“We’ve blown half the day already? Oh my gosh.”
“I wouldn’t say we blew it. It was a pretty big accomplishment. How about you let me buy you lunch to celebrate?”
“I—”
“Quick celebration, and then I’ll give you a lift to the DMV to get tags for the truck.”
“Oh, I didn’t even think about the missing tags.”
“Can’t drive it without tags. Not legal. So, lunch?”
Natalie couldn’t argue with that. “Something light?”
“Sure. Whatever you want,” Randy said.
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“You know what I really want?” She knew he would think she was making a cop joke, but she wasn’t. She’d seen the “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign when they drove past the Krispy Kreme on the way in.
“No idea.”
“A doughnut. And a cup of tea.”
“Seriously? Are you trying to be funny? Because, believe me,I’ve heard a million doughnut jokes since I took this job.” He shook his head, but he was laughing.
She shrugged. “I promise it wasn’t a cop joke. Besides, you’re a detective. Does the doughnut thing even apply to detectives?”
“Not to this one.”
“Well, I can’t resist hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They are lighter than air when they are hot.”
“And more calories than air no matter what.” He opened her car door. “Get in the car. I’ll get you your Krispy Kreme doughnut, but I get to pick the place for that cup of tea to go along with it. Deal?”
“You’re on.”
Randy pulled into the Krispy Kreme lot. There were about a half dozen cars already in the drive-thru. “How many should we get?”
“A dozen.” She didn’t even hesitate.
“You gonna eat half of them?”
“I can.” And she didn’t even apologize for that. “Oh, don’t try to tell me you can’t eat six of them.”
“I haven’t ever tried.”
She rolled her eyes. “You won’t have to try too hard. They are that good.”
“We’ll see.”
“How far away is the tea shop? We don’t want them to cool down before we eat them.”
“Boy, you are really serious about this doughnut thing, aren’t you?”
“Hey, this is serious business.”
He placed his order at the intercom, then pulled up andtook the green-and-white box at the window and handed it off to her.
