"A present?" I asked and perked up. Who didn't get excited about gifts? Unless... "It's not like the gift of your presence. Is it?"

Tony laughed. "I wish I'd thought of that first, but no."

"Where is this gift? Is it food?" I asked, getting excited about the possibility of something chocolate.

I sniffed and caught the scent of pine cleaner. It must have been a fluke. I definitely wasn't in the janitor's closet.

"It's in my truck. Come on," Tony said and held the door open for me.

It's not like I had anything else to unpack, and no one had heard about my new office, so I followed Tony out of the building to his truck. The sun hit me and I smiled. Something was just wonderful about spring in Maine. The world smelled fresh and new. Warm. Beautiful.

Tony walked to the passenger side of his truck, opened the door, and leaned inside, fumbling with something.

I leaned over his shoulder to watch, and the glove box popped open. "You got me a gun?"

He was the best partner ever! I'd totally have to hide the gun from Broadrick, though. He'd never be cool with me having one.

Tony whipped around. "What? Absolutely not."

My shoulders sagged. "But that's where you keep your gun."

I found his glove box gun randomly one day while in his truck.

Tony shushed me. "Don't say that so loud."

"Well, it is." I shrugged. It's not like I made it up. If he didn't like that hiding spot, he should find a new one. It wasn't my fault he had a crap location.

He mumbled something under his breath with his hands hiding something behind him. "It's better than a gun."

That seemed unlikely. A gun would have been a really cool present.

"Okay, let me have it," I said and closed my eyes with my hands out.

Something cool and heavy hit my hands. I popped my eyes open, and I wrapped my fingers around a bright red stapler.

"What do you think?" Tony asked, staring at the stapler like he'd handed me a million dollars.

I smiled. "It's great. I can hit someone with it." I gave it a quick swing like a baseball bat. The stapler cut through the air and grew heavier in my hands. Definitely heavy enough to cause damage.

He lowered his eyebrows. "Or staple papers with it."

"Oh, yeah. That too. Thanks, Tony." I tapped the end of the stapler against my open palm.

A white Pacifica van pulled into the parking lot and found a spot to the right of us. The driver waved.

"Oh no. Isn't that your aunt?" Tony asked. Why did he sound so horrified?

I laughed. "Yeah."

Aunt Claire opened her van door as soon as the vehicle turned off and jumped out, holding a thick folder. "Vonnie, I'm so glad I found you."

"How did you know I was here?" Images of my aunt driving the streets with her head out the window calling my name caused me to smile.

She walked right up to Tony and grabbed on to his upper arm, giving it a squeeze. Oh, right? That's why he always ran when he saw my aunt. She got handsy.

"Facebook. Katy posted about your new location last night," Aunt Claire said.

She latched on to Tony's arm with her other hand and squeezed both at the same time. Tony grunted.

"I just remembered I have an emergency skip I have to check-in on," Tony said and jerked his arms from Claire's grip.

She frowned. "You're leaving so soon? I needed to talk to Vonnie."

Tony glared at me and shook his head. "Vonnie can't come, so she's ready to hear all about it."

"Wait, Tony," I called and grabbed for him.

He hightailed it toward his truck and gave me a wave as he jumped into it. "Sorry, princess."

"That's weird. We should have your friend over for dinner," Aunt Claire said as she watched Tony pull away with a wistful gaze in her eyes.

Memories of the last time Broadrick and I ate there, when I tossed a roll under her cabinet, had me grimacing. "Yeah, I'll ask him."

The breeze messed up Claire's long brown hair, and she struggled to fix it. "I think he has bigger arms than Ridge."

Oh wow.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked to change the subject. Anything to move on from discussing my aunt's groping tendencies.

"Yes, I forgot." Aunt Claire fanned herself with her thick envelope. "Let's go inside. This is family business."

