Chapter 7
7
Dress or jeans?
Dress or jeans?
Dress or jeans?
I looked at the pile of clothes on my bed and winced. Really? I was acting worse than one of my old high school students.
I jumped when I heard my phone ring.
“Thank God!”
I started rifling through all the clothes on my bed, trying to find my cell phone. “Please let it be Sue.”
When I found it, I immediately answered it. “Where have you been?!”
“Stop the suit,” a weird voice said.
“Huh?”
“Stop the lawsuit.”
“What? Who is this?”
“If you don’t stop the suit, you’ll be sorry.”
“Who are you?”
I realized I was talking to a dial tone. Come to think of it, the weird voice sounded like some kind of voice modification device, which only made the whole thing creepier. I looked down at my phone and hit the ‘recent’ button. The call came from an unknown number.
Shit, I’d always known that the unlawful termination suit I had filed against Principal Sykes would be an uphill climb, but this was ridiculous.
“Ughhhh!”
I dropped my phone when it rang again.
“Quit being a baby,” I muttered as I picked up the phone and then saw it was Sue. I noted the time. I only had twenty more minutes to get dressed for my date. Thank God my hair was done. Make-up consisted of mascara and lip gloss. So now it was just shoes and clothes.
“Sue! I need your help. Dress or jeans?” I wailed.
“Are you trying to tell me that my friend who swore off men after Denny, is actually going on a date?”
“We agreed never to mention that man’s name again.”
“I never agreed to that. He was lower than a slug. He had you believing that it was because of you it was okay for him to cheat. That asshole was gaslighting you so bad it took a year for you to get away from him.”
“But I did. And that was four years ago and two years of counseling, so yes. I’m going on a date.”
“Tell me about him.”
“I hardly know anything about him. We’re going out for lunch. His brother owns the house I’m renting?—”
“The hottie brother, Beau? The guy who’s in the military?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“Does he look like him?”
“Almost identical. Except I saw Kai smile. It wasn’t like a big smile or anything, but it was a smile. They both have the scruff thing going on that comes out red and gold, but his hair is that luscious auburn color that every woman in the world would kill for.”
“So he’s not a carrot-top?”
“Nope,” I confirmed.
“And eyes?”
“Light blue. But when he laughs, they flash silver. Now answer my question—jeans or a dress?”
“Where are you going to lunch?”
“There are really only two places to go to lunch in this town, both of them diners. People will be dressed any old way.”
“What’s the weather like?”
“Hot.” I eyed my yellow sundress. It had a daisy pattern along the bottom of the skirt, with two small white lace straps going over each shoulder. It was really feminine. I’d only ever worn it once. I’d bought it shopping with Sue on a lark.
“If it’s hot, wear a dress and sandals. Do you have any sundresses?” she asked.
“Yes. I have three to choose from, but remember the one we bought at Belk?”
“The Daisy Duke?”
“Stop calling it that,” I demanded. “It is not slutty. It’s cute and only shows a little ta-ta.”
Sue laughed. “Honey, with you, there’s no such thing as a little ta-ta.”
I growled and Sue laughed some more.
“The dress is perfect. Especially if you like the guy. Do you like him?”
“It’s too early to tell. But I could like him.”
“Then go out with guns blazing. It’s best to hook ‘em and throw ‘em back, then realize you like ‘em and realize you didn’t hook ‘em.”
“What’s with all the fish talk?” I asked.
“I went fishing with my dad last weekend.”
“You’re such a good daughter. I love your dad.”
“He asked about you, Marlowe. He wanted to know when that bullshit lawsuit was going to be over and you could come back to work here in West Virginia.”
“Did you explain to him that even if I win, I’m not going to work at that school again?” I picked up the dress off my bed and pulled it over my head. Thank God it had a side zipper.
“I tried to tell him that. Then he wanted to know what the point was.”
“Did he get it? Did he understand I didn’t want that bad mark on my resume anymore?”
“Yeah, that, he understood.”
