Deadly Notions - By Elizabeth Lynn Casey Page 0,59
your shirt is missin’ a few buttons there, Twin.”
Leona looked down at her silk blouse. “No, it’s not.”
Margaret Louise snorted. “It’s an expression, Twin.”
Slowly Leona fixed her gaze on her sister. “Are you trying to say I don’t know what I’m talking about?”
“No, I think she’s saying you’re nuts,” Rose interjected. “And I have to agree.”
“Oh shut up, Rose,” snapped Leona.
Tori held up her hands. “Actually, I have to say Leona is right. Mostly about the first part, and maybe even a little about the second part, too.”
Leona twisted her mouth and nodded. “At least you’re aware. Though why you’re letting it happen is beyond me.”
“What am I supposed to do?” She grabbed her sewing box and stack of felt from the alcove off her living room and made her way over to the empty spot beside Rose. “Buy her a one-way ticket out of Sweet Briar?”
“That would be a start.”
Rose stamped her foot on the floor. “What are you talking about?”
“Milo’s former girlfriend. Though”—Leona stopped flipping pages long enough to meet Tori’s gaze—“if Victoria continues to sit back, the former tag may disappear.”
Rose gasped.
Dixie clucked.
Debbie looked up from her own pile of multi-colored felt. “That’s not a very nice thing to say, Leona.”
“The truth hurts. Always has, always will.”
“Guess that explains why you wince every time I call you old,” Rose mumbled just loud enough for Leona to hear.
Before the fur could start flying, Tori held up her hands. “I believe Leona is right in her belief that Beth Samuelson is trying to get Milo back. I also believe she’s right when she says Beth is trying to do it by playing the damsel in distress.” She set the wooden sewing box at her feet and the pile of felt in her lap. “Let’s be honest: we all know Milo is a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. And no gentleman is ever going to sit back while a woman is in peril. Even if it’s a bunch of—of hooey.”
Leona’s eyebrow rose yet her mouth stay closed.
“Hooey?” Georgina asked. “You really think she’s making stuff up?”
“I know she is.” She proceeded to fill the circle in on the events of that afternoon, describing in detail the entire picnic scene. When she got to the part about the stranger in the woods and Beth’s hidden smile, Leona nodded.
“That stranger never would have been in the woods if you hadn’t arrived on the scene, dear.”
“I think you’re right.”
Georgina waved her hands back and forth. “Wait. What kind of person would make up these kinds of claims?”
“A woman who is desperate to correct a gross error in judgment,” Leona stated from behind her magazine.
“But what on earth could actually come from makin’ that kind of stuff up?” Margaret Louise held up two pieces of felt—one light brown, the other dark brown. “Chocolate chip cookies?”
Heads nodded around the room as Tori entertained the best answer for the first of the two questions. But Leona beat her to the punch. “What can come when a woman makes such claims? Attention? Protective arms? A shoulder to cry on?”
“An opportunity to sleep in their bed?” The second the words left Tori’s mouth she realized the error of her ways.
“Did you just say what I think you just said, dear?” Leona finally asked.
“If you think I said she’s staying in his bed, you’re right.”
The woman’s perfectly pouty lips dropped open, as did the thinner and less made-up versions sported by the remainder of the group.
“That’s it. Milo is off my list of nice people,” Margaret Louise sputtered.
“You won’t find me offering to read to his class anymore.” Dixie shook her head sadly. “And here I thought that man knew the meaning of the word loyalty.”
“Lousy, good for nothing man.” Rose reached for Tori’s hand and gave it a gentle pat. “You can do better, Victoria. Just give it time.”
“Wait. Stop. Please.” She pulled her hand from the felt she was sorting and held it up. “Beth is staying with Milo because of a threat she found on her windshield. And she is staying in his bed. But Milo is sleeping on the couch because he’s not interested in turning back the hands of time no matter how badly Beth may want to.”
“You believe that?” Leona barked.
“I do. Because I have faith in Milo and the relationship we’re building.”
“Foolish girl.”
“Leona, enough,” spat Dixie. “Since when is trust foolish?”
“I would think Victoria of all people could answer that question best.”