Naturally Naughty - Leslie Kelly [60]
He hadn’t looked like a grizzly Saturday night when he’d come to the shop at 1:00 a.m. No, he’d looked more like a panther. Dark and dangerous. She hoped Cassie knew what she was doing.
“Uh, can I ask a stupid question?”
“Anything,” Diane replied.
“What’s Bunko?”
The other woman linked her arm in Kate’s. “You’ve never played Bunko? It’s the woman’s version of poker night. The Lilac Hill types have their bridge club. We prefer Bunko. A dice game, rotated among the homes of the club members. Twice a month we meet to talk, laugh and play. The hostess provides the prizes.”
“The members provide the bourbon,” Josie added helpfully.
Kate laughed out loud. “Sounds like fun.” Surprisingly, she meant it. She could see how her mother would have enjoyed something so simple yet charming.
“Then it’s settled, you come to our next game, which happens to be tomorrow night at Eileen Saginaw’s house.”
Kate’s smile widened in genuine pleasure. “Eileen is my mom’s best friend. I’d love to see her again.”
And as easy as that, Kate found herself committed to a social event with some of the women of Pleasantville.
What is wrong with this picture?
“Now, tell us what you’re going to sell in your store,” Diane said. “Pretty please? Nobody knows anything more than it’s a ladies’ shop, and everybody’s going crazy trying to find out.”
Kate bit her lip. These two were the nicest people she’d met so far in Pleasantville, but that didn’t mean they were going to welcome sex toys on the main drag of town.
“It’s gotta be something good,” Josie said. “Tell me it’s real shoes. Real, decent shoes that don’t have rubber soles and plastic uppers. If you say you’re gonna carry Dr. Martens I’ll get down on the ground and kiss your toes. And I’ll give you a free pedicure while I’m down there.”
Kate shook her head. “Sorry. Not shoes.”
“Clothes. Oh, please let it be clothes,” Diane said. “The closest store to buy a decent dress is twenty miles away. And that’s not even one of those new super Wal-Marts, it’s just a plain old regular one.”
Kate bit her lip and shook her head at Diane’s genuine consternation. “Sorry. Not clothes.” Not unless you counted crotchless panties and leather bustiers!
Josie bounced on the toes of her chunky black boots like a kid waiting in line for Santa. “Then what?”
“You’ll have to wait until our grand opening to find out.”
“Grand opening?”
She recognized that voice. Wincing, Kate turned around to see Jack standing right behind her. The man was quiet as a cat—she’d never even heard him approaching.
Obviously neither had the other two women. Because she felt sure she’d have noticed those matching holy-cannoli-take-me-big- looks on their faces.
“Hi, Jack,” she murmured. Her voice didn’t even shake. Amazing, since her heart had started racing like an out of control freight train speeding toward heartbreak junction.
The man was too handsome. His smile too adorably sexy to be real, the twinkle in his brilliant green eyes too charming. He made women want to hug him. Then do him. Including Kate. Especially Kate.
Diane and Josie spoke in unison. “Introduce us.”
After she’d made introductions all the way around, and listened to Josie and Diane pump Jack for information about why on earth he’d waited so long to come back for a visit to Pleasantville, she tried to slide away. Evening was approaching, though it was still light out. She wanted to get inside and lock up. Mainly she wanted to get away before Jack started asking any more questions about her store.
Just when she thought she might make a clean getaway, however, an old, beige Cadillac pulled up on the street and parked one building down, in front of the Tea Room.
“Great,” Jack muttered. “It’s my ex-brother-in-law.”
“Which one?” Josie said under her breath, her voice holding a definite note of sarcasm. Obviously she knew Angela.
As Kate watched the man emerge from the Cadillac, she answered softly, “Darren.”
9
DARREN HADN’T CHANGED a great deal, though his face was rounder