Buried in Secrets (Carly Moore #4) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,78
the generators out of storage.”
“You have generators?” I asked in surprise.
“Gotta plan for a rainy day,” he said, but he seemed agitated.
“Is everything okay, Max?”
“It’s fine…other than this headache.” He made a face. “We’ll probably be busier than usual tonight. Some people have generators, but most don’t, so they’ll be hungry and we’ll be ready to help ’em out. I might need you to cancel Tutoring Club so you can do a supplies run to Ewing to buy us a bunch of hamburgers, buns, and potatoes. One generator can run the grill, fridge, and fryers, so Tiny and Pickle can fry up burgers and make fries pretty efficiently.” He’d switched to business mode pretty quickly, but I was still wondering about that phone call.
Could it have been about Pam?
“I don’t mind going to Ewing,” I said, figuring I could visit Thelma to ask more questions. It was obvious my hangout with the girls wasn’t going to happen anyway. “I can pay a visit to my friends at Greener Pastures, and maybe see if Marco has time to meet me for lunch. Just give me a shopping list, and I’ll get what you need.”
His gaze took in my dress, hair, and makeup, and a slow smile spread across his face. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
I cringed. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”
His eyes flew wide. “So you two really weren’t together before?”
My face flushed. “Max.”
“What finally convinced you to take the leap?” he asked, leaning his shoulder against the wall, a sly grin lighting up his eyes. “It was me, wasn’t it? All that pesterin’ wore you down.”
I snorted. “Hardly.” Then because I didn’t see a reason to keep it a secret, I added, “He got me a telescope.”
He blinked. “Say what? A telescope?” He laughed. “Okay…maybe I’ll have to try it sometime.”
I nearly told him it wouldn’t work, but I doubted he’d go to that much effort to bed a woman. Then again, although he’d apparently earned a reputation as a lady killer, I hadn’t really seen him with many women. Occasionally, a young woman would come in late and stayed at the bar past closing, but I’d only seen a few of them.
His rakish smile turned friendly. “Let me call Tiny and we’ll figure out what we need. Thanks for doin’ this.”
“Of course. No problem. Just tell me when you need it by.”
“I suspect we have enough to tide over the lunch crowd. It’s the dinner crowd that will bleed us dry. Let’s say four so Tiny doesn’t have a stroke worryin’ about havin’ enough food.”
“Sounds good. I’ll call a few people on the Tutoring Club list and have them spread the word that we’re canceling today. No one will be surprised because of the electricity.” Then I added, “Say, did you interview Ruth’s friend? If she’s starting, we should probably let her know she doesn’t need to come in.”
Blinking, he took a second to switch gears. Then he pointed a finger at me. “Ah! Good catch. She was supposed to come in at eleven and start the noon shift. I’ll have Ruth let her know.”
Max hurried off to his office, and I used the phone underneath the bar to call two of the mothers at the head of the phone tree we’d set up for Tutoring Club, and by the time I finished, Max had a short grocery list and some cash.
“You may have to go to a couple of places,” he said, handing them to me. “In fact, I may head down to Dollar General and buy them out of hamburger.”
“It’s Thursday,” I said, shaking my head. “They won’t get a delivery of meat until Friday morning. If they have anything left, it won’t be much.”
He laughed. “Look at you. No one would ever guess you’ve lived here less than a year.” Then he gave me a bear hug. “I couldn’t be happier about you and Marco. Really.” He released me and patted my cheek. “If I couldn’t keep you in the family with Wyatt, at least I’ll get you through my best friend. He’s one lucky son-of-a-bitch.”
“Thanks, Max.” Tears stung my eyes. It was wonderful to feel so wanted.
“This is gettin’ sappy,” he said, stepping back and shuddering as though I had cooties. “Go visit your friends and be back by four.”
As soon as I got cell service at the edge of Ewing, I put in a call to Marco, but it went through to his voicemail. “I’ll be in Ewing for the next few