Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [59]
I gave her my best smile as I handed her the bag. “Trust me, in six months you’ll never want to leave Micah’s Ridge.”
“We’ll see,” she said as she left.
I looked out in time to see Pearly walking past the store, but he never came in. After his third lap, I called out to Eve, “I’m going to step outside for a second. It’s a beautiful day.”
“Just don’t wander off,” Eve said. “We might get busy.” I looked around the empty store, glanced at the deserted to parking lot, then said, “No, ma’am, I promise I’ll be here for the rush.”
I called Pearly’s name, and he looked startled as he turned around to face me. “Hello, Harrison.”
“Are you going to pace out here all day? You’re driving off my customers.”
“Eh? Sorry, didn’t mean to interfere,” he said as he started to walk off.
“Hey, I’m only kidding. You’re going to have to face her again sooner or later, you know that, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on, I’m not blind. I saw how she reacted to you. And remember, you already told me you were having trouble with your love life. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Eve was one of your girlfriends.” It felt odd calling my sixty-something employee a girl anything, but I was at a loss for what else to call her.
“That’s just it. Eve’s offended she wasn’t on the list at all. Now I’ve really gone and done it.”
I leaned against the brick of the building and said, “Let me get this straight. She’s mad because you weren’t two-timing her?”
“Three-timing, actually,” Pearly admitted reluctantly.
“So what’s the problem?”
Pearly said, “She asked me out two weeks ago, and I turned her down. I said I was too busy, and it was certainly the truth then. Harrison, let me ask you this? How in the world was I supposed to know she was in the same book club as the three women I was dating? Obviously if I’d had any idea they knew each other, I wouldn’t have been so social.”
I couldn’t help it. As much as I sympathized with Pearly for his dilemma, I had to laugh. What a meeting they must have had when they’d discovered their connection.
“Any idea what book they were reading?” I asked.
Pearly said glumly, “I’m not going to tell you.”
“Come on. I’m sorry I laughed. I know it’s not that funny.”
It took some prodding, but he finally said, “You won’t stop hounding me until I tell you, will you?”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll be forced to ask Eve,” I said.
“Good gracious, don’t do that. If you must know, they were reading Death of a Ladies’ Man!”
I was still laughing when he finally gave up on me and walked away in disgust.
Chapter 15
I was just starting to think about lunch when Millie came in.
I said, “George is going to get jealous if you keep popping up here like this,” I said.
“Oh posh, he’s too busy to notice. I hope you haven’t made any lunch plans.”
“Is that an invitation? Now I’m starting to get ideas.”
Millie blushed. “Can’t a person do something nice for another? Of course, you’re perfectly free to decline.”
“No, ma’am, that wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me, now would it? May I ask what the occasion is? It’s a good seven months till my birthday.”
“It’s my way of saying thank you for speaking with Heather. She told me you two had a long talk last night.”
I glanced at Eve, who was taking every word in. I said to her, “I’ll take the first lunch, if you don’t mind.”
“No bother,” she said.
I led Millie outside. “Now she’ll be on me the rest of the day.”
“I thought Eve liked Heather,” Millie said as we walked toward The Crocked Pot.
“Of course she does, but I can hear her now. ‘Harrison Black, it’s just not proper, having a young single woman in your apartment all hours of the night.’ Man, oh man.”
Millie started giggling. “I can hear her saying just that, though your delivery is a little off.”
“That’s the only thing that stood between me and a career in show business.”
“What’s that?” Millie asked.
“A severe lack of talent.”
“Oh, Harrison.”
Inside her cafe, one table by the window was roped off, and instead of the disposable plates and cups, this spot was set with fine bone china.