Broadrick turned from the laptop with a questioning expression that turned bright. "You'll come?"

My nostrils flared. "No."

"You want me to go and you... what? Stay here? What does that mean for us?" he asked, no longer giving the computer any of his attention.

What did that mean for us?

I thought about my answer for a moment, but nothing came to me. "I want you to have this opportunity, Broadrick. It's important."

"And what about you and us? We're important."

I grabbed on to his lower arm and squeezed, needing the contact. "Nothing will happen with us. You'll go to Florida and check it out. I'll solve this case here, and if Florida doesn't totally suck, we'll talk."

"Vonnie," he said with a disappointed sigh. "We've done long distance before."

"Exactly, so we can do it again for a little while longer," I argued. He should get to chase the dream and the rich criminals.

He turned back to the laptop, but his focus stayed on me. "Ridge wants someone there July first."

"Wow." That was really soon. Like just a few weeks. He didn't tell me it would happen that fast, but I guess with Dalton already in Florida, it made sense. They wanted to get moving with the project and the paycheck. "You should do it, B."

I didn't want to hold back his dreams. We should each get what we needed from life and right then, Broadrick needed it. Keeping him in Pelican Bay was selfish of me. He said nothing but stared at the laptop as if totally engrossed in the discussion of how to fit seven amazing and unique facts about yourself in only three sentences.

"So, you'll tell Ridge you want it?" I asked when his silence became too much.

He jerked his head once but didn't look at me. "I'm not happy about it, but what am I supposed to do?"

My phone rang, vibrating against my leg on the side of the couch, and Broadrick turned up the volume on the video.

Okay, then. Good talk.

I stood up and carried the phone into the hallway. All three dogs followed right behind me. It was like having a mini entourage.

Kylee-Client flashed on my screen and I swiped to accept the call.

"This is Vonnie," I said, walking into the bedroom.

She cut in over static. "Hello, Vonnie. I just wanted to call and say thanks for your help with Carl. He told me he talked to a blonde woman who said he needed to be truthful with his fiancée. I figured it had to be you."

I chuckled. "It went something like that."

Getting to solve the case of the cheating golfer and prove there were some decent men out there actually made the month suck a little less.

"Next week, I'm coming to Pelican Bay to meet his new family. He said they seem nice."

I didn't know how to handle one of my cases going well, and I almost choked up. "I'm glad. They seem like nice people, and they welcomed Carl into the fold. I think they'll love you, too."

NB and Bacon jumped on the bed, messing up the comforter I'd worked hard to throw into place that morning.

"I hope so. Carl seems happy, but I don't want them to hurt him."

Aww. My chest fluttered at her protectiveness over the man she thought cheated just a few days ago. How the heart heals. "The Clines are an excellent family. You're going to be fine. I'm happy for you two and wish you both the best. Hopefully, you'll never need my services again."

Kylee laughed. "I also called to let you know I sent over the final invoice to your PayPal account about five minutes ago."

I pulled the phone from my ear to check my email and saw the confirmation. The email arrived while I was arguing about Florida with Broadrick. Normally, I never miss notification of money. "Thank you, and good luck at your upcoming wedding. You can Carl will be wonderful as a couple."

"Thanks. I'm glad he'll have even more people there to support him. Family is so important. You can never have too many of them."

I wasn't sure about that. Sometimes I definitely had too much family to go around, but for the sake of ending the call, I agreed with her. We said our goodbyes, and I sat on the bed between NB and Bacon. NB moved closer, and I gave him an ear scratch and rubbed my face on the top of his head.

Kylee's words floated around in my mind. Family was important. Even though they drove me insane half the time, not having my mother complaining every few days hurt. My sister never gave up on me, but she was busy with Allen and prepping for college.

Yes, my mother was mad at me, but I had to give it one more shot to apologize. Maybe if I got her to listen to my side of things she'd forgive me.

I stowed my phone in my back pocket, gave NB a pat on the head, and then headed back to the living room. The dogs followed.

We stopped by the front door, and I waited until Broadrick lifted his gaze to meet mine. "I'm heading out," I mouthed to him and pointed toward the door.

He lowered the volume. "If you leave now, you'll miss constructing our pitches."

I laughed. Maybe he wasn't as angry with me anymore. "Write yours down and I'll grade it when I get home."

