Page 2 of Must Love Fallen Angels
He left the shelter and got in the truck, heading out to start his patrol.It was going to be a long day.
After a couple of hours, Venice stopped in at the Sable Cove Diner for a cup of coffee.
Tia and her brother Tyce had run the diner for the last few years, wolf shifters who’d come to town after a dustup with their pack.Tyce was as gruff as any wolf Venice had ever met, but Tia was a ray of sunshine and always smiling.
“Hiya, Venice.A cup of coffee?”Tia asked when he walked into the diner.
“Morning, and sure.You got any cinnamon rolls?”
“I saved you one.”
“You’re a doll.”
The diner was quiet, the morning crowd already gone.Tyce nodded at Venice from the kitchen window.
“So I heard someone new is in town,” Tia said as she set the cinnamon roll on the counter and filled a mug with coffee.
Venice sat on the padded stool and reached for the creamer.“Oh yeah?Like a tourist?”
“Um, no.A renter.At the old Brambly cottage.”
The cottage was near the lighthouse and marina, with a private path to the local beach.
“Have you met him or her?”
“Her, I heard, and nope, not yet.I was talking to Lyra earlier this morning when she came in to get breakfast for her clan, and she said she met her.Name is Tessa, I think.Which sounds like a romance novel heroine, don’t you think?”
“Don’t you have something to clean?”Tyce asked.
“I’m just chatting with our favorite angel police officer, you old grump,” she said.
“You’re gossiping,” Tyce said with a growl.
“Ignore him, he’s grumpy because we got a letter from our family about some changes in the pack, and we can’t do anything about what’s going on.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Meh.What can you do?They made us leave, so whatever’s going on with them is on them.”She leaned forward, her voice dropping.“I also think something’s in the air.I can’t put my finger on it, but change is coming.”
“Your wolf feeling psychic?”
“Something like that.Holler if you need me.Apparently, I have to clean.”
She skipped off into the kitchen, telling Tyce he was an idiot, leaving Venice alone at the counter.He added sugar to the coffee and took a drink before taking a bite of the cinnamon roll.He opened his phone to read the local news, but his mind strayed suddenly to the news of a newcomer.
Who was this Tessa, and why had she come to town?
Venice frowned and shut off the thought.Curiosity had gotten him into trouble once before.
When he’d finished his coffee and cinnamon roll, he slid off the stool, waved goodbye to the wolves, and stepped back into the quiet streets, focused on the job and nothing else.
Note to Self: Missing what you lost doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice
The Sable Cove town limits sign welcomed Tessa to the cozy seaside town.She’d never heard of Sable Cove before her life imploded two days ago, but when she’d searched for rental homes, she’d somehow wound up on a beachfront rental site, and there she’d seen a charming cottage on the water, near a working lighthouse, and with a private path to the local beach.
Not only was it quite far from her former home and had entailed a long drive and a stay in a hotel overnight, but it seemed like a good place for a fresh start.
She’d paid the deposit sight unseen, and the landlord had left the keys in the mailbox.
