“You’re crazy.” It wasn’t like I couldn’t have used the Miss Emily fund, as I’d come to call the money I’d inherited from my friend, but I was superstitious. You never needed money until you didn’t have any. And with the age of both my house and the building where the shop sat, I figured we were just holding off the inevitable. I bit into the fish. Heaven. Crunchy, with a solid filet inside and seasoned to perfection. I could eat fish every day and twice on Sunday.
“I’d probably get bored anyway. I never was much of a salesman. Even when I had to sell cookies for the troop, my mom bought most of my allotment because I didn’t want to go door to door.” Amy picked up her cheeseburger and started devouring the sandwich. We ate in silence.
“You know I’d do anything for you, including bankrolling your business, but it feels wrong somehow.” I paused, not knowing what else to say. I realized I’d also broken Rule Number Fourteen in the self-help book I’d glanced through that morning: Never be the first to talk after an uncomfortable silence. It makes you appear weak and vulnerable. I remembered it because my reaction had been summed up in two words: Bull crap. Now I wondered if I’d been hasty in my assessment.
Amy held out her hand, stopping me from talking. “Earth to Jill. I was kidding. No way I’d be an off icial beach bum like Dustin Austin. Sometimes it’s too easy to tease you. Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s do a girls’ night tonight.”
“Tonight? You and me?” We hadn’t been out together without the guys forever. This was sounding like an amazing idea.
“You, me, Sadie, Pat, Sherry, I’d invite Darla, but she won’t leave the winery. But we could meet there and she could join the group for a while. Maybe even invite Esmeralda.” Amy’s eyes shined bright as she formalized the plan in her head.
“No way will Sherry and Pat join us. You know Sherry hates me.” I grabbed the last onion ring from Amy’s plate. “Sadie might come, depends on what Nick’s doing. Esmeralda has readings scheduled.”
“We’ll invite her anyway, can’t hurt. Besides, the more people, the easier it will be to talk to Sherry about her relationship to Kent. And what she wants with Greg. If Pat’s right, it might be good to keep an eye on the woman.” Amy started texting. “I’m sending out the invite right now.”
I wasn’t sure Amy’s plan was to anyone’s benefit, but the old saying about keeping your enemies close kept ringing in my head. And who knows, with a couple of beers, I might just find something the woman and I had in common, besides Greg.
Walking home after lunch, I thought about Amy’s words. I did get too involved in others’ problems, especially those of people I cared about. Often, it got me in trouble. Especially with Greg. I’d had my life threatened more than once because I’d kept pushing for answers when really, it wasn’t my business.
“I swear I’ll never try to solve a problem that isn’t mine again.” I held my hand up as I used the other to open the gate. Now to read that book and figure out a way to keep my pledge.
A noise came from the side yard and I froze.
“Nice to hear your promise, but honestly, honey, do you really think you can make a tiger have spots?” Greg stood at the corner of the house, a wet tennis ball in his hand and a panting Emma staring at him with eyes filled with doggy love.
Smiling, I walked toward him and reached up on tiptoe to give him a kiss. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.” I glanced toward the driveway. “Where’s your truck?”
“Back at City Hall. I needed a break, so I walked out here to play with my favorite girl.” He waved the ball at Emma. Throwing it into the backyard, he called, “Get it!”
The dog took off like a rocket.
We ambled up to the back porch and slid into the swing, his hand taking mine. “I missed you last night.”
He leaned back and put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. “This Kent thing has been a disaster.”
“Really?” I turned toward him. “What’s happening? Was he murdered?”
I saw the grin on Greg’s face before I realized what I’d done.
“And I’m trying to solve someone else’s problem again.” I sank back into the swing, watching my dog throw her ball up in the air, then catch it herself. “Why do I do this to myself?”
“You’re hardwired to think this way. I swear, you’d have been a good cop if you’d gone that way instead of law school.” He ruffled my hair. “I love you just the way you are. As long as you’re not messing with my investigations. Go figure out who took one of Austin’s bikes last weekend. Then he’ll stop calling the office three times a day to see if I’ve apprehended the suspect.”
“He should take the rider’s photo ID before letting just anyone rent one of his bikes. We’ve talked about his lax business practices before.” I sighed. “The guy wants to think everyone is as honest as he is.”
“Well, to his defense, the bike disappeared from his locked storage sometime between Sunday night and Wednesday morning when he opened the shop. He didn’t just rent it out to the wrong guy.”