“Do you?” she asked, tipping her head back to meet his gaze.
He gave her a small smile. “Yes.”
She returned the smile, loving that she had this moment with him. She would need to threaten Liz’s life if she ever disclosed that Tuck was working here or that he and Jodi spent this time shut in the office. The last thing Tuck needed was more publicity.
“Tell me. How bad is it?”
Jodi frowned. “How bad is what?”
“Whatever else happened today. I was driving when the producer called me, and I hung up on her after she told me people had followed me to my mom’s facility. I assume there was more.”
Jodi swallowed. “Jesus, Tuck. Yeah. There’s more.”
He winced, easing up on his grip. “Give me the CliffsNotes. We don’t have much time before the bar opens.”
“Maybe we should discuss this after we close,” she suggested.
He shook his head. “Nope. Just tell me. The worst thing that could have happened in this fiasco was someone finding my mom. That happened. Nothing else will shock me.”
She moaned. “Tuck, I think you might be underestimating the number of fans you have and the level of influence they carry.”
He took a deep breath. “Do it.”
“Your wife is presumably having an affair with both Dawson and Brittany B.”
His eyes widened. “Both of them? How the hell does she manage to carry on two separate affairs?”
Jodi shook her head. “Nope. Just one affair. It’s a threesome.”
Chapter 8
“Where’s Jodi?” Tuck asked her father ten hours later after the last of the customers had left the bar and the front door had been locked. Usually Jodi remained behind the bar for a while cleaning up and getting everything in perfect order for the next day.
“She said she needed to do something. She’s in the office, I think. I told her I would finish the last load of dishes and put the glasses away.”
Tuck nodded and headed toward the office.
When he opened the door, he found Jodi sitting on the edge of the loveseat, leaning over the coffee table. She had a pill in her hand, and there was a small bag of pills on top of his forgotten folder in front of her.
Tuck’s heart leaped as he took two strides across the room in less than a second, swatting at her hand to knock the pill free. The pill, the bag, and the folder went flying.
“Jesus, Tuck. What the hell?”
He leaned over her, one hand on the arm of the sofa. He couldn’t breathe. “What were you doing?”
“Well, I wasn’t taking pills if that’s what you were thinking,” she shouted. “Come on. You know me better than that.”
He shook his head. “Never thought you were. But where did you get them, and why the hell were you touching them?”
“Chill, big guy. I found the bag of them in the ladies’ room on the sink. Someone must have forgotten them. I was going to bring them to you, but I think they’re just Advil or something. No sense losing your shit over some ibuprofen.”
He stepped around her to the other side where the entire mess had landed all over the floor. He grabbed the bag of pills first. There were six in the bag still. He held it up with two fingers carefully on the edges, scrutinizing them before lowering them to set them on the coffee table. “Jodi, that was so reckless of you. If these are illegal drugs, just touching them could harm you. Why the hell would you hold something in your hand when you don’t know what it is?” He was trying hard not to yell at her, but she’d scared the life out of him.
She swallowed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that.”
He ran a hand through his hair, drawing in deep breaths. “Go wash your hands with soap, and bring me a baggy.”
“Okay.” She jumped off the loveseat and rushed for the door.
He scoured the floor, looking for missing pills and finding only one. Hopefully the one that was in her hand. He wasn’t sure if any had fallen out of the bag though.
When she came back, she silently handed him a Ziploc bag. She was shaking, which made him feel like an ass. First things first though. He needed to know what they were dealing with.
“Do you know how many were in the bag?”
“Seven total,” she murmured. “I was holding one. Six were still in the bag.”
Well, that was good. At least they were all accounted for. Tuck scooped up the lone pill from on top of the mess of papers all over the floor with the inside of the baggy, not touching it. He brought it over to the desk, lowered onto the chair, and used his phone’s camera to zoom in and get a better look at it.
He flipped the pill over and looked at both sides. Finally, he blew out a long breath. There were three tiny numbers on one side.
“You think it’s something?” Jodi asked tentatively.
“No.” He leaned back and sighed. “It’s something over the counter. Probably allergy pills.”
She exhaled, her shoulders relaxing where she stood across from him. She was still shaking though.
He jumped up and rounded the desk to get to her, hauling her into his arms. “I’m sorry I overreacted. You scared the hell out of me.”
“I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked against his chest.
When he tipped her head back, he found her eyes watery. She swallowed back tears.
“Jodi, I’m so sorry. Please. Please. In the future, don’t touch anything you find. If that had been fentanyl,
