Being worried about Drew and Mal was a good excuse to call Mitch. Being friends with the police chief, he’d probably know if there was any truth to the rumors. Maybe he’d even have some ideas on how they could help. If he did, they could meet up somewhere for coffee and talk about it.
Paige tossed down a piece of cardboard foliage in disgust. Look at her, scheming up reasons to call Mitch—to see him again—and after only one night. It was just the kind of behavior she’d promised herself she was going to avoid when she’d made the decision to stay in Whitford. A couple hours with Mitch Kowalski and she was backsliding.
She waited until all was clear at the circulation desk and then went to check out her books.
“Not as many as usual,” Hailey observed. “Plan on doing something else with your free time?”
Paige felt a hot blush over her cheeks, but she kept her voice level so Hailey would assume it was from embarrassment and not annoyance with the thoughts that had been running through her head. “I’ve got a few projects lined up to get done, plus I need to catch up on some paperwork for the diner. Or maybe I’ll blow that all off and be back in two days for more books.”
Hailey laughed and then growled under her breath as the phone rang. “If you run into Mal, tell her to call me, okay?”
Paige nodded and dropped the paperbacks into her tote so she could be gone before the call ended. She needed to go home and get her head on straight. Spend a few minutes standing in front of her refrigerator, reading her motto out loud. Or, if that didn’t work, she could call her mother and get a reality check.
If Mitch Kowalski wanted to see her, he knew where to find her. If not, she had a bag of new books to keep her company.
*
Rose was tempted to ignore her cell phone when it rang. With all her free time, she’d discovered a channel that served up a regular TV diet of Criminal Minds repeats and, right now, she found the fictional FBI profilers better company than real people.
But very few people called her cell phone instead of the lodge’s landline, so she checked the caller ID and saw that it was Liz. After hitting Mute on the TV remote, she answered. “Hello.”
“I hear you’re quite the lady of leisure now.”
Since she was sitting in her room in the middle of the day, knitting and watching television, she couldn’t really deny it. “Which one of your brothers complained?”
“Sean called Josh to see how his leg is doing and Josh told him about Andy Miller working there.”
“Did they really expect me to be happy about it?”
“They needed somebody who would do good work for short money. Plus, he was a friend of Dad’s.”
He’d been a friend of Earle’s, too, and look how that had worked out for Rose. “Be that as it may, he’s no friend of mine and I’m not cooking for him or cleaning up after him or so much as looking at him.”
A few seconds of silence followed, and Rose could imagine Liz trying to decide if she could push further on the issue or not. “That’s Josh’s problem, I guess. And Mitch’s, who’s the real reason I called. Sean said he’s hung up on the woman who reopened the old diner?”
“Sean lives in New Hampshire. How did he get to be such a know-it-all about the goings-on in Whitford?
“Josh told him. And he said Mitch is really into her.”
Rose sighed, unsure how to answer that. She’d have to agree Mitch seemed really into Paige, but she wasn’t sure he knew that quite yet. Having his siblings ragging on him wouldn’t help push him toward that awareness, but it might push him away.
“I know he’s been spending a lot of time at the diner,” Rose said. “He’s probably looking for a decent meal, since he’s not going to get one from me as long as he’s paying that man to be on the property.”
“Oh. That’s probably it.” Rose could hear the disappointment in Liz’s voice. “It doesn’t seem right that the two youngest of us are settled down and the three oldest aren’t. Especially Mitch and Josh. At least Ryan tried, even if it didn’t work out.”
“Are you really settled? Happily?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking, even though she knew it meant Liz would come up with some flimsy excuse to end the call.
“Just because I’m not married doesn’t mean I’m not settled. I’ve been with Darren almost fifteen years.”
The fact Liz hadn’t addressed the “happy” part of the question didn’t escape Rose’s notice. “How’s work going, honey?”
“Busy. I’ve picked up a few extra shifts in the last couple of weeks, so I’m pretty beat.”
“And how many hours did Darren work?”
“Rose…” She heard Liz’s exasperated sigh—a sound Rose had never tolerated from her when Liz was a teenager. “I’ve told you a thousand times, art doesn’t work like that. It’s not a nine-to-five kind of job.”
“Okay. How many pieces has Darren sold this month?”
“Don’t.”
“This year?”
“He sold several pieces at an art show a couple of months ago and he’s working on a big commissioned piece right now.”
Rose swallowed her dislike of Darren and smiled so Liz would hear it in her voice. “That’s wonderful, sweetie. Congratulations.”