Deadly Notions - By Elizabeth Lynn Casey Page 0,69
her warmly. “Mmmm, I’ve missed you.”
“You’ve been busy.” She sat back down on the bench and patted the open spot to her left. “I figured I’d give you a little breathing room.”
“Did I ask for breathing room?”
“No. But you have a lot on your plate right now.”
“You mean Beth, don’t you?”
She considered denying his claim but, in the end, simply nodded.
He pulled her hand onto his lap and entwined his fingers with hers. “Look, I’m sorry I got a little short with you on the phone the other night but I just don’t believe Beth made up that encounter on the Green. Why would she do that? It makes no sense.”
Looking down at their linked hands she said nothing. Really, what was there to say? He wasn’t ready to hear the truth about someone who had meant so much to him.
“I told her I was heading out to see you and she was fine with it. She understands that you’re my girl.”
“I never said she didn’t understand it. I just said she didn’t like it.”
“And I think you’re wrong.”
“Then we’ll have to agree to dis—”
The ring of his phone caught her up short. “Hang on a minute. It’s Beth.”
Of course it is.
“Hey, Beth, what’s up?”
She closed her eyes against the words that flowed from the phone, words her mind had predicted the second the phone rang.
“Milo, please, I need you to come home right away. I was sitting on the back deck just now and I heard something.”
Feeling his fingers loosen, Tori gently removed her hand from his. “What did you hear?” he asked.
“It sounded like a twig snapping. Like someone was back there . . . watching.”
“Where are you now?”
“Inside. With the doors locked. But”—Beth’s voice grew weepy despite the smile Tori would bet was stretched across her flawlessly made-up face—“I’m scared. Could you please come home?”
Home.
She swallowed as Milo said the words she knew he’d say. “I’ll be right there.”
He closed the phone inside his hand and stood, his eyes hooded. “Tori, I’m sorry. I really am. But she needs me right now.”
“I know. So go. I’ll be fine. I—I’ve got plans for tonight anyway.”
It was a lie and she knew it, especially considering she hadn’t actually called Leona or even considered it until just that moment. But it was all she could think to say to keep from crumbling right there on the park bench.
“Oh. Okay. Well, have fun.” He took a step toward the gate then stopped. “You have off tomorrow, too, right?”
She forced a smile to her lips. “I do.”
“Any chance I can see you after school lets out?”
“Let me see how I’m doing on the circle’s project.”
For a moment he simply studied her, his eyes depicting a mixture of sadness and disappointment the likes of which nearly broke her heart. When she didn’t stand, didn’t promise to work as fast as she could, he turned and walked away, his feet leading him toward the damsel who believed distress was a game—a game Milo was too sweet and too blind to realize he was playing.
Chapter 25
She knew she’d get a lecture. It was as much a certainty as the notion that a library had books or a school had students.
And she didn’t care. In fact, if Tori was honest with herself, she welcomed it. Even needed it.
“Leona, can I ask you something?”
Pausing her wine goblet halfway to her mouth, Leona nodded. “Of course. That’s why we’re having dinner together, isn’t it? So you can learn from my expertise in life?”
Her cheeks rose along with her smile. “Actually, we’re having dinner because you’re my friend and I thought it would be fun to spend a little time together outside our weekly sewing circle meeting.”
Leona took a sip of her wine then set the glass back on the linen tablecloth. “Do you think I just fell off one of those turnip trucks Margaret Louise is always glorifying?”
She stared at her friend. “Turnip trucks?”
“You didn’t suggest dinner because you wanted to spend time with me, you suggested it so you wouldn’t have to sit home alone—again—worrying about what Milo is doing with that little relationship wrecker he has living under his roof.”
All attempts at a half-hearted protest died before they reached her lips. “How did you know?” she finally asked.
“Because I know you, dear.”
Blowing a strand of hair from her face, Tori leaned back against her chair, her fingers finding the stem of her own glass and giving it a gentle twirl. “Then what should I do? I