Armie’s face split in a wide grin. “Yeah, that makes it all worthwhile. That look right there. It’s been a good day.”
“You’re mean,” Lila said, but she was smiling, too.
“So everyone in town is going to view Zep as the expert, and they’ll all call him.” Roxie seemed to understand the horror of the situation. “Which means they will all call me if they can’t find him because they will probably figure out that we’re real dating instead of fake dating.”
“Now, hey, baby, I will answer my phone. I promise.” He wasn’t giving her an easy out.
“I knew it.” Lila held out a hand. “Pay up, Madam Mayor.”
Sylvie rolled her eyes but fished a five out of her purse. “I’m glad I went stingy on that bet. She wanted me to put twenty on the line, but I thought her insider tips might be better than mine. Sera can be oblivious.”
“Remy is not, and my sister likes to gossip as much as she likes to breathe.” Lila took her five. “And of course they were going to come out of this together.”
“Uhm, I mean we’re . . .” Roxie seemed to fumble.
She wasn’t a woman used to being the center of attention.
“What she’s saying is we’re not really dating. But we’re going to try to be more polite to each other at the end of this.” He was used to smoothing things over and making less of what should be more. “We’re friends. That’s all. You should give Sylvie back her five.”
Lila’s gaze could turn piercing at times, and this was one of them.
“Keep the five,” Roxie said with a sigh. “He’s lying. We’re dating and it’s okay because he’s not going to start fistfights anymore. He’s going to be a perfectly respectable boyfriend.”
He was her boyfriend? “I am. I mean I will be. Starting now. And I will answer my phone so they don’t call you asking where I am.”
“You better.” She laughed suddenly. “Because watching you deal with the great rougarou crisis is going to be so funny. I’ve gone to a town hall before. It’s crazy. I’m definitely getting some of Dixie’s popcorn.”
She was going to be a terrible girlfriend. And he was going to enjoy every moment of it. Well, except the whole “run the town hall and answer everyone’s utterly insane questions” part of it.
Lila stood up, grabbing her bag and gesturing toward the windows that separated the conference room from the main part of the station house. “You might want to put a hold on that popcorn order because your dad asked if he could come in, and my husband, while good at making terrible jokes, is awful at coming up with excuses on the fly. He’s here to see where you work.”
Roxie’s face went sheet white as she turned and saw her dad standing in the middle of the station house, talking to Major and petting Daisy. “He’s here.”
The good news was Zep had a date with a whole bunch of dogs. “Good luck, baby.”
She growled his way.
He would definitely have to make up for that later. Lucky for him, he’d figured out exactly how to make her relax.
Mr. King waved their way.
She was going to need so much relaxing.
* * *
* * *
Two hours later, Roxie sat in the cruiser and wished Armie had taken a single one of her cues. If he had, then she wouldn’t be sitting here with her dad on a ride-along. If Armie had been even the slightest bit good at deflection, her dad would have asked a couple of questions and gone on his way.
Instead, he was spending all day with her.
All day.
“How often do you go out on your own?” her father asked from the seat beside her.
He’d been fairly quiet since they’d left the station. She’d done her routine tour of the town, ensuring everything looked normal. Lila had been out walking her dog outside the clinic and probably coming up with ways to spend that five bucks she’d won from betting on a love life that shouldn’t be hers to bet on.
Roxie had waved to a couple of people she knew and had stopped briefly to talk to Dixie. The diner owner had been crossing the street to enter town hall. It was on the square that always reminded Roxie of the set of a fifties movie. Dixie had been jaywalking.
But she owned the only place in town that served waffles, so she had merely suggested Dixie use the crosswalk