Chaos nosed her way into my bedroom and sat down to give me the onceover. I went to the dresser and pulled on some bangles and a couple of rings, then I pushed in some big hoop silver earrings. I fluffed my hair, then went to the bathroom and bent over. Chaos was still following me, but when she saw me pick up the can of hairspray, she ran out of the bathroom so fast, I heard her skid on the hardware floor of the bedroom. Laughing, I sprayed my hair.
“Can you hear me?” Sue shouted.
“Now I can. I was putting on hairspray.”
“Are you in the daisy dress?”
“Yep.”
“What shoes?”
“Red wedges with the ankle straps.”
“Nice. Call me when you get home.”
“Yes, Mom.” I laughed. So did Sue. Then she hung up.
Chaos came into my bedroom again, sniffing the air.
“It’s all clear,” I assured her.
She let out a low woof .
“Are you going to be a good girl while I’m gone?”
Woof.
“You have your doggy door that Beau let me have built. So, you’re good to go. Literally,” I grinned. I picked up my phone off the bed and remembered the threatening phone call. It was the third one I’d received. It was time for me to let my attorney know about it, but I hated to sound like a wuss. Maybe I could just wait a little bit more. After all, they were just phone calls.
Woof.
Woof.
Woof.
Chaos always alerted me before the knock on the door or the bell would ring. I wondered how she would take Kai. She was a good judge of character. As a matter of fact, I wished that I had had her before I’d met Denny. The couple of times we’d run into him in Danville, after I had got her, she’d tried really hard to get at him. She hadn’t liked him at all.
“Be a good girl,” I whispered as I stroked her neck. Then I whispered in her ear. “But not too good. Let me know if he’s a good guy or not.”
I opened the door and all the breath left my body. Kai was clean-shaven and his curls were under control. He was smiling. I worried that my mouth was hanging open at the beauty of Kai.
“Hi, Marlowe. Are you going to introduce me?”
I looked down and saw Chaos playing peek-a-boo behind my skirt.
Really?
“Shy?” Kai asked.
“Not normally.” I shook my head. “This is a first.”
Kai squatted down and I got to watch his powerful thighs flex in his jeans.
I needed ice water. Fast.
“Boy or a girl?” he asked as he held out his hand for Chaos to sniff.
“A girl who I swear is flirting. I have never seen her behave like this in my life.”
“How long have you had her?” he asked as he looked up at me.
I had trouble thinking of an answer as those blue-silver eyes focused on me. I stared down at him.
“Marlowe?”
“Uhm. I’ve had her since she was weaned.”
Chaos came out from behind me, wagging her tail. Kai started to scratch my girl under her chin, and the little slut was groaning in delight. What was even worse is, I was envious.
After long moments, Kai stood up.
“Well, we better go. We don’t want to miss out on the apple pie.”
“Pearl’s or Down Home?” I asked.
“I usually do Pearl’s for dinner. I enjoy seeing Little Grandma, so I’ll do breakfast or lunch at the Down Home Diner.” He went to open the door for me, then he paused. “Your girl took me by surprise and I didn’t have a chance to tell you just how beautiful you look in your dress.”
I had to be as red as a lobster who’d just been dunked in boiling water. I tried to will away the blush, but I knew it wasn’t working. At least it was summer, and I’d been getting a little bit of a tan, so maybe it wasn’t quite as obvious, right?
I peeked up at Kai and saw him grinning down at me. Nope, no luck. He’d cottoned onto my blush.
“Umm, thank you.” I muttered.
“Are you going to be able to handle it if I also tell you I really enjoy seeing your hair down? I can’t wait to see what it’ll look like in the sun.”
I shuddered, and he laughed.
“Okay, come on, let’s go. I promise not to tell you what I think about your shoes.”
I hadn’t been teasing about how beautiful she looked in the dress. The side benefit of complimenting her on her hair and shoes, was seeing her blush. It was like no man had ever given her a compliment before.
I refrained from telling her how good her ass looked, but it had been a thing of beauty as she had climbed into my truck before I had shut her in.
