Chapter 27 #2
He raised an eyebrow at me, but I didn’t elaborate. It was none of his fucking business.
“Well, it seems you know a lot more than you should.”
“I make a point of knowing what’s going on in my town.”
“And I assume you want something to keep quiet.”
Quirking an eyebrow at me, I knew there would be a tit for tat. “That depends.”
“On?”
“I might have a problem, and you might be the guy to fix it.”
Fucking perfect. He’d been talking to Archer. “What do you need?”
“Nothing,” he grinned. “I said I might have a problem, not that I did. But now that I know you’ll help out in the future should a problem arise, I think we could have a beautiful friendship.”
“Is that what you’d call this?”
Frowning, he rocked back on his heels. “I’d call it a mutually beneficial relationship, one in which we help each other out when the occasion arises.” Maverick grinned from ear to ear. “I have a feeling this is going to be the beginning of a very beautiful friendship.”
“I have a feeling you’re gonna be a pain in my ass.”
“Well, either way, it should be fun.” He glanced in the store window, nodding at Josie. “Guess this means you can stop following her around. If you want,” he shrugged.
“Then what would the town gossip about?”
“I’m sure they’d find something,” he grinned, tipping his hat at me as he walked away. “Oh, and JR, you might want to find your sister someplace else to stay.”
“Why’s that?”
“You’ll fall between two stools.”
What the hell did that mean? I shook my head just as Josie came out of The Daily Grind, a beautiful smile on her face. The dog raced out beside her, chewing on God knows what.
“Well, I think I came out ahead on that one.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because they want a weekly order from me. Apparently, my teas are selling like hot cakes. They’re all the rage right now.”
I didn’t understand how, but I wasn’t going to question it either.
“So, where to next?”
“Um…just Mrs. Bennett’s house.” A small wince pursed her lips as she turned away.
“Okay, and Mrs. Bennett is…”
“Brody’s mother. You know, the man you threatened to kick off the property because he was holding cookies?”
“I can handle Brody,” I muttered.
“Yes, but—”
“But what?”
“Well, Mrs. Bennett is very set on Brody and me ending up together. I have the feeling that you being there will only make the situation difficult.”
There wasn’t a single part of me that wanted to see Mrs. Bennett, eat her cookies, or have another run-in with Brody. But I also wasn’t exactly ready to leave Josie’s side. Strangely enough, I was enjoying my time with her, even if she did ask a lot of questions.
“I’ll be on my best behavior,” I found myself answering.
Why? I didn’t need to stay with her. The sheriff had just confirmed that no one was coming after me for what I’d done. I could leave her to run her errands on her own. Hell, I should be getting back to work or even helping Alyssa find someplace to stay.
Yet, I was still standing here, staring at the gorgeous woman with blue eyes as she smiled up at me like it was a sunny day in the middle of summer.
It annoyed the hell out of me the first time I met her. And the second and the third, but now? Now, I couldn’t fucking resist it.
“Well, we’d better get going, then. If we arrive too late, Mrs. Bennett will make us stay for dinner.”
“Question,” I said as we headed down the street. “Why are we walking?”
“Because I love to walk around town. The only time I take my car for my deliveries is when the weather is too bad. But it’s practically spring now. Look, I even see a small speck of green!” she pointed at the median running down the center of Main Street.
“I think that’s garbage.”
“It’s not garbage. It’s very clearly grass.”
“Even if it is, it’ll be dead next week when the cold front comes through.”
Her smile took on a look of satisfaction. “There isn’t going to be a cold front.”
“Yeah? Then why did I hear the weatherman state it just this morning?”
“Because you were listening to Cliff. He’s the wrong person to listen to. If you want the real weather, you have to go by what Shannon says. She’s over at KVLI.”
“And Cliff’s weather reports are made up?”
“No. He just follows all those meteorological charts.”
“You mean science. And what does Shannon go by?”
“Intuition,” she grinned. “And she’s never let me down.”
I rolled my eyes as we continued down the street. Never in all my life had I heard such an idiotic statement, but I wasn’t about to start an argument with her. Not over weather patterns.
“So, will Alyssa be staying with you?”
Curious, I glanced over at her. “Why so interested?”
“Oh, nothing. Just wondering if my place on the couch is going to be taken. Maybe I’ll need to find another couch to stay on.”
“My couch is permanently open to you,” I answered, feeling better than I had in weeks.
