With only one goal in mind, she had taken every scholarship that came her way, had worked double shifts, had taken out student loans. All so that she could provide a better life for her daughters doing something she loved.
Nothing was turning out the way she’d planned.
She sighed and nibbled her popcorn. Silver had become a distant stranger and Mia’s sudden-onset shyness had become a crutch to her in every social situation. Her teacher said Dani’s once bubbly, joy-filled daughter became withdrawn and silent the moment she walked into the school.
Dani wasn’t exactly fitting in, either. Not only that, but the natural confidence and sharp intuition she had always felt around animals seemed to abandon her when she was the one making all the hard calls. Frank was so very kind and patient with her, but she still felt as if she was fumbling through everything.
Oh, she hoped this whole move wasn’t a huge mistake. But really, what was one more? She’d been making mistake after mistake since she got pregnant with Silver at seventeen.
No. Her girls were her joy. Neither of them was a mistake, though Dani’s choice of a man to be their father certainly was.
Mia stirred. “Is the movie over?” she asked sleepily.
“Yes. Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”
She scooped up her daughter, loving the poignancy of having her small, sweet-smelling shape nestled against her. Sooner than Dani wanted to think about, her baby would be too big for Dani to lift. She was growing so fast.
She carried Mia into her bedroom, decorated in her favorite colors, pink and lavender. After helping the girl under the covers, Dani pulled them up to Mia’s chin.
“What about the movie? We didn’t finish it,” Mia said in a plaintive, sleepy tone, eyes mostly closed.
“Maybe you can watch the rest tomorrow with Silver while the babysitter is here or after I get home from work tomorrow night.”
“Okay...” Mia’s voice trailed off before she finished the word.
Dani stood beside the bed, Winky at her feet, watching her daughter sleep and feeling the weight of responsibility that had rested completely on her shoulders alone all of Mia’s life.
“Come on, Wink,” she whispered after a moment. The little dog led the way outside. In the hallway, the dog suddenly tensed, a small growl in her chest as she hurried to the door.
A moment later, someone gave a firm knock.
Dani glanced at her watch. It was after nine. Who would be coming at this hour? Silver had a key and would have let herself in.
Dani went to the door and peered through the peephole. At first, all she saw was a broad chest clad in a T-shirt and unzipped navy blue down jacket. Her gaze traveled up and she recognized the hard, masculine features of her next-door neighbor.
In the dim glow from her porch light, Ruben appeared dark and dangerous and as gorgeous as ever.
A slight movement caught her attention and Dani shifted her gaze, suddenly realizing he wasn’t alone.
Silver stood next to him, eyes wide and nervous and her chin trembling as if it was taking all her energy not to cry.
Dani swore sharply and was glad Mia was in bed and didn’t hear it. She had worked for years to clean up her street language but sometimes swear words slipped out in moments of high tension.
Her stomach dropped. Oh, Sil. What have you done?
Dani could think of a dozen reasons an officer of the law would be bringing back her child. None of them good.
She wanted to sneak away, to hide in her bedroom and pretend she didn’t hear the doorbell, but she was a grown-up. She couldn’t pull the covers over her head and ignore her law enforcement officer of a neighbor and whatever dire news he had to impart.
Trouble, like bloodhounds, will always track you down.
With a sigh and a prayer for patience, she opened the door. “Deputy Morales. This is a surprise. What are you doing here? And with my darling daughter, who was supposed to be spending the evening with a friend watching a movie.”
“Apparently she found something else to do. May I come in?”
She wanted to say no. She wanted to bar the door against him and her baffling, frustrating child, but, again, adulting carried certain unavoidable responsibilities.
With no choice, she held the door open. Silver didn’t meet her eye as she shuffled inside.
“I’m going to bed,” she muttered, all prepared to flee toward her room across the hall from Mia’s. She looked as if she wanted to be anywhere on earth but here in their living room.
“Guess again,” Dani snapped. “What’s going on? Why are you not watching a movie with Jenny? Why did Deputy Morales bring you home?”
She slumped into a chair, mumbling something Dani couldn’t make out.
“What was that?”
“You’re just going to yell.”
“Silvia Marie Capelli. What did you do?”
Her daughter folded her arms across her chest and didn’t answer. After a moment, Ruben answered for her.
“Instead of hanging out and watching a movie, Silver apparently decided it would be more fun to take a spray can around town and see what kind of mess she could make with it.”
Dani’s heart seemed to freeze. She stared at her daughter, shock rocketing through her. “A spray can!”
“She tagged three places in the neighborhood—a garage door at Gertrude Grimes’s, an outbuilding at Tom and Mary Miller’s, and my new boat.”
Nausea churned through her, slick and greasy, and she was unable to think straight through the steady stream of swear words ringing through her head and the effort it was taking not to let them spew out.
Those names he gave were all neighbors and patrons of the veterinary clinic. She had treated one of the Millers’ cats and Gertrude Grimes’s rather unpleasant schnauzer.
“That’s a strong accusation,” she said, holding on to a fragile hope that he might be mistaken. “How can you be certain Silver was involved?”
“Show your mom your hand, Silver.”
Her daughter gave a heavy sigh and thrust out her left arm, which earned her an amused look from Ruben.
“Nice try. The other one.”
After a long moment, her daughter held out her right hand. The forefinger and thumb were covered in unmistakable red paint and Dani’s heart sank.
“Silvia. What were you thinking?”
Her daughter remained stubbornly silent, answering only with her habitual nonchalant shrug that drove Dani absolutely crazy.
“In my experience, most of the time the kids involved aren’t thinking. They get into a herd mentality kind of thing and nobody thinks to question whether what they’re doing is a good idea or not.”
She could understand that entirely too well. That sort of thinking had landed Tommy in jail when he was an irresponsible teenager and the pattern had continued through his short adulthood.
“Was this Jenny’s idea?”
“I didn’t go to Jenny’s. That was a lie.”
“So who was with you?”
“There wasn’t anybody else. Just me,” Silver said quickly. Too quickly.
“Really? All by yourself, you got it into your head that you would spend a cold December night