For the last four days I tried to make sense of why I had asked her out. This wasn’t part of the plan. I wanted to know more about my mother and brother, and dating someone who was new to town wasn’t going to help me down that path.
She is living in your old house.
So?
If you look inside you might remember more things.
Now you’re reaching.
“Are you okay?”
“Huh?”
“I asked you a couple of times how you knew Lettie.”
I frowned. Dammit, I really had been off in la-la land.
“I met her at the Down Home Diner. She drove me past your house, because she knew that’s where Beau grew up. She’s Little Grandma’s daughter, right?”
Marlowe laughed. “She’s her granddaughter. Patty is Little Grandma’s daughter. She cooks at the diner, and she’s Lettie’s mom.”
I shook my head. “There’s a lot to keep straight.”
“That part is simple. Wait until you get to Patty’s sisters and their kids and grandkids. That’s when it really gets interesting.”
“I thought you said you’d only been here for a few weeks.”
“I went over to Lettie’s for a potluck. I got to meet a lot of the family.”
“Who else have you met?”
I glanced over at her and saw her concentrating.
“I have to tell you; I was a little overwhelmed at the potluck. There had to be fifty to sixty people coming in and out of her house and in her backyard. I did meet another big family.”
“Who were they?”
“Originally, they were all known as the Averys. One brother and six sisters who’d been born and raised here, but now some girls are married, so their last names aren’t Avery anymore.”
“How many did you meet?”
“I didn’t meet their brother. He’s in the Navy and stationed in San Diego.” She paused. “No, that’s not right. He lives there. He’s stationed in Corona.”
“Coronado?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Evie, that’s one of the Avery girls, told me that. Her husband is stationed there too. Her name is Evie O’Malley now. Both her husband and her brother work together.”
They had to be SEALs.
“Who else did you meet?”
“I met the oldest Avery sister. Her name is Trenda Clark. Her husband was there. His name is Simon Clark, but her daughter Bella, took the cake. She is a pistol. She’s nine or ten years old, and she knew everything about everyone. Simon is her stepdaddy, but she loves him to death, and calls him daddy. Apparently, he was a SEAL Commander, but since he settled down here in Jasper Creek, he started up a security company. I would bet my bottom dollar Simon’s head would explode if he knew how much private information she gave out.”
“I bet you're right.”
“But it wasn’t just about her daddy. She told me about how she was kidnapped by a bad man with Millie and Lisa.”
Luckily, I was pulling up to a stop sign when she shared that bit of information. “Kidnapped?”
“She then went on to say it was okay because her daddy saved her.”
“What?”
“Seriously, that’s what she said. When I asked her how, that was when Trenda stepped in. She said to quit trying to scare away the new residents.” She giggled. “Bella waited until her mother left, then told me, that I didn’t have to worry about anything because her daddy and Roan could beat up anybody and keep me safe.”
“Do you think what the kid was saying was true?”
“I ended up sitting at a table with Roan and Lisa, and I mentioned what Bella had said. Lisa told me she’d had a stalker that had followed her from her old town. She tried to shrug it off, but Roan looked pissed. Not that Bella had said something, more that Lisa had been in danger.”
I could totally understand that. If someone I cared about was in danger, I’d be pissed. Pissed and scared. Mainly pissed until I took that asshole down.
I pulled up to a good parking spot near the Down Home Diner. Someone must have just left. I really liked the town center. There wasn’t a speck of trash to be seen, and on every streetlight hung a basket of flowers.
Marlowe started to open the passenger door.
“Wait for me to get it.”
After having been stationed in North Carolina, you pick up a few things. One was Southern gentleman manners. I sure as hell didn’t learn them from my father.
I went around the front of the truck and opened her door. I held out my hand to help her out. I enjoyed seeing the length of leg that was on display as she stepped onto the running board and then down to the street.
“I’ve been here for breakfast, but I haven’t been here for lunch,” Marlowe admitted.
“Then you’re in for a treat.”