Murder in Waiting - Lynn Cahoon Page 0,7
stood watching, his face pale and his eyes downcast. “What’s going to happen to him?”
“He’ll probably get a commendation from the mayor for good citizenship. Which is going to make him feel even guiltier. But maybe we caught him early from a life of bad pranks gone wrong.” He stood. “Pause that a second. I need to flip the chops.”
When he came back, we finished watching the video clip. I turned off the television. “You looked like a hero on television.”
“Yeah, Marvin is going to hate that. Even with the election over and his seat secured for four more years, he’s convinced he’s going to lose the spot to me as soon as I actually run for mayor.” He sipped his beer and nodded to the fridge. He stood and kissed me. “You get the rest ready and I’ll go get the chops. I’m starving. And I’m really glad I don’t have to eat alone tonight.”
That brought a smile to my lips. My hero boyfriend. It sounded like a title to one of the romances Sadie purchased by the truckload.
* * * *
I realized the next morning that we really hadn’t talked about Mike the writer and if we wanted our house to be on the unofficial register of historic stops on the central California coast. Greg had left early to take care of the paperwork on rescuing the sea lion. Which was surprisingly extensive. He’d told me that there were at least five agencies where he had to file his official report, not including the South Cove Police Department. And he had additional deadlines to meet, so it would be a morning filled with paperwork. We were still on our winter schedule at the shop, so I didn’t open until seven. So I had time to run with Emma before walking into town for my shift.
Have I mentioned how much I love living in South Cove lately? When I worked in the city, I had an apartment, but I still had to take a bus to the stop closest to the law firm’s building, then walk from there. Which was great on nice days. I started to hate the rain after a week of downpours, when I’d had to carry dress shoes in my backpack and schedule my arrival at least an hour before my first meeting so my suits would have time to dry out a bit. My hair just pulled into a tighter curl, so there wasn’t anything I could do with it. Humidity plus curly hair equaled frizz. My boss called me Rosanne Roseannadana on those days, and I’d had to Google the reference, but she hadn’t been wrong.
My first customer was sitting at one of the café tables outside when I arrived. He handed me his credit card. “Large coffee and a couple of those brownies to go, please. And I need the next book in this series. My plan is to have this one done at lunch.”
I took the card and glanced at the Lee Child book. “I’ll look it up and make sure I get you the right one.”
“Tell Deek thanks for the recommendation. I’m loving this series. I can’t believe I hadn’t tried him earlier.” Jay—the man’s name was Jay, I remembered now that I saw his credit card—was an attorney in the city. We’d talked about my time at the firm, but where he was involved in tax and business law, his income kept him happy working the long hours, including a crazy commute. Yet he still made sure he made time for himself, including his pleasure reading.
I hadn’t taken great care of myself until I’d moved here. Owning a bookstore had given me a lot of free time to think about what I wanted out of life. Well, it had until my aunt had moved to town and taken over managing my store and my life.
I started the coffee machines, tracked down the next-in-series book for Jay, and had his coffee and brownie breakfast packed up with a receipt in less than five minutes. I took it back outside, where he was still reading. I set down the bags and cup and handed him back his credit card, along with his receipt and a bookmark. He sighed.
“Thanks Jill. I guess it’s time for me to start adulting for the day.” He slipped the bookmark into the hardback and then pulled out his wallet. “You’re not hiring for this shift, are you?”
“I doubt I could afford your salary needs.” I straightened