“Cold.”
I turned to look, but his eyes held the humor his tone didn’t. I rolled my eyes. “Seriously.”
“Seriously what?” He leaned against my car. “I’m not kissing you, not calling you, since I don’t even have your number. Maybe a guy just needs a study buddy.”
“Study buddy?” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat to cover it. I shoved my hands into my pockets to keep the chill off my fingers and my fingers off Josh. That seemed to be the only way.
He leaned in, just inches from my mouth, and even though I’m the one who drew the line, my body wanted him to cross it. “Something tells me we’d be really good at doing it together.”
My mouth dropped open. “Josh!”
An impish grin stole over his face. “What? We would be good at studying together.”
I swatted his chest with the backside of my hand and laughed. “Ugh!” Then again, he’d been right. We’d do a lot of things . . . well . . . together.
Dave Matthews rang out from my back pocket, and I reached for my phone, thankful for the distraction. A quick glance at the screen and April’s picture elevated my heart rate. She was supposed to be in school.
“April? You’re supposed to be in third period by now.” God, I sounded like Mom.
“You might want to get over here. Uncle Mike just showed up and there’s a news crew and Mom doesn’t want them in the house and it’s a big mess.”
“Slow down, April. You’re talking too fast.” I reached into the car and started the ignition to warm the engine. “What’s going on?”
“Uncle Mike showed up as I was leaving for school, and then about a half hour ago, a news crew showed up. Mom’s wigging out.”
“I’ll be right there.” I hung up and turned to Josh. “I have to go, there’s major shit going down at my house with my mom’s brother.”
His flirtatious look was gone, immediately replaced with concern. Too bad that was almost sexier than the flirting. “Do you need me? Help? Do you need help?”
I bit back my instinct to say yes, that I wanted him with me. I couldn’t depend on another guy, not this soon. “No, I’d better handle this alone.”
His face fell, and he swallowed quickly with a curt nod. “Yeah, okay.”
“Thanks for asking, though. It means a lot.”
I made the drive to the south side of town in twenty minutes, pulled into our subdivision-standard driveway, and threw the car in park. Sure enough, some huge news conglomerate was parked outside our house.
I’d called Captain Wilson on the way home. He’d warned us something like this might happen, especially with the incident being Afghan military on American, but when the funeral had passed and nothing had happened, I’d hoped it wouldn’t. Apparently it did.
“Mom!” I threw open the door and tossed my keys into the entry hall basket. Then I hung my coat onto the pegs. “Mom!” I called into the kitchen, but there was only Grams.
“She’s upstairs.”
“Grams, what the—” I stopped myself before I ended up with an old-school bar of soap in my mouth. “What’s going on?”
“Your mother’s brother arrived earlier and brought some guests. Some rather uninvited guests.” She sipped her tea calmly, but there was a slight tremor in her hand.
“Right.”
I took the back steps two at a time, coming around the corner at my bedroom door and running smack into a cameraman.
“Oh, excuse me, ma’am,” he muttered.
“You’re damn right, excuse you. Get out of my way.” I pushed past him and two guys with long, metal rods until I found April cowering in the hallway.
Her breath expelled, and she hugged me to her. “They’re in Gus’s room.”
“I’ll take care of this.” I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I was. I ruffled Gus’s hair where he was plastered against April’s side. He should have been in school. He shouldn’t have to see this.
I cracked open the door to the Star Wars shrine Gus called a room and walked straight into an argument.
“I don’t want this, Mike!” Mom shouted at her younger brother. Yoda’s giant face on the bedspread separated them.
“They’re willing to pay you, June. This is a legitimate story, and our family should have a public say about what happened to Justin.”
“Uncle Mike?” I shut the door behind me and took my place next to Mom. If she didn’t want this, I wasn’t going to allow it.
“April, I told you, this is between your mother and me. Run along now and go to school.”
“I’m Ember, not April, and not as easily dismissed. If my mother wants these people to go, they’ll go.” I looked him up and down, from his dark suit to his expensive-looking tie. “And you’re shorter than I remember.”
He flushed. “Of course you’re Ember. I misspoke. It’s been years since I’ve seen you.”
“Yeah, like fifteen or so. I hardly think that entitles you to any opinion about what’s going on here.” I had vague memories of Uncle Mike, and they usually revolved around my mom’s parents who were now dead.
“I’m here to help my sister.”
“Right, which is why you were so thoughtful during the funeral and everything?” There might as well have been crickets in that room.