Page 5 of Nothing At All

“Oh, that’s the best combination.” I’d seen the little store she meant, tucked between the home decor shop and the hardware store.

“Coffee and books? She has the best job. I’m with the GBI.” Altee rested her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. She tilted her head toward Dix, who was listening to Josh, a slight frown tugging his brows together. “That’s how I met him.”

Dix glanced sideways at her, grinned, and hugged her into him. I swallowed a giggle. They were adorable. Dan traced another infinity swirl on my arm, a pleasurable shiver spreading out from the movement to morph into a wave of goosebumps. Wonder if they looked at us and thought we were adorable?

Our appetizers arrived, including the personalized mini-charcuterie board Dan always ordered for me.

“So I heard a rumor today.” Josh bit into a steaming cheese stick, hissed and laid it on his plate. He tipped his chin at Dan. “You’re buddies with Chuck Calvert. He say anything about Tick moving home to run for sheriff?”

“No.” A little groove carved between his brows, Dan shook his head. “Why would he, though?”

Dix snorted. “Wish he would. Whole department’s a shitshow.”

Stealing a cornichon off my board, Dan shrugged. “Can’t see him doing that. Bet the FBI pays a heck of a lot more than the sheriff role.”

“Absolutely. He’s a hometown boy, though, and I know the mess over there bothers him, since it used to be his grandaddy’s department.” Josh touched his cheese stick with a cautious fingertip. “We could hope, though.”

Dan glanced sideways at Dix. “You could run.”

“No, I could not. I’m not cleaning that up.”

Altee murmured something too low for me to catch over the music and chatter. With a grimace that shifted to an eager smile, Lacey leaned toward me. “And this is why I am so glad to meet you. They get caught up in shop talk and forget about me.”

Good humor sparkled in her voice, and I grinned. “We could talk shop, too. I’d love to hear more about what it’s like to sell books and coffee.”

“It’s usually calm and it always smells good.” With a winsome wrinkle of her nose, Lacey reached for a cheese stick of her own from Josh’s basket. “I’ve been experimenting with a new scone recipe. Lavender and thyme with a little orange peel.”

“That sounds amazing. I think I need to stop in for breakfast before I start my route Monday.”

“Please do! I–”

A too-shrill laugh cut through the evening air, and I cringed. Lacey startled, both of us glancing to the other side of the deck where the sound originated. Nicole leaned on one of her blonde friends, her gaze locked on Dan. I frowned. Was she still trying to draw his attention?

I turned around. Lacey gazed at Nicole a moment longer, sympathy flitting over her face. My left brow rose of its own accord. She felt sorry for her?

Catching my attention on her, Lacey rolled her shoulders, then grimaced in apology.

“I know her from high school. We cheered together. She’s always . . . well, she tries too hard.” She looked across my shoulder, her features hardening, mouth a thin, disgusted line. “And has the worst role model.”

Curious, I flicked a glance back at the two blondes with Nicole. The younger one, about Nicole’s age, was lovely, with delicate features, light makeup, and artfully loose curls. The other carried an edge, a sharp sourness to her downturned lips, her hair a shade too blonde for her coloring. Her blue eyes clashed with mine, and the blankness there trailed ice along my spine.

I shifted back to the table and met Lacey’s eyes again. Lacey shook her head, cheese stick abandoned on her plate. “They are a series of disasters either in progress or waiting to happen. It makes me sad because Nicole and Elizabeth both have so much potential, but they’re . . . shoot, I’m gossiping, aren’t I?”

“Maybe.” I refused to fidget under the weight of a stare on the back of my head. Nicole or one of her friends? Maybe all three. I didn’t have to question why. I had something Nicole wanted, all six feet two inches of him, his palm currently an absent weight on my thigh because he wanted to be touching me all the time.

Because I wanted him touching me all the time.

Well, he was mine for now, and she couldn’t have him. He didn’t want to be hers, either.

I itched a little, wanting to know more, the same way I wanted to know all about the doctors I encountered or the products I sold. Knowledge was key.

A hint of sympathy flickered over Lacey’s face once more. “I just . . . well, she’s smart and I’ve seen her be genuine and kind, but she needs better friends and maybe family or she’ll end up alone and unhappier than she is.”

So she wasn’t friends with Lydia anymore, obviously? I could see that. Dan’s sister didn’t suffer fake people, at all. Lacey had used the past tense, so maybe the Nicole I’d seen tonight was the real one now.

“So that’s Elizabeth Hall with her. The one her age with the curls. She is on her way to blowing up her life. Her sister won’t talk to her, and her engagement fell through. I’d bet money her fiance ended it.” Lacey reached for her drink. “She wasn’t always awful, at least not like now, so I don’t know what happened. And the older one is Nicole’s cousin, Allison. She is a piece of work, always has been. Like I said, Nicole might be okay if she had better influences. I hate seeing her be a pick-me girl when she has so much more to offer.”

“She’s an adult, right? Responsible for her own choices.” And I really didn’t want to spend any more time on her. I mean, I hated seeing anyone waste their potential, but I didn’t plan to be friends with her. In the grand scheme of my life, did she matter? “Tell me more about these lovely scones. Or muffins. Do you bake muffins, too?”