Stealing Taffy (Bigler, North Carolina #3) - Susan Donovan Page 0,106

the day they first met! Tanyalee had been pulled so tight back then that she seemed about to shatter like a beer bottle on the blacktop.

Fern hopped out and followed Tanyalee around to the trunk.

“Candy packed up ten dozen, which ought to be plenty for all the residents and staff…” Tanyalee jabbered on while carefully handing Fern a long cardboard box filled with two dozen cupcakes. She lifted another box into her own arms. “… we’re going to have to make more trips to the car.” She turned toward the home for the “elderly” and sighed. “I do hope Hugo Stevens doesn’t try to catch me behind the potted palms again. Being propositioned by a man old enough to be my granddaddy is downright disturbin’.”

Fern shrugged. “Geezers gotta geeze.” She took the lead up the sidewalk, carefully watching her step. The bakery boxes had a tendency to bend and Fern didn’t want to be the one who disappointed the nice old people who looked forward to Cupcake Wednesday all week long. Fern knew all about disappointment, since she’d had plenty of Christmases without so much as a pair of new socks, not to mention all the nights without dinner and the mornings without breakfast. She wouldn’t wish that kind of disappointment on anyone.

They let themselves into the heavy security door used for deliveries. The facility’s kitchen was all cleared up and empty in the hours between lunch and dinner. Tanyalee knew exactly where to place the boxes and pointed to where Fern’s should go. She set it down a little too hard.

“Careful there,” Tanyalee told her. “I think Candy ought to get some of those clear plastic boxes, because these just don’t stand up to North Carolina humidity.”

Fern rolled her eyes. The last thing she cared about was some damn bakery boxes. But Tanyalee was like that, always fussing about the little things.

When they exited the building again, Tanyalee propped the door slightly ajar. They had no sooner reached the car than Tanyalee’s cell phone went off, blaring that annoying song from the window of the pimpmobile. Fern was so embarrassed she wanted to hide behind the bushes.

“I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want…”

Fern wanted her to get a new ringtone.

But there went Tanyalee, running to answer her phone, moving fast as a hound dog to a bucket of bacon grease.

It was torture listening to the way Tanyalee chattered on the phone, all pink and excited whenever he called. Fern didn’t set out to listen to people’s private conversations, but what was she supposed to do, stick her fingers in her ears and go, “La-la-la-la-la?” As Tanyalee made a date with Dante for later her voice got all gooey and ridiculous.

“I’ll be done here in a jiff and we’ll have the whole evening. Uh-huh. No more than fifteen minutes.” Tanyalee started giggling like a first-grader. “Umkay. No, I’m all dressed so I can just meet you at the bakery. What? Oh, stop! You’re terrible! I am just going to hang up now. Umbye-bye.”

“Oh, my dar-leeng Dawn-tay!” Fern stood in front of Tanyalee, making her voice as high and flirty as she could, fanning her hands around her face.

Tanyalee stared at her blankly.

Fern took it up a notch. “Oh, my stars! I just can’t wait to be frisked, and I simply love it when you show me your big ol’ badge.”

The only reaction she got out of her mentor was a small twitch of a single eyebrow.

Fern propped her fists on her hips and got down to the nitty-gritty. “You’re in love with that side of beef, aren’t you?”

Tanyalee’s lips parted in surprise. “What did you just call him?”

Fern waved off her concern. “Oh, that’s just Three-Gee’s name for him. So, are you? You know, in luuuhve?” Fern waited. As the seconds ticked by, she thought, Come on, Tanyalee. No more bullshit.

Tanyalee looked down at her phone like it was some kind of crystal ball and shook her head. “I’m not sure I fully understand what love is yet, but I think that yes, I might love him.” She glanced up, her eyes all dreamy and gazing off in the distance, then suddenly, her attention snapped back to Fern. “I take that back. You know what?”

She shook her head.

“I do love him, right now, right this minute.” Her eyes got all sparkly. “And even if I haven’t figured it all out yet, I can love him to the best of my ability and learn as I go.