Zero Forks - Cat Johnson Page 0,33

been thinking about her.

“Uh. Hey. What are you doing home so early?” I asked, pretending I didn’t feel guilty Stewie was gum’s deep in a giant cookie an hour before dinner.

“I left work a little early. My boss scheduled a presentation for early tomorrow morning and I figured I’d get more work done at home than in the office.” Her gaze cut to the women around the space, before she continued. “I noticed the Morgan truck with the car seat inside parked out front.”

“I’m glad you’re here. You can meet my friends.” Maybe I could distract her from Stewie’s sugar high with introductions.

“All right.” She nodded, looking less than enthusiastic.

For a professional woman, she seemed surprisingly shy about meeting people. Although, knowing these women, maybe Sarah should be a little frightened.

“Sarah, this is Red, my brother Cash’s girlfriend.”

Red shot me a glare. “I’m way more than just Cashel Morgan’s girlfriend.” She directed her gaze to Sarah. “I also own the resale shop down the road.”

Sarah nodded to Red. “Nice to meet you.”

I rolled my eyes at Red and continued, “This is Harper, my brother Stone’s girlfriend and, also, a famous author.” I added the last part about her occupation before I got the same reaction from Harper that I’d gotten from Red.

Apparently some women didn’t like being introduced as somebody’s girlfriend. Weird.

“I'm not exactly famous, but it's nice to meet you.” Harper smiled brightly.

“You too,” Sarah said, as, God help me, I swore I could see the writerly wheels turning in Harper’s brain.

Time to move on and quickly.

“And this is Bethany. This is her bake shop. She’s dating Brandon Webster, who owns the house you’re renting. She’s also the one to blame for Stewie eating that cookie before dinner.”

Happily, I threw Bethany under the bus. It was every man for himself in this situation.

Bethany shook her head at my accusation. “Rule number one. Don’t bring a child into my bakery if you don’t want him to have a cookie.”

To my surprise, Sarah actually let out a laugh before shooting me a glance. “Sounds logical to me.

“And, oh my God, isn’t that house you're staying in just the bee’s knees? Do you love it?” Bethany asked Sarah.

“It’s the cat’s meow,” Red said, grinning.

“The bomb diggity,” Harper piped in with a smile.

I chuckled as Bethany’s two friends teased her.

Bethany good naturedly took the mocking in stride with not much more than a shake of her head.

She always said weird things like that. Her old timey sayings were as colorful as her blue and purple streaked hair. It was one of the things I liked about her.

I liked people who weren’t afraid to be different, although she didn’t think there was anything strange about it.

Sarah cocked her head to one side as she glanced around the group. Finally, she said, “It is an amazing home. And the river view is beautiful.”

“And it’s about time we got back to it so Stewie can eat something for dinner that’s not made of sugar.” Not wanting to give the women a chance to say anything to Sarah that would embarrass me or make her feel uncomfortable, I stalked to the counter.

I planted a ten-dollar bill down, before picking up the bakery box Bethany had prepared for me.

“Thank you for these.” I grabbed Stewie’s hand and waited for Sarah to say goodbye and preceed me out the door.

No way in hell was I leaving her alone to be interrogated by these sharks.

When she was safely outside on the sidewalk, I paused in the doorway and glanced toward Red and Harper. “Ladies.”

“Boone,” Red returned.

“Have a good night, you two,” Harper sing-songed, no doubt hoping I would have a very good night. And that I’d tell my brother about it so he could tell her.

She was so wrong on so many levels. Oh, I was definitely hoping for a good night. But Agnes’s pet pig Petunia would fly before I’d tell Stone or Cash anything about it.

With Stewie held in one hand and the box of honey buns in the other, I stepped outside.

Time to get back to work—at my nanny job, that is. Get this kid fed, cleaned and to bed. Then I could get to work on breaking down those walls around his aunt.

TWELVE

Sarah

I was not a Millennial.

That was made very clear by the fact I’d never used the words bee’s knees or bomb diggity or cat’s meow in my life.

I’d heard the phrases. In old movies, I supposed. But the baker and her friends, who all