Jack glanced at me, back at Uncle Mike, and then squared his shoulders. "Yes, sir."
I threw my hands up in the air. "How about you two Neanderthals letmedecide what I deserve? Now. Are there steaks in there or not?"
Jack grinned. "Many, many steaks."
I turned to Ruby, who was visibly gathering steam for another rant.
"Did you make pies, or do we need to go buy them, now that you're so busy being mayor?"
"Tess!" She lifted her chin. "OfcourseI made pies!"
Hint: To change any uncomfortable subject with a Southern woman of Aunt Ruby's generation, imply that her hospitality or pie skills are not quite up to snuff.
She led the way into the house, a stream of commentary following her about how she didn't know why the mayor was in charge of kids shooting stop signs, what kind of woman did I think she was, not to have pie, and if she got her hands on anybody leaving me scary gifts, she'd go after him with a rolling pin.
Jack smiled at me, but his expression was tinged with sadness, and I pulled him aside in the front room after Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby headed for the kitchen.
"Listen, you. Don't get any ideas. Uncle Mike's just poking at you, because he's overprotective. Don't think this gets you out of our date tonight. I haveplansfor you, my friend."
My teasing had the desired effect and maybe even worked too well: his smile turned predatory, and I suddenly felt overly warm and a little bit tingly.
"I have plans for you too, and friendship has nothing to do with it," he murmured, and then he sauntered off, leaving me biting my lip and wondering if I'd made a mistake.
Maybe weshouldjust be friends. Maybe…
Just then, he looked back at me and shook his head a little, as if he could hear my thoughts—I knew he couldn't; I'd asked—and the nerves just flowed right out of me. I knew Jack. He was my friend and my business partner. He'd risked his life for me and I'd risked mine for him.
He'd seen me withbed head.
And we still liked each other. A lot. Maybe…
Maybe even more.
We were going on that date, come heck or high water. And I wasdefinitelyturning off my phone this time, so no calls about break-ins at the shop or anything else would interrupt us. What a waste of the best red dress in the history of the worldthathad been.
Uncle Mike started pulling steaks and chicken and ribs and who knew what else out of the bags and chortling.
"Well, at least you're a carnivore. Remember that vegetarian Tess dated, Ruby? He wanted to make us tofu meatloaf." He pointed at me. "If you hadn't broken up with him, I might have shot him, just to save us from the tofu."
Jack turned his head to look at me. "Really? When was this?"
"Last week," I lied sweetly—it had been years ago. "Too bad you were gone, Jack. But, as you say, you snooze, you lose."
Aunt Ruby dropped the silverware she was holding. "How can you all joke about… abouttofuat a time like this? Some lunatic is threatening Tess withdead bodies. Again."
"And expensive sapphire rings," I added helpfully.
"I don't care about the ring," she shouted.
Yeah. The ring was really not the point, but I was trying for distraction.
Uncle Mike, surprisingly, as overprotective as he was, decided to be the voice of reason for once, instead of threatening to lock me in my childhood bedroom.
“As scary as this is, we'll handle it. I don't know why Dead End is suddenly the center of a crime spree this year, but we'll find out who did this, and the sheriff will lock him up.”
"Or her," I pointed out. Some of the crimes had been perpetrated by women.
"Or her," Uncle Mike agreed.
