Read Online Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann - Free Book Online Page A

followed Tia to the parlor, flopped onto the settee beside her. “If we get people talking—”
    “Jonah doesn’t want whoever it is getting attention.”
    “But someone might know. People brag. They tell me all kinds of stuff.”
    Tia slid her a look. “So I’ve seen.”
    “I can use that. To investigate.”
    “Jonah won’t like it.”
    “He doesn’t have to know until we have something to tell him.”
    “Piper, this isn’t a game.” Tia pressed the skin between her brows as though staving off a headache. “Those creatures suffered.”
    “I know. That’s why I want to help.”
    Tia shook her head. “Trust me; this isn’t the way to get his attention.”
    “What?”
    “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
    Piper blinked. “He’s cute, don’t get me wrong.” Piper drew up her knees and settled into the corner of the settee. “But he’s not interested in me.”
    “Then he’s the only man alive who’s not.” The corners of Tia’s mouth pulled up.
    “Guys here are just starved for someone new.”
    “You think in a year or two you’ll be old news?”
    “A year or two? What would that even be like?”
    “What do you mean?” Tia turned.
    “I’ve never been anywhere a whole year.”
    “Why not?”
    She shrugged a shoulder. “We were sort of like … gypsies.”
    “Gypsies are not tall, blond Barbie-doll people. You look like you had the all-American family.”
    “I do?” She had made friends in most of the different schools, but she’d never thought she looked settled.
    “How come you moved so much?”
    “Let’s just say my family couldn’t do their thing for long in any one place.”
    “What thing?”
    Out of nowhere, tears brimmed her eyes. She hadn’t realized the shame was still so close.
    Tia touched her arm. “You don’t have to tell me.”
    “No, it’s just … amazing how many things you can sue for.”
    “Do you mean fraud?”
    “Most companies—especially employers—will settle to avoid the hassle. And there’s enough of them working together, sharing the big settlements, that no name comes up too often. Plus, they don’t look like lowlifes. My mom is really beautiful, and when she claims her new boss came on to her, it’s believable.”
    “It might be true.”
    “What matters is they pay. My aunt specializes in personal injury. My dad and uncle are into auto claims.”
    Tia leaned back. “Wow.”
    Piper rubbed the tickle on her nose, a nervous reaction to talking about it. “I’m the oddball, a mutant, genetically incapable of lying. Every time they tried to involve me as a kid, I got so worked up trying to keep the story straight that I puked.”
    Tia shook her head, bemused.
    “I hope you don’t think I’m going to rip you off now or something.”
    “Why on earth would I think that?” Tia untied her hiking boots and slipped them off. “I know what it’s like to be the odd one out. In your case it’s a good thing.”
    “I’ll bet in your case it is too.”
    Tia didn’t answer. “So you went your own way and ended up here.”
    Piper nodded. “More or less.”
    “Well, I hope you’ve found a place to stay.”
    Piper smiled. “I’d like that. A lot.”

    Jonah had promised Merv he would check out Tom Caldwell’s shed and went there next. He had tried several times before, but Tom hadn’t been home. This time there was smoke rising from the chimney. He glanced past the house to the shed.
    A trickle of sweat ran down his lower back. He imagined the sting of a spider on the nape of his neck. His hands got clammy, and a cloying rage rose up his throat as he stared at a pine shed way too similar to the one in his memories. His nails dug into his palms. His legs came to a leaden stop.
    The door of the house opened, and Caldwell stepped out. “Help you, Chief?”
    There was a sneer in the way he said it. They’d gone to school together, Caldwell three years ahead of him. Sometimes it wouldn’t hurt to have his dad’s reputation, but he