Page 17 of Death on Gallows Path

I braced for her to imply more than friendship between Zoley Georger and Damon Swindell.

Instead, she continued with, “Are they close with other people? The women or as couples. Part of a group? Other UK alums or neighbors?”

Donna moved only her eyes to look from me to Clara. “Haven’t heard anything about that.”

That was mean. It enticed with the potential that Donna had heard about something else, but she wasn’t sharing.

Bottom line? We wouldn’t get her to speculate on what — if anything — was behind the look between Damon Swindell and Zoley Georger.

“Damon’s involved in several businesses in the area, right?” Clara asked.

“So I hear. Out of the area, too. Not much interested in his business deals.”

If she’d used the phrase business affairs, we might have segued to the look between Damon and Zoley, and the encounter with the other woman Clara witnessed.

But business deals . . .

Clara tried to push and pull a little at the door Donna had closed, but not enough to annoy Donna.

She’s a wise woman, my friend Clara.

She got nowhere now, but neither did she get that door bolted and barred against potential future efforts.

“C’mon, Hattie. Time to go,” Donna announced.

We watched them leave.

Clara’s sigh revealed her frustration.

I didn’t ask if she shared my envy that Donna could say Time to go and Hattie went, while our dogs’ capacity to play remained stronger than their willingness to obey.

CHAPTER NINE

When I got home from the dog park, I sat down to write.

You’ve heard that before.

But listen to this: I wrote.

It’s one of those minor miracles that makes you want to sing and dance around the room.

Except your brain is too deeply immersed in the story for singing and dancing.

Eventually, I placated that urge by humming and spinning a couple times when I broke to feed Gracie, Murphy, and me.

I might have skipped me, but Gracie and Murphy vetoed meal-skipping.

Pouring kibble into bowls for an appreciative and eager audience can lubricate the brain.

That’s how I broke through one logjam with this main character, Alex. She needed a window into her past in order to give her a future.

She wasn’t alone.

That need also had factored in my telling Teague the biggest secret of my past.

He had to know that for us to move forward.

I needed him to know that for us to move forward.