The dogs hustled toward the door, and NB got his nose out before I pushed them all back in and closed it behind me. I took the long route to my parents' house to give myself time to think. If she'd listen, she'd have to see how I didn't mean to put her brother in jail.

If I got my mother to forgive me, solved Emma's murder, and rescued my uncle from a lengthy jail sentence, then I'd be able to move on in life. Maybe even think about this Florida thing with Broadrick.

I knocked on the front door of my parents' house and waited. If she didn't answer, I'd have to return in disguise to get inside. If they never closed the window in my old bedroom, I'd sneak in and surprise them later.

I'm pretty sure it didn't count as trespassing if you used to live there. The door opened as I rotated through the various disguises I had available.

"Vonnie?" my mother said like she barely recognized me. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk," I said and stuck my foot in the door opening.

My mother shook her head. "Now isn't a good time. I have your aunt coming over in the next hour, and I need to get things around."

She sure was spending a lot of time with my aunt. They never hated each other while I was a kid, but they definitely never spent so much time in each other's company. I didn't think they got along that well.

I bent my knee, putting myself more in the house, and then inserted my shoulder in the space. My mother stepped back, and I walked inside, a little proud of how well that technique worked. I so could have sold vacuums back in the day.

"Wow, Mom. What happened?" I blurted after getting my first view of the house. I hadn't come this far when I broke in to see my sister at her party, but it definitely didn't look like this. My mother would never let her house look messy with guests.

Yet that's exactly what it was at the moment. Messy. She had folded pieces of fabric in all shapes and colors thrown on each piece of living room furniture. Ducks and mushroom fabric lined the back of the couch. Stripes in three different colors sat over both La-Z-Boy chairs and a stack of muted tones on the kitchen table, just visible from my spot.

My mother huffed and grabbed a piece of fabric from the couch, throwing it over another piece. It didn't really help make anything appear cleaner.

"Well, I'm not hiding a murder weapon in the trunk of my car. If that's what you mean?"

That is not what I meant, but her extra aggression at me made more sense. "You heard about that. Huh?"

"The entire town heard about it, Vonnie. Why do you do these things to me? Are you trying to make the family look worse?" She threw her hands up and fixed the edge of the fabric. "Am I such a horrible person that you're trying to ruin my family?"

"What? No." I ripped my gaze from the room, trying to figure out why she needed so much fabric. There was a sewing machine in her new craft room-my old bedroom. Which I still hadn't finished being hurt over-but why did she have it everywhere in the living room? "Who told you about the gun?"

"Vonnie, we live in Pelican Bay. Your Aunt Claire told me." She moved to the fabric stack on the kitchen table and fluffed them around, not actually moving anything. "Was it really the gun that killed Emma? How could you?"

"Mom, I didn't kill Emma Richards. I'm trying to solve her murder." I walked after her.

"By hiding the murder weapon in your trunk? How is that helping, Vonnie?" I hated it when she said my name all flat and angrily like she just did. It made me feel five years old again.

She had her attention on the top piece of fabric, so I stuck both my hands on it. "Mom, I wasn't hiding a murder weapon. I have no clue how it got in my trunk."

"You're just reckless, Vonnie. You always have been, but this takes the cake. Your aunt even had to start a new quilt to deal with the stress. As you can see," she said and waved her arm out to encompass the mess.

That made a little sense. But when did my mother get into quilting? Why was my aunt doing her crafts over here? Aunt Claire normally did them at her own home and then gifted them to us at Christmas.

I stepped around the table to stay in her line of sight. The other half of the table had an assortment of sewing instruments-from bobbins with various colored threads, scissors, and plastic rulers.

"What are these?" I asked, grabbing a clear plastic-wrapped piece of cardboard with two long, thick, sharp needles attached to it.

She grabbed it from me and placed it back on the table. "They're for finishing the quilts. Your aunt likes to do the little tie-offs on her own. I don't know what it's called, Vonnie."

Wow. My mother always had her strings tied a little tightly, but right then, she was almost vibrating with energy. She hadn't been so worked up since Vivi almost won the school spelling bee in eighth grade. I really was causing her a lot of stress.

"You're missing one," I said, pointing to the package she'd tossed down. It's the only thing that came to mind. What else could I say?

She glanced back at the package. "Yeah, I have no idea where it went. I'll probably find it with my foot one morning," she said with almost a laugh.

That quick glimpse of my old mother gave me the courage to continue. "I came to apologize about Uncle Richard."

Now I just had to see if she'd accept it.