stereo, and we worked for a couple of hours in the quiet. But something about what she’d said bothered me. Who had he been talking to and why were they fighting? Did it have anything to do with the lack of movement on the wall certification? I’d told Greg that Frank was going to change the status of the wall back to pending. But what had made him change it in the first place? Or had it been someone else? So many questions, not enough answers. I bookmarked the three choices I had for the party. I’d call the places tomorrow to make sure they could do what Amy wanted and then closed my laptop, moving it over to the kitchen desk. Then I turned the notebook to the back and started writing down everything I knew about Frank Gleason and his death.
When I’d finished, I closed the notebook. Amy was watching me. “What?”
“You’re investigating what happened to Frank, aren’t you?”
I shrugged, standing up and putting the notebook on the desk with the computer. “Maybe I just wanted to write down some issues that don’t make sense. It’s not a real investigation.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” She pushed a piece of driftwood toward me. “Ten to go and we’ll be done. When we are, I’ll buy dinner at Lille’s.”
The thought of fried chicken and mashed potatoes was a much better idea than frozen pizza, but I’d really have to run tomorrow. Eating out twice in one day wasn’t great for my diet. “Sound good. But it’s weird that the first-ever hit-and-run murder we have in South Cove is Frank, right?”
“Weird stuff happens. That’s why I’m so excited to be starting my life with Justin. You never know when things are going to blow up on you.” She looked pointedly at me. “You need to live your best life now.”
“What are you trying to say? I am living my best life. I love the store. I have Aunt Jackie with Harrold. I have great, if nosy, friends. And I have Greg and Emma. What else do I need?” I picked up the piece of deadwood. Mine wasn’t pretty, like the one Amy was working on. In fact, it looked like it had been burned and thrown away. Maybe if I covered up that section with some moss, it might look a little presentable.
Amy took the moss and placed it away from the blemishes. I frowned at her but went ahead and glued it there. It was her wedding.
“You need to settle down. You and Greg need to make this official. Maybe even start a family?” She handed me the sand to shake over the wood. “We could raise our babies together.”
Something about that just made me shudder. It wasn’t that I didn’t want kids; I did. But not now. Somehow, I knew that the marriage conversations were just going to get stickier as our friends became “official” couples. I didn’t meet her eyes when I answered, focusing instead on the little glue lines I was making on the driftwood to add the glitter. “I don’t know if I’m ready for kids yet.”
Chapter 5
Dinner conversation at Diamond Lille’s with Amy ranged from why I was crazy to not want kids now, when I was young enough to keep up the energy level, to an in-depth discussion on who was sitting next to who at the reception. It felt like this conversation was on a repeat loop for Amy. The big problem was who she was going to make sit by Marvin and Tina. She had to invite the mayor, mostly because she worked for him, but no one we knew would be looking forward to sitting for a meal, not to mention a reception, with Marvin.
I longingly remembered the times we’d met in the past and not talked about the wedding. I know it wasn’t charitable or kind, but I was just about fed up.
As we left, I paused at Diamond Lille’s Celebrity Wall of Fame. The newest addition to the wall grinned out at me from his photo, not like the man I’d met on the beach. “He cleans up pretty nice.”
Amy glanced around the room. “Who? I don’t see anyone we know.”
I pointed to the picture. “That’s the author I met on the beach. Didn’t I tell you? He wants to write about the Mission Wall in one of those tour guide books. I’m kind of worried that it will bring people to hang around my backyard. Emma would go