Chapter 16
16
FIONA
I drove back down Candy Cane Lane and was forced to slow when Dottie waved to me from the sidewalk. It wasn’t as if I could pretend I never saw her since she looked like she was flagging a commercial airliner into a gate. Looking in my rearview mirror first, I pulled to the curb and rolled down the passenger window.
“Hello!” she said, seemingly thrilled to see me. She approached my car, a yellow lab beside her. Today she was in green joggers, but I doubted she jogged, a white collared shirt and a sun visor.
“Hey, Dottie. Who’s your friend?”
She smiled and looked down. The dog’s nose was in the air picking up a scent, but otherwise stood there waiting for Dottie to continue their walk. “This is Scooter. ”
Scooter was the kind of dog that was so mellow, he probably slept twenty-three hours a day, chased a ball for the other hour and didn’t have much interest in anyone besides a crotch sniff or a scratch behind the ears.
“I was at my friend Lureen Vidor’s house a few doors down from yours.”
“That’s nice.”
“How’s your visit so far? Meet that romance book guy yet?” she prodded.
My mouth fell open and I stared at her wide eyed. I knew news traveled fast in small towns, and Dottie was proof, but this was a little ridiculous. She knew about me and Dax in the bookstore? I’d thought we’d been hidden pretty well, at least after the women customers left.
“Wh-what?” I asked.
“Did you find your hottie romance hero yet?”
I sagged a little in relief. “Nope. Not yet.” I’d found a hottie, but he wasn’t anything like a romance hero. What were those guys called… anti-heroes?
“If you’re all alone, you can come with me to my granddaughter’s T-ball game.” She looked left and right, then put her hand up to her mouth and whispered, “I don’t enjoy it because it’s boring as hell. All the kids do is pick their noses or dandelions from the field, but I can’t miss seeing my cute little Evie.”
I’d been on the Embezzlement Division’s softball team for three summers and it had been boring as hell. The people I played with were grownups and they still picked their noses and none of them were cute .
“I… um, I have plans, but thanks.” I didn’t, but I’d invent something… anything not to go watch a bunch of little kids run around willy nilly.
She studied me in a way only older people could. “You haven’t eaten. I had a feeling you were one of those people who don’t cook by the way you attacked that rice dish. I’ll bring food by for you.”
Oh boy.
“Dottie, you don’t have to–”
“I need to get your number to make things easier.” She pulled her cell from a fanny pack about her waist.
Hmm, probably not a good idea.
“I’m making veggie and bean burritos,” she added.
On second thought…
I gave her my number.
“Tomorrow night’s craft night so I’ll call you before I pick you up,” she said as she tucked her phone away. “I’ll stop by in a little bit!” She walked off as she waved. Scooter trotted along beside her, not even interested in the squirrel that darted across the street.
What the hell just happened?
I was still wondering how I was wrangled into craft night, whatever that was, when I parked in the driveway and opened the vacation rental’s front door.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone sitting on the couch. I grabbed my gun, spun about and aimed.
“Hello, Fiona.”
Sitting… no, lounging on the denim sectional was Dax in all his sexy, annoying glory. Smirking.
The asshole.