He didn’t look pleased at being indebted to Louise. “I’ll pay.”
“No, you need to let me pay,” said Zona.
“Okay, we’ll all pay for our own,” Louise said, and marched off inside the building.
“Nice of your mom to come along,” he said to Zona as they followed her.
She frowned at him. “Are you being sarcastic?”
“No. I’m teasing.”
“She’s...” Oh, boy. How to explain this?
“Making sure I don’t have a psychotic break and kidnap you?”
Zona shrugged and held up both hands. “I did explain about your stepsister, but you’re still a bit of a mystery.”
“And she’s Jessica Fletcher.”
Zona’s cheeks began to burn. “My mom did love that show. We watched it when I was a kid.”
“I bet you did.”
“Come on, you said yourself you were a jerk. You didn’t exactly make a good impression that last time you brought Darling to the door.”
“And at the next block party we’ll all have a good laugh about it?”
“Maybe. Mom’s writing a mystery, by the way.”
“Heaven help us,” he said as they reached the counter.
He managed to end up paying for their lunch, and Louise spent most of it giving him the third degree, wanting to know about his family life growing up. What had his mother been like? Zona had been dealt a raw deal by her ex-husbands. Did Alec have an ex?
With that one, Zona’s cheeks turned from burn to three-alarm fire. “Mom!”
“Yes, I do, and she’s alive and well,” he said, which brought the pink to Louise’s face.
She crumpled her hamburger wrapper and walked over to a nearby trash can.
“She really is Jessica Fletcher,” he said under his breath. “Are you Nancy Drew?”
“No. And you know who Nancy Drew is?”
“Stepsisters. Remember? But even Nancy would give me a pass.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Once you’ve jumped to conclusions, it’s hard to get away from them.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Eventually you’ll both see I’m not so bad. How’s the dog doing, by the way? Is he ready for some more obedience training?”
“He might be,” said Zona, and smiled. Alec wasn’t a murderer or an abuser. Maybe he was going to turn out to be a good neighbor after all.
If she and her mother didn’t drive him out of the neighborhood.
“SO, HE’S ACTUALLYNICE,”Zona said when she and Gracie met for coffee on Zona’s lunch break later that week, and went on to tell her friend about how Alec had come to the rescue with car repairs.
“Your mom has to be so disappointed,” Gracie joked.
“She’ll have to go back to getting her thrills watchingDeathline,” said Zona.
