Yep. Smooth and seductive. That’s me.
Jack, with his awkward smile, mirrored my uncertainty. His eyes dipped to my chest, then back to my face.
“I suppose this is, ah, goodnight,” I stammered.
He nodded in agreement, and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed. I expected him to say something funny about the evening, or something serious about our investigation.
But he stayed silent, and his hand rose to cup my jaw gently. As he leaned closer, his warm breath brushed against my skin, his voice a gentle whisper. “Goodnight,” he murmured.
The soft tenderness of his lips on mine made me weak-kneed. I was awfully tempted to invite him into my bedroom.
But I didn’t. Something about it didn’t seem right just yet.
# # #
The next day, Vera and I were in the bookstore. It was beginning to come together; the shelves lining the walls were filled with shiny new books, and we’d arranged tables in the middle for special displays.
We had our favorite female-country-singer playlist on a portable speaker as we bopped around, arranging the store. It was exciting to be this close to opening, and both of us wore wide grins.
“I’m thinking spring-themed reads for this,” Vera said, pointing at a rectangular table.
“Perfect. And over here at this smaller table, let’s put the notebooks. These are adorable.” I turned over a cute blank book covered in a cartoon llama print. “I actually think we have enough animal-themed notebooks to do a whole display.”
“Awesomesauce.”
Today, Vera seemed to be in a decent mood. Tyler had been released from the hospital that morning and was on his way to a full recovery. But I knew she wasn’t entirely OK. She hadn’t mentioned my kiss with Jack once. The old Vera wouldn’t have wasted any time discussingthat.
I paused to take a sip of water from my reusable bottle at the counter. Because things were going so smoothly today, I figured now would be a good time to bring up the results of my sleuthing. Better than if Vera was in a rotten mood, because then she’d just shut down and probably disappear for hours.
“How’s Tyler doing?” I asked, hoping for an easy entrance to a difficult conversation.
She stacked five historical romance hardcovers together. “Much better. He’s at his house, recuperating. The swelling in his face has gone down a bit. I think he’s a little worried about missing the city council meeting this week. It’s only his second meeting and they’re supposed to talk about the rezoning of the Covington property.”
I let out a noncommittal hum. There was no use putting off this discussion, so I grabbed my phone off the counter and walked over to her.
“About Tyler,” I said in a hesitant voice.
“If you’re going to tell me you hate him, spare me. He was nothing but nice to you, at least until he almost died. He even apologized for what he did in high school.”
“I know. And I appreciated that. Truly. He wasn’t so bad at dinner, and it’s unfortunate it had to be cut short because he neglected to tell anyone of his spicy wing allergy. But you need to see something.”
“I don’t need to see anything. Maggie, I like Tyler. Please don’t ruin it. He’s the first man I’ve dated in a while who has accepted me for who I am. He doesn’t even mind my skin.”
Today she’d slathered on self-tanner, and smelled oddly yeasty.
I blew a breath out of my nose and probably looked a little like a bull. “He called you a Dalmatian in high school. You can do better.”
“You think I can do better. And he’s changed. You saw it yourself.”
“I do think you can do way better. And don’t give me thisI have vitiligo and my skin is all spottedexcuse. You’re gorgeous. You’re hilarious. You’re brilliant. Any man would be lucky to have you. You don’t need to date some dick.” I stamped my foot on the terrazzo floor and felt a little like I was a child. This entire conversation felt like when we’d argued as kids—only back then, the arguments were about how she’d eaten the last Twinkie, not her dating a potential murderer.
“He’s not a jerk,” she insisted.
It was obvious that she was digging in her heels. Without saying anything more, I held up my phone and the photo of him, Gene, and the developer.
She leaned in. “So? He said he’d gone gator hunting with Gene.”
“He also said he’d been alone with Gene. In this photo, he’s with a third man. Don’t you want to know who that is, and why he lied?”