I kept my groan on the inside so she didn't notice. If she asked me to babysit her beta fish Jeffrey again, I'd have to fake having the plague. Less than a month ago, Jeffrey number one was cooked to death at the bakery. I had to replace him with Jeffrey II before she noticed. The pet shop would definitely start asking questions if I had to buy another very specific blue beta. Someone would put that on Facebook. Pet stores didn't adhere to HIPAA.

She followed me into the building and to my office. I took the chair across from the desk and rolled it closer. Aunt Claire slid the black folder across the desk and then stared at me.

I grabbed it and pulled it to me. "What's this?"

"I think your uncle is cheating on me."

My heart stopped, and I dropped the folder to the desk. "Uncle Richard? Never."

Uncle Richard adored Claire. He had to in order to eat her cooking every night. If that didn't say love, nothing did. They were like 'couple goals'. Super weird to everyone else, but perfect for each other. Even my mother thought so.

"He is, Vonnie." Her voice broke as she said it.

I tapped the top of the envelope that suddenly looked thicker. "Not Uncle Richard. He loves you."

Aunt Claire shook her hair and pushed it behind her shoulder. "It's true. I don't want to believe it either, but the facts are there."

My gaze followed her finger as she pointed at the envelope. The thrumming in my chest sped up. This wasn't happening. "Why do you think so?"

"There are stacks of receipts for him eating at the Clearwater diner without me. Why would he do that?" she asked and her voice broke.

I bit my bottom lip. There were a few reasons. Like the super hard rolls she tried to kill me with the last time we ate dinner together. "That doesn't mean he's cheating."

Except in the kitchen. And really, no one would blame him.

My aunt's shoulders shook, and she held her head in her hands. "I know he is. I feel it in my bones."

Tears clouded my eyes. These two couldn't break up. I grabbed the edge of the desk and held on as the world spun.

"Have you talked to him?" I asked.

She sniffled. "No. You know how he is. He'll just deny it. I need proof before I say anything."

She had a point. Stubbornness ran on my mother's side of the family.

"I still don't believe it, but it shouldn't be me. My mother would never forgive me." Or my uncle. I pushed the envelope an inch in her direction. If someone was going to catch my uncle ruining his family, it would not be me.

Aunt Claire whipped her head up. "No! Vonnie, it has to be you. This is family business. No one can find out. You must act in secret."

I opened my mouth to offer Mick's services and then snapped it shut. My mentor was dead.

"Think of what would happen if it got out. This town would eat him alive. He'd lose his job. We have Florida retirement plans. There's no losing those." Her voice grew steady with determination the more she spoke.

I paused. Did Florida really matter in this situation?

"You want to keep it a secret?"

She nodded, firmly. "It has to be handled in private."

"But won't everyone figure it out?" I asked. Sure, the town kept secrets, but this would be huge. Especially since my uncle worked at the high school. They had a serious gossip mill there.

The AC kicked on and the leaves of the fake plant moved with the breeze. It was definitely not warm enough in May for the AC to be running. The smell of pine cleaner grew stronger. Maybe they put something in the vents.

"I will not leave him, Vonnie. We've invested too much in this relationship to quit now. He has to get his act together so we can move forward. The only gravy going in his mouth is mine."

I choked, and my eyes widened. My mouth opened, closed, and opened again as I searched for words. Aunt Claire didn't make it easy for me. I had to resemble Jeffrey the beta fish.

Finally, I shook my head and tapped the folder of receipts. "Okay. I'll do it."

What else could I say? I had to do something. My family might implode if I didn't defuse the situation and prove my uncle was not a cheater.

"Thank you. I'll check in soon to see what you find." Aunt Claire walked out of the room, and I watched without making a sound. How did she believe my uncle would cheat on her? And why in the hell would she pick me to be the one to prove his cheating? What did I do?

What if he was cheating?

The minutes stretched on as I contemplated it, and my blood pressure lowered. I'd have to ... figure out something.

Yeah. That's what I'd do.

Figure out something.