Chapter 18 #2
“I was just checking in, so I’m out of here.” I pulled on Emma’s leash. “Have a great shift with Beth. She’s enjoying playing barista.”
“She can work with me anytime.” Deek held the door open for a customer and then followed him up toward the counter. “Coffee or books tonight?”
I wasn’t needed. On one hand, it kind of felt good, but then again, I felt empty. I knew too well how Deek felt about being easy to replace.
Our next stop was Antiques by Thomas. Mandy was at the front desk and came around to see Emma as we walked inside.
“Is Josh around?” I asked.
Mandy looked up at me as she rubbed Emma’s back. “I sent him out to an estate sale. He’s been driving me crazy all day.”
“Oh?” Honestly, being around Josh for just a few hours drove me crazy too, but Mandy had married the guy.
“Yeah, he’s all upset that the new jeweler has ghosted him.
She said she had some connections in used jewelry and now she won’t even answer the phone when he calls.
The woman called late on a Saturday night a few weeks ago.
I got to his phone first and reminded her that he was married. She hasn’t talked to him since.”
“You picked up her call?” I was trying not to laugh.
She stood and rolled her eyes. “I was up reading. Josh crashed as soon as we got home from the dart tournament. He’s such a lightweight. Anyway, his phone was in the living room, so I picked it up, thinking it might be an emergency with family.”
“But it wasn’t,” I guessed.
She leaned against the checkout desk. It was an old bar from some restaurant that got torn down a few years ago.
“No. It was that Matty chick asking for Josh. When I told her he was asleep, she said he’d promised to help her move something.
At one o’clock in the morning? I told her I wasn’t waking him and she should go to bed and sleep off whatever she was on.
Because she was tripping if she thought my husband was leaving our house in the middle of the night to go help her. ”
“I can’t believe she even called at that time.” I dug the books out of my tote as we were talking. “What nerve.”
“I know. Then she went off saying he’d promised and to tell him she wasn’t supporting him anymore at your business meetings.
That he’d just lost his only ally.” Mandy waved at some customers who were just leaving the shop.
After they were outside, she continued. “I don’t know what power she thought she had over my husband, but I told Josh the next day, if he talked to her again, I was going to move back home to the farm. ”
“Do you think they were…”
Mandy interrupted my question. “No way. Josh wouldn’t cheat on me.
He would help someone he thought was a friend but who was using him.
I don’t know what she needed help with in the middle of the night, but he didn’t need to be involved in the caper.
Now the contact number she gave him for the jewelry has been disconnected.
I don’t think they ever had any antiques, but he still believes in her.
He only calls when he’s in the room with me, and the woman won’t pick up his calls.
He’d told one of his customers he might have some items coming into the shop. Now, he knows she was using him.”
“I’m sorry. I heard her make fun of him with some friends at the beach.
I didn’t want to tell him she wasn’t a good person.
Not a lot of people get Josh.” I nodded to the books.
“Hey, tell him thanks for loaning me the books and to call me. I found a new historical document library he might be interested in. They have all kinds of stuff about South Cove. And you know Josh loves his South Cove history.”
“I’ll tell him. Thanks for being Josh’s friend.
He speaks highly of you. One of these days we’re going to have to get the four of us together for dinner, like we talked about before.
” Mandy turned to the desk as the phone rang.
“Sorry, I’m running the shop solo today. Thanks for listening to me complain.”
“Believe me, I would be thinking the same thing.” Except Greg did answer his phone and leave in the middle of the night.
Because it was his job. It wasn’t Josh’s.
As I walked to Diamond Lille’s I wondered what Matty had wanted from Josh.
Was it just to keep him on the line? Some girls were like that.
They wanted what wasn’t available. And Josh did have a wedding ring.
When I got to the restaurant, Carrie was playing hostess along with having her section. “Sorry, Jill, Emma can’t come inside.”
I had opened the door, but we were still standing outside. “Hi, Carrie. Just picking up a to-go order. I paid on the website.”
“Oh, hold on, I just saw one being bagged up.” Carrie left her post as a couple came up behind me.
“Go on in, I’m waiting for a takeout order,” I said as they queued up behind me.
“I didn’t realize they did takeout,” the man said as he nodded to Emma. “Is she going to bite me?”
“Not unless you’re mean to her.” I smiled at the woman who was now offering the back of her hand for Emma to sniff.
“She’s a beautiful girl, that’s what she is,” the woman cooed to Emma. When Carrie came back, she stood and walked into the foyer area. She pulled her husband inside, grabbing his suit jacket with her hand. “Your dog is so well mannered. I wish I could train Brad as well.”
“Hey now, I resent that remark.” He kissed her on the head.
Carrie handed me the bag as she reached the door. “I’ll be right with you guys. Jill, here you go. I hope you enjoy your dinner. I think Tiny tucked something extra in there for Greg and Emma.”
“I’m not sure when Greg’s coming home,” I said.
Carrie shrugged. “I’m sure it will reheat well.”
As the door closed behind her, I thought I saw Matty in the diner with a man. It wasn’t Josh or I would have tied Emma up, asked Carrie to hold my food, and dragged him out of there myself. The guy in the booth was bald. Josh still had hair.
Another crisis avoided. I don’t know, maybe I get too involved in my friends’ lives, but neither Mandy nor Josh needed someone playing with their young marriage. If he messed this one up, he might not find anyone else who’d put up with his oddities.
I headed home. Emma closely watched the bag that held the food just in case I did something stupid like falling or leaving it behind. My dog liked food.
As I was passing by Matty’s closed jewelry shop, I realized something that Mandy had said. Matty had called Josh on the night Chip had been killed. Had she wanted him to help her finish him off?
I looked down at Emma, who was now watching me since I’d stopped walking.
“Sorry girl, I’m seeing zebras instead of horses.
” I didn’t like Matty, but there was no evidence saying that she’d killed South Cove’s grumpiest bartender.
Or that she’d even known him. All I knew was she was messing with my friend Josh.
That was enough to justify my dislike.
Maybe more than enough.