It was odd, to not feel angry when I should. I had spent weeks being annoyed with this woman, and yet, right now, I found that strolling down the road with her and making jokes was actually…enjoyable.
There had to be something seriously wrong with me. Maybe I had a brain tumor or some strange form of stomach cancer that sent bad blood into my head, making my thoughts twist into—
“Is there something wrong?” she asked.
“What?”
“You’ve got this pained look on your face, and I’m not sure if you’re having a heart attack or if you’re constipated.”
“Neither.”
“Not that you would tell me if you were constipated.”
“No, I most definitely wouldn’t.”
“So, you could be constipated at this very moment, yet I wouldn’t know because you wouldn’t share it with me even if you were.”
“But I’m not.”
She narrowed her eyes playfully at me. “Because you won’t admit it or you’re really not.”
“I’m really not,” I snapped.
“Right.” She shot me an exaggerated wink with a chuckle. “Make sure you drink Mrs. Bennett’s tea. You’ll be regular in no time.”
“I don’t need to drink the tea because I’m not constipated!”
She laid her hand gently on my arm, and somehow, that soothed the irritation simmering under my skin. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ve all been there a time or two.”
“Don’t placate me. I’m not constipated!” I shouted just as an old man stepped out of the pharmacy wearing an old-fashioned apron around his waist.
Josie barely held back a laugh at the studious look on the man’s face. “Bud, this is my friend JR. JR, this is Bud Carson, the pharmacist.”
“Druggist,” Bud corrected, but he immediately directed his attention to me. “How long has it been?”
“How long has what been?”
“The backup. Son, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Happens to the best of us, but if you don’t take care of that blockage, you’re gonna have problems that not even Josie’s herbs can fix.”
I stared at the man, my mouth gaping, then glared at Josie before storming off. Sticking with her was the worst idea I’d had yet.
People were shooting me worrying looks, and I might have considered that it was just my usual unhappy demeanor that was setting them off, but when an elderly lady came up to me and gave me her tips and tricks for constipation, I knew word had spread in the five minutes since I let the druggist.
“JR!” Josie called, rushing to catch up to me.
“Leave me alone,” I grumbled.
“It’s not that bad.”
“Easy for you to say. The whole town isn’t discussing your bowel movements.” Stopping, I got in her face. “You know, this is all your fault.”
“My fault? How the heck is it my fault?”
“Because you’re the one who started this whole thing!”
“Because you looked constipated!”
“I was thinking!” I exploded. “Since when is a person not allowed to think?”
“You’re always allowed to think. I just thought I should point out that it wasn’t a very good look on you. I mean, not that thinking is bad, but maybe consider how your face looks,” she teased. “You know, none of this would have happened if you had just told me what was on your mind.”
“I can’t even remember,” I grumbled, stomping away from her.
Yes, I was pissed and acting a tad idiotic, but never in my life had I heard so much gossip about my bathroom habits.
This was why I didn’t stick around one town too long.
Well, not specifically for this particular reason, but in general, I never wanted to become attached to one place or have anyone get too used to me being around.
“Well, I’m almost to Mrs. Bennett’s house. If you don’t want to come with me, you can just go home. She’s my last stop of the day.”
“It’s fine,” I grumbled.
“Well, let’s get this over with then,” she grinned, patting her leg for Milo to chase after her.
I suddenly wondered what it was like to be around her during the holidays. Was she extra cheery? Did she sing everywhere she went? Was the smile on her face ten times bigger?
Would I be able to handle that much happiness?
I shook the thoughts from my mind and walked up to the house with Josie by my side. It didn’t matter. With any luck, I would move on sometime soon. Hopefully, Archer would leave this place behind, and we’d go back to what we had been doing.
There’d be no more frigid winters or gossip around every corner. Life would go back to being simple, moving from one job to the next. My ties to this small town would be broken.
Things were getting a little too comfortable around here for my taste. Too many people knew my face, knew where to find me, and called out my name when I walked past.
I hated every second of it.
Yet, here I was standing with Josie, on some woman’s doorstep, waiting to eat cookies and have tea.
The door swung open and an older lady opened the screen door, grinning from ear to ear.
“My, my, Josie. What did you bring me today?”
“Mrs. Bennett, this is JR.”
“Au chaunte,” she whispered, holding out her hand in some weird, feminine way that wasn’t really a handshake.
“Uh…you too.”
I gripped her hand firmly and gave it a good shake, ignoring the way Josie giggled.
“Well, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I have your delivery,” Josie answered, holding up her basket.