As if he’d called her into being by mentioning her name, my aunt came into the shop. She wore a cashmere sweater set, pants, and a string of pearls. Her Wednesday casual. She froze a minute as she took in the busy shop. Then she came around the corner and put on an apron. “If you needed help, you should have called. I would have worn something I didn’t have to dry-clean. My plan was just to go over the books this morning.”
I took away the apron from her and shooed her into the back room. “I don’t need help. And if I do, Deek’s over there in the corner. I’ll ask him to start early.”
Deek waved at my aunt, who nodded at him. Then she glanced around the still-crowded room. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.” I wanted to roll my eyes. Apparently, no one thought I was able to run my own shop when I had a few more customers than normal. It was beginning to give me a complex.
Aunt Jackie nodded, then moved to the back. “I’ll be back here, then.”
When my shift finally ended I was more than ready to hand over the reins. Deek came over and put away his tote bag. “I finished a chapter and started a new one. Great writing day for me. How’d you do?”
“There are still tables to clean, I’m behind on dishes, and my feet hurt.” I leaned against the counter and slipped off my apron to toss into the laundry bin. “But I’ll leave that to you. I’m heading to Diamond Lille’s for lunch.”
“Greg meeting you?”
I shook my head and held up the romance I’d had tucked in my tote since the shift started. “Nope. I’m sharing my meal with a handsome and charming bad-boy book boyfriend.”
Chapter 5
Diamond Lille’s best waitress—okay, fine, she could be the best in the freaking world—Carrie saw me come in the door. “I’ve got your favorite booth ready for you. Anyone joining you?”
Apparently, everyone thought I needed a dining companion. I must be hungry. I was second-guessing everything anyone said to me. Instead of reacting, I smiled as I patted my tote. “Just me and a book today.”
She held up a menu. “Do you need this or are you getting fish and chips?”
“And a vanilla shake.” I waved away the menu as I walked to the booth. I didn’t like having too many choices. Besides, when you find a meal you love, you should just accept it. Trying new things just made you wish you’d stuck with your original order.
Which apparently was my motto for dating and relationships too. People like Neal went through trial after trial but still kept coming back to the one he’d married. Was it because of the commitment? Or did he love Meredith in some twisted way?
I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to think about Meredith and Neal anymore. I wanted to read a book with a relationship I knew would be fine at the end. There might be ups and downs and a big, black moment. But there would also be fun and games and hope that everything could turn out.
I needed some positive and happy in my life today.
I pulled out my book and saw Esmeralda pass by my booth and head for the door.
“Esmeralda?”
Either she hadn’t heard me or she was ignoring me. I set down the book and moved to stand so I could catch her, but just then Carrie arrived with the shake.
She saw my movements and glanced behind her. When she didn’t see anything wrong, like a band of gun-toting nuns coming toward us, she turned back to me. “Everything all right, dear?”
“Yeah, I just thought I saw Esmeralda.”
Carrie nodded. “She came in to eat after her shift ended at about eleven. The poor girl looks so tired. Running two jobs is hard on those of us approaching middle age.”
I leaned back in my seat. What was I going to do? Run Esmeralda down and demand to know why she was avoiding me? Especially when I’d just seen her last night? “You’re as young as you feel.”
Carrie chuckled. “That’s a lie they tell us so we’ll feel better.”
As she walked away, I wondered if she’d known Doc had been in town this morning. I suspected she and our county coroner talked a lot, and often. Especially from the blush that had crawled up both their faces when I’d asked each of them separately if they were dating yet. It was hell living in a small town when you were trying to hide a secret.
I picked up the book and got lost in the story. My favorite pastime.
* * * *
The afternoon passed slowly. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Emma and I ran on an almost empty beach. I love March. I thought about stopping to chat with Esmeralda, but she had a car at her house and I didn’t want to interrupt a reading. Even if I didn’t truly believe in her gift, others did, and paid big bucks for her counsel. I wondered, because the Gunters had lost a child, if they’d been in town to talk with our resident fortune-teller. Esmeralda should have told them to avoid the art studio if they had talked to her. But maybe these glimpses into the future or talks to the dead didn’t work that way.
All I knew was my future was in my own hands. I was a big fan of the motto, If it’s going to be, it’s up to me. And as I looked around my cluttered living room, I realized the saying should be on the top of my cleaning list this afternoon. I glanced at the book I’d pulled out of my tote before I ran but turned away from it. It was my month to clean the house and I’d put it off long enough.
I’d just finished the downstairs when my stomach growled. I glanced at the clock. It was already almost seven. Greg hadn’t called, but with an active investigation, that wasn’t unusual. I hoped that Nan Gunter had gone back to the studio after realizing she’d left something there and had some kind of accident. Dying from an accident while you’re on vacation was tragic enough. Being murdered just didn’t seem fair. And if it was an accident, the case would be closed quickly and life in South Cove would go on.
Well, for some of us. I figured Meredith and Neal needed to use the unfortunate incident to get their crap together or figure out that their marriage wasn’t working. Leaving the door to the studio open hadn’t caused Nan’s death, but it had made it easy for her to fall there. I pushed the thoughts out of my head. Not my place to judge someone else’s relationship. Especially people I didn’t know well, like the new business owners. But if this behavior continued, I was afraid they wouldn’t make friends in South Cove very easily. We were a tight-knit group and we were always in one another’s business.
That got me thinking of Justin and his honeymoon plans. Amy had mentioned that she’d always wanted to visit Alaska. Maybe that would be in Justin’s budget. They liked hiking almost as much as they liked surfing. But would Alaska be too cold for a spring getaway? Maybe I should think of more southern destinations. As I made dinner, I also made him a list of places I knew Amy had talked about visiting someday. As I ate my ham sandwich and small salad for dinner, I put all the ideas into an email and sent it to his work address.