“I was talking about the shed behind the garage. Miss Emily put a bathroom in with a shower. I guess she would get dirty painting and didn’t want to come into the house that way.” I was turning over the idea. I had initially meant the main house, but this was a much better idea. “You would have a private entrance from the driveway. It’s insulated, so you wouldn’t be cold, and it has a window air-conditioning unit when it gets hot. The only downside is that it doesn’t have a full kitchen, just a fridge.”
Toby seemed to be considering it. “I have a microwave in storage and I could move my bed, couch, and dresser in, and leave most of the other stuff in storage. Except my television. That would definitely have to come along.” He watched one of his regulars climb out of her car, her stacked high heels making it hard for her to walk on the brick sidewalk. “Can I move in tonight?”
“Of course. Just come by after you get off and I’ll give you a key. I don’t have much in there except some boxes of Miss Emily’s that I haven’t gone through yet. And we can put those in the loft.”
“You’re sure it won’t be a problem?” Toby ran a hand through his hair. “I mean, we already spend a lot of time together, maybe this is a little too close.”
I picked up my purse. “You’ll be doing me a favor. Greg wants to turn the place into a home gym. Now I have an excuse to put it off.” I nodded my head toward the woman applying lipstick in the window reflection before she entered the shop. “Although, if you’d rather ask one of your friends . . .” I let the implication hang for a second.
“No way. I’m done with the dating life for a while. Elisa did a number on me, and I’m still not sure why we broke up. I really thought she was the one.” Toby let his smile drop, and I saw the pain in his face. “I’ll never again date someone with a kid. I’m going to miss that cupcake.”
As the bell rang announcing his first customer, Toby put back on his fake smile and then nodded to me. “I’ll see you after my shift. Thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it.”
“Just no wild parties. Emma will have a cow if there are too many people running back and forth.” I squeezed Toby’s arm and exited out the back into the office. Now I had another reason to stop by Greg’s office. I needed to tell him about Toby moving in before the gossip got there first. And maybe I could find out more about what was going on with Kacey’s murder investigation.
I exited out into the back parking lot that held Aunt Jackie’s car and nothing else. Even when we were slammed by tourists in the summer, our back lot stayed open, mostly due to the fact the alley entrances were several blocks up and down the street. The town had blocked off several of the intersecting streets to build places for street vendors. Sometimes that made it hard to get out of the lot since tourists used the alleys for pedestrian walkways, but I rarely drove into town anyway.
I touched the large cement planters surrounding the building, empty except for the dirt. Typically these would be planted with spring flowers by now, pansies and primrose, with a few bulbs in the middle. This year, because of the lack of rain, we were holding off planting. Hopefully the delay wouldn’t last all summer. I would hate to see South Cove without the flowers overrunning the planters that ran the length of Main Street.
Thinking of the drought made me think about Josh and his water citation. I narrowed my eyes and stared at the building next door. If I hadn’t told Jackie to handle it, I would march right into his store and give him a piece of my mind. I turned and made my way through the narrow walkway that separated our two buildings. Glancing at the doorway of Antiques by Thomas, I realized the store was closed. Josh had cut his hours down for winter even more drastically than I had. Of course, maybe I got more coffee addicts and he was catering toward a more select clientele. And there was the thing about being less available making you more desirable. If anyone besides me worked the dead hours my shift typically held, I would be cutting my store’s open hours, as well, but I didn’t pay myself a salary. My monthly income was based on the profit margin. So the more hours I worked, the better for the bottom line.
Well, Josh just avoided a butt chewing from me. Hopefully Jackie would take care of it before I had to say something. I knew I wouldn’t be as tactful as my aunt would be. I crossed the street and headed to the police station. The morning was warm and I could feel the sun kissing my upper arms that had gone pasty white over the winter. I wasn’t a big tanner. Sure, I’d sit out in the yard, but I didn’t have the patience to be totally committed to the cause. Besides, the swing on the shaded back porch was a perfect place to spend the sunny summer days reading.