poking around the ashes of my hard work,” she answered quickly, and he read the thick emotion in her voice. “And that’s because they’re looking for evidence that puts them at the scene of the fire. Which means the supposition of arson just became a reality in my head.”

Chapter Four

      She looked like someone had just stolen her best friend, her favorite toy and her puppy all at once. A sheen of tears brightened her eyes, and Max resisted the pull for sympathy until her chin quivered.

      That did it.

      He reached out and gathered her in for a hug. Tina’s expression reflected the very emotions his mother had shared over supper. Fear. Questioning. Guilt. Remorse.

      Not eating.

      Not sleeping.

      Barely existing.

      He hugged her close, letting her cry against his shoulder. He heard Seth slip off into the shadows, retracing his steps back home. When the tears paused, he looped an arm around her shoulders and headed for the sidewalk.

      “Where are we going?”

      “I’m walking you home.”

      “This is the long way,” she whispered, then scrubbed the arm of her sweatshirt across her face, total tomboy. “No tissues.”