Read Online Dogwood Days by Poppy Dennison - Free Book Online Page A

performance,” Zane said as he put the radio back onto the holder.
    “What?”
    “Manipulating Selma Jane like that. Making her do your dirty work. What were you thinking going around taking pictures at the school, Jefferson Lee?”
    “I was thinking that I needed pictures of something springy for the blog, and Owen told me that his brother had just made a birdhouse, and I thought it was a good idea for the pictures!”
    “Next time, stay away from the school, would ya? I’d hate to have to arrest you for trespassing.”
    “No, you wouldn’t! You’re dying to arrest me!”
    The sheriff simply turned his eyes back to the road. After a few minutes, he pulled up in front of Uncle Sherman’s house and stopped the car.
    Jefferson opened the door and stormed out. He slammed the door behind him and turned to glare at the sheriff. Zane lowered the window and smiled. “You aren’t going to invite me in?”
    “No! And your eyes aren’t that nice anyway!”
    With a huff, Jefferson turned and stomped his way up the driveway. He slammed the front door behind him, causing Uncle Sherman to call out from the study. Jefferson stormed into the room and dropped the camera on his uncle’s lap, barely missing Sissy, who’d curled up next to his uncle. She gave him a warning meow that promised retribution before curling back up. Jefferson glared at her, then turned his frown on his uncle.
    “There. Your spring pictures. I’m going… hell, I don’t know. There’s nowhere to go. I’m going to my room!”

Chapter SEVEN
     
     
    JEFFERSON GROANED his frustrations into the phone and heard Trent’s sympathetic tsk from the other side.
    “No good prospects, then?” Trent asked.
    “Nothing. Journalism is not the job market to be in right now. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I spent half the night pouting and the other half scouring the Internet for a decent reporting job.”
    “Well, don’t worry about the rent. I can cover it for a couple months.”
    “Aww, man. You don’t have to do that. I’ll figure something out.”
    “I know. It’s not a big deal, Jefferson. You’d do the same for me, and you know it.”
    He had a point.
    Jefferson sighed. “You’re the best, Trent. Thank you. I’ll be here for a while with Uncle Sherman, I guess. I can’t decide if I love it in Holly Creek or hate it.”
    “You love it. Who do you think you’re kidding?”
    “Did you know they called the cops on me for taking pictures outside the school?”
    “Why the hell were you doing that? That’s creepy, man. You can’t just go and take pictures of people’s kids.”
    “Trent! I was taking pictures of the damn birdhouses. And then I told the sheriff his eyes weren’t that nice. Urgh!”
    “I have no idea what that means.”
    “Never mind. It just means I made an ass out of myself.”
    “So the sheriff’s hot, huh?”
    “No! Well… no. Yes. I don’t know! He’s the damn sheriff, and he wants to arrest me. He said so!”
    “He wants to arrest you? He actually said he wants to arrest you? For what?”
    “Huh. Now that you mention it, he actually said he wanted to cuff me. But still!”
    “Oh, kinky. Didn’t know you had a uniform kink, Jefferson. Does seeing me in my firefighting getup get you all hot and bothered?”
    “Yes, Trent. It makes me want to strip you naked and hose you down for being an asshole.”
    Trent laughed, and Jefferson scowled at the phone.
    “Calling you was supposed to make me feel better.”
    “Sorry. Well, not really ’cause that’s damn funny. So the sheriff has a thing for you, huh?”
    “No, he doesn’t.”
    “You sure about that?”
    Jefferson scrunched up his nose. “No. Yes. I don’t know. He told me to call him Zane.”
    “Oh, scandalous. Maybe he doesn’t have a thing for you after all.”
    With a huff Jefferson rolled over to his side and switched the phone to his other ear. He’d not wanted to crawl out of bed this morning, so he’d decided to harass his roommate