“So why is Toby’s truck parked in your driveway? Shouldn’t he be getting some shut-eye before his shift tonight?” Greg leaned back on the swing, his arms hung over the edge.
“I told you before.” I pointed to the shed. “I have a new neighbor.”
“That’s right, Toby’s living here. I hope he’s out before we start on the exercise gym this summer.” He grinned, staring at the shed that now held his number two, who was postponing his hope for a home gym.
“Maybe. Anyway, he won’t be there forever. When he moved out of Elisa’s, he needed a place to stay until the sublease on his apartment is up.” I shook my head. “What do you guys talk about at work?”
“Work.” He grinned. “And basketball. What do you talk about at work?”
“Mostly we gossip about what’s going on in town. Now we talk about Jackie and Harrold and when Josh is going to get a clue. As long as Aunt Jackie’s not in earshot, that is.” I avoided the subject of who killed Kacey. Greg didn’t need to be upset at Toby for keeping me involved in the investigation. Or worse, order him to stop telling me things.
“Well, you can bet that we’ll be talking about the rules. Like not intruding on our time together.” He reached down and tickled my foot. “You are charging him rent, right?”
“We haven’t talked about that yet.” I shrugged. “It’s not like I need the money. The place is paid off and the shop’s doing good.”
“You need to charge him something. You can put the money toward the gym once he moves out. Do you want me to talk to him?”
I slapped his hand away from my feet and sat up straighter. “No. I’ll handle my own business, thank you very much.”
“Doesn’t sound like you’re handling it.” He shrugged and put his hands up when I opened my mouth to let him have it. “Let’s get off the subject. The information just surprised me, that’s all.”
“Why don’t you start up the grill? I’ll get the steaks and the rest of the stuff ready.” I headed quickly for the kitchen door.
Greg followed me and took me into his arms. “I’m sorry if I’m grumpy. This case has been crazy, and I’m still no closer to locking it up than I was the night we found Kacey’s body. I don’t mean to take it out on you.”
I relaxed into his arms. “Let’s only talk about fun things tonight. Like where we’re going on the next trip.”
“Or how we’re going to set up the home gym once Toby moves out?”
I furrowed my brow at him.
Laughing, he held up his hands. “Fine, I surrender. Hearts and flowers conversations only. Can we at least talk about tomorrow’s outing? I can’t believe Justin conned me into another day of hide-and-seek, techy-style.”
“He’s trying to fix things between me and Amy. So what if his technique is a little off? He has good intentions.” I paused at the kitchen door. “You going to start that grill or what?”
He threw me a mock salute. “Yes, ma’am.”
Laughing, I went into the house to get the rest of dinner ready to go. I loved our times together. Fighting or not, I felt comfortable with Greg, more than any man I’d dated or even the one I’d been married to. It was like all my relationships had had something missing: a solid friendship. Greg and I truly liked each other, which made the love part easy. I shivered at the word. Love. It felt like such a big commitment. I pulled out the steaks and started tenderizing them with my meat mallet, hammering in the seasoning and thinking about our relationship with each swing of the mallet.
CHAPTER 19
The parking lot was crowded on Sunday with vehicles owned by the Coastal Geocache Club and a few hikers who’d chosen the wrong venue for their quiet Sunday stroll. Greg parked the truck near the edge of the lot, and as I climbed out, I scanned the area for Amy and Justin. “Maybe they didn’t come.”
Greg locked the truck and came to stand by me. “I think you’re avoiding fixing this with Amy. The two of you have been friends too long to let a misunderstanding ruin your friendship.”
“I know.” I thought about the exchange we’d had on the stairs to her apartment. “I’m just not sure she’s ready to talk to me yet.”
“It would help if she didn’t think you were trying to get Austin arrested for Kacey’s murder.” Greg took my arm, and we walked toward the booths the club had set up for registrations.
“I wasn’t trying to get Austin arrested.” I sighed. “I guess you’ve heard that I wanted to talk to him about Kacey’s friends.”
“I did.” He held me back as a compact car whizzed by us, going way too fast for the speed limit in the lot. “Idiots.”
“Maybe you should have Toby come and hand out speeding tickets. I bet you’d make enough money here to pay for his overtime this month.”