another box. Maya caught the hesitation immediately.
"Constance, why don't you help Matty take his things upstairs? Now that we have furniture again, we'll be staying here tonight."
Matty screamed with delight and raced for the stairs. Looking uncertain, Constance glanced back and forth between the adults, then obediently followed with her skinny arms full of toys.
"Does that help, Mr. Headley?" Maya asked as the children disappeared up the stairs.
The reporter lowered his bulk into the other chair and eyed her jasmine-scented tea skeptically. "I'm not certain anything helps, but I thought this might be something you needed to hear, too." He glanced at Axell, who stood with arms crossed, lean hip propped against the glass counter, waiting.
Receiving no prompt to continue, Headley shrugged. "The police arrested your busboys for possession and sale, Axell. Rumors are flying that they're just the flunkies and you're the bigger operation. Some people are jealous of the success you've made of that place."
Even through the gloomy twilight, Maya could see Axell's knuckles whiten. She recognized the lines tightening beside his mouth. He had an enormous capacity for restraining his temper, or diverting it in strange ways. She didn't think she wanted to be around when the dam broke this time. To drain off a little of the pressure, she spoke before Axell could. "And why did you think I needed to hear this, Mr. Headley?"
"Just Headley, dear. That's all anyone calls me." He shrugged his gray-suited shoulders again. "The connection is nebulous, but it doesn't take much in a small town. Your sister was busted for drugs, Axell is moving her inventory into his building, and you're living out at his place. Your sister's shop attracted a lot of teenagers. One thing leads to another and tongues are flapping like sheets in the wind."
Shocked, Maya couldn't summon a reply.
"Ralph is after my liquor license," Axell explained wearily. "I take that back, he's killing two birds with one stone with that rumor. Label us both as druggies and he eliminates any chances of my running for his job and kills your business along with mine. He figures you'll pack up and move out, and then I'll leave the Pfeiffer property uncontested. He must have found out that I persuaded one of the other council members to vote against the access road."
"Is that what this is all about?" Headley asked with interest. "I'd wondered."
"He can't do that, can he?" Maya asked with trepidation. She'd lost homes before. Lost parents, dogs, cats, and every valuable possession she'd owned except for the teacups. But she'd never been the cause of someone else losing anything. She watched Axell with growing horror.
"The mayor can't do anything personally, but he can pull strings. I'll have to investigate the financing behind that shopping center. I thought Ralph had kept his hands clean, but he's dumping too much into this to be doing it just for campaign contributions." Axell shrugged and didn't move from his position against the counter. "Thanks for the warning, Headley, but you shouldn't have worried Miss Alyssum. I'll take care of this."
"You'll take care of this? Someone is insulting my integrity, threatening my sister's shop and my school, and you'll take care of this? Do you have any idea what kind of catastrophe this could be for me? They could take Matty away, take my school away, destroy Cleo's livelihood..." Maya shoved up from her chair. "I'll damned well snatch the mayor bald before that happens."
Axell grabbed her arm as she stalked by. "It's my liquor license and my fight, and you don't have the experience to deal with it. Now go on upstairs with the kids and get some rest. Ralph and I have been battling it out since he switched to a Charlotte football team in high school."
Had she been in any condition to swing a punch, she would have. Instead, Maya smiled sweetly and shrugged off his hold. "Of course, honey bear. You do that. You just look out for little ol' me. You're so good at it." She patted Axell's wide chest, decided touching him was a mistake if the tension triggering up her fingertips was any indication, then pinched his cheek in defiance. "I'll just sashay upstairs and let you big ol' men take care of everything."
Axell's eyes narrowed into stony slits, his jaw muscle twitched, and he crossed his arms again, apparently restraining himself from shaking her. "When I need a woman to fight my battles, I'll let you know."
"Why, sure thing, sugar dumplin'. Isn't