That got an even louder hum of approval.
Lucky walked back to my truck with me.
"Molly and I are coming over to Tess's for pizza tonight," he said. "Can I bring anything?"
I shook my head. "We've got it covered. We might grill, though, since we just had pizza last night."
"From Judd's?"
"Yeah. He bought Dead End Pizza, you know."
Lucky frowned. "Yeah. It's weird. When I was there a couple of days ago, he and Darryl Peterson were standing out back of the pizza place yelling at each other. I thought it might come to blows and headed over, but Darryl just stormed off."
"Darryl's getting into a lot of fights these days."
"Yeah. The Santa thing. I heard. But this was about UltraShopMart. I didn't pry, but I heard them shouting about Craven."
I thought about it. "You know what? All those UltraShopMarts have an in-store pizza restaurant. I wonder if Judd is worried they'll steal his business out from under him. And after he just bought this restaurant, too."
"Folks are definitely lining up on opposite sides. I wonder if it's going to come down to a fight." He tilted his head. "You're dating the mayor's niece. Any hints on which way the town council is leaning?"
"Nope. We haven't had time to talk to Ruby about it."
He stood back, and I climbed in the truck.
"Okay. See you tonight."
Lucky nodded. "We'll be there. Try to stay out of trouble."
I drove off and thought about what he'd said. The problem was that Itriedto stay out of trouble.
But trouble always seemed to find me.
I called Tess for an update on the compliment clock and heard about the "many fat babies" in her future. She was laughing about it, but after we hung up, I stared into space, barely seeing the road in front of me.
Babies?
I hadn't thought beyond a new garage.
Oh, boy.
14
Tess
When I locked a newly pawned diamond bracelet in the vault at six, the compliment clock told me my goats would all have twins.
"I don't have a goat," I told it, but then I remembered the earless goat I'd given Uncle Mike and figured I might just shoot him a warning. I didn't know if the compliments were also predictions, but just in case…
It had been another long day. Jack had texted me what he'd learned from the guys, but I'd been too busy to think about it much. The pre-holiday rush was in full force, and Eleanor had only come in for a couple of hours. I really needed to hire another part-time person.
Another thing to think about after the holidays.
By the time I got home, Uncle Mike, Aunt Ruby, and Shelley were already there. Lou looked up at me from her place on Uncle Mike's lap, shamelessly trawling for belly rubs, but didn't move a muscle to come greet me.
"Traitor," I told her, leaning down to kiss the top of Uncle Mike's head. "I think she likes you better."
"Cats belong in the barn," he said calmly, pretending he wasn't cuddling a lapful of house cat.
