14
~ Dylan ~
It was close, but I managed not to show any surprise at Blue Ridge Valley’s famous baker. “Mrs. Ballard, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m going to be one of your best doughnut customers,” I said to the top of her purple head. I doubted she reached the five-foot-tall mark, and not much more than her nose, eyes, and hair were visible over the top of the counter. Her eyes were heavily shadowed in purple, and each ear had a row of pierced rings along the shell. I estimated her to be in her sixties.
I glanced at Jenny to see amusement dancing in her eyes, and I remembered saying that I’d marry Miss Mary for her doughnuts. My lips gave an uncontrollable twitch imagining Mary Ballard in my bed. I think Jenny was holding her breath in an effort not to laugh.
God, I loved this town.
“Mr. Ballard kicked the bucket back in ’92, and nobody calls me Mrs. Ballard anymore. I’m just plain Mary. What flavor doughnut you like, Chief?”
There was absolutely nothing plain about Miss Mary. “Hot glazed for doughnuts, and…” I eyed the gigantic muffins. “What are those?”
She glanced at the ones I pointed to. “Apple cinnamon with walnuts. Eat this one now,” she said, handing me a glazed doughnut that was warm in my palm. “Take this one for later.” She put another one in a bag. “No money today, Chief. They’re a welcome present.”
“Thank you, Mary.” I bit off half of the warm doughnut, moaning at how it melted in my mouth. “I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
Mary beamed, her purple-shadowed eyes shining with pleasure. “My Larry always did love those the best. Glad to meet another man who appreciates them.”
She’d found a fan in me. “I also want three dozen assorted to take to the boys and girls at the station, and I will pay for those. Make sure you put an apple cinnamon muffin in the box.”
Doughnuts paid for, I walked Jenny out. “You’re evil, Red.” We hadn’t made it two steps out of Mary’s sight when Jenny doubled over in laughter.
“If you could have seen your face,” she gasped.
“You could have warned me, you know.”
“No way. It was too much fun watching you try to keep a straight face.”
I took out the apple muffin, biting into it. “Oh my God, this is good. I might marry her anyway, purple hair and all.”
“Just so you know, next week her hair and eye shadow will be green or red or maybe blue. It changes every Monday.”
“Even better. She’ll keep me on my toes.”
Jenny gave me a toothy grin. “Now I know how to bribe you, Chief. Give you a box of warm glazed doughnuts and apple muffins and you’ll be putty in my hands.”
I was pretty sure I was already putty in her hands. “I’m an officer of the law, madam. I can’t be bribed.”
She made a snorting noise. “We’ll see. You look really nice today, by the way. Very CEOish.”
“Thank you.” It wasn’t my usual attire. Normally I’d have on a pair of tan cargo pants and a dark brown or olive-green polo shirt with the Blue Ridge Valley police logo on the chest, bought with my own money because I refused to wear those crappy uniforms the city supplied. I was working on getting my officers something similar.
Today I had a meeting with the mayor and town manager, thus the monkey suit.
A powder-blue Mercedes convertible turned into the lot, parking next to my car.
“Oh crap,” Jenny said.
I raised a brow. “Something I should know?”
“Man-eater alert.”
The woman who exited the Mercedes was stunning. I guessed her to be in her mid-twenties, about Jenny’s age. Sleek blonde hair in a blunt cut just below her ears, eyes as blue as the sky above me, tall with a body curved in all the right places. Her sight zeroed in on me as she sashayed—that was the only word for it—straight for me.
“She hates me, so I’m outta here,” Jenny said.
I grabbed her arm. “Oh no you don’t.” The type of woman aiming for me made me want to run for the hills.
