Page 47 of Clever Deceit

“You telling me I missed my calling as a Marine?” she joked as she gripped tight to the railing and made her way up the steps.

“Something like that,” I laughed, and I opened the door for her to see Lily coming toward us.

“I’ll get your stuff from the car, Mom,” she told her, rushing past us to make sure she had everything. The hospital had sent her away with some pain medication, and Lily was reading the packet when she came back into the house.

“How much of that stuff do I have to take?” Diane asked, sinking down into her favorite armchair, with Silver nudging her feet below.

“Just as much as it takes to make the pain ease,” Lily replied.

“Well, I’m feeling fine now,” she remarked. “Just a little tired...”

“It says you should have one in another hour,” Lily replied. “I’ll go get us some tea, you can take it with that.”

“I’ll help,” I offered, and I followed her into the kitchen where she started to fill the kettle with water and then planted it on the stove.

“How are you doing?” I asked, slipping my hands to her waist. She smiled and closed her eyes.

“I’m glad Mom’s back,” she told me. “And glad that we don’t have to go out to the hospital again.”

“The motel was pretty fun though, right?” I remarked, and she laughed.

“Oh, yeah, it was pretty fun,” she agreed. I leaned down to kiss her, but before our lips could touch, there was a loud knock at the door.

I immediately pulled back. Looking down at Lily, I frowned. “Are you expecting anyone?”

She shook her head, eyes wide.

“I’ll get it,” I told her. “You stay here.”

I headed over to the door, my mind racing. If this was trouble starting again when we had just gotten back, I was going to be seriously pissed. I didn’t want Lily or her mom to have to deal with that so soon after she had arrived back from the hospital. She deserved a break, and I would deal with anyone who tried to get in the way of that.

I pulled the door opened—and stared for a moment at the man on the other side.

“Hello,” he greeted me, slightly nervously. He was a good few decades older than me, with slightly thinning gray hair and a warm smile.

“Hi,” I replied, cautious. Just because he looked harmless didn’t mean that I could let my guard down. I wasn’t about to let anyone cause any trouble, not today of all days, not on Lily’s birthday.

“I’m here to see Diane?” he asked, sounding unsure. “I saw that there was a car in the driveway again...”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Barry,” the man replied, extending his hand to me. “Diane and I met at the hardware store. She told me about her operation, and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help now that she’s back.”

I glanced over my shoulder. Lily was standing at the other end of the corridor. She chewed her lip, but then shrugged—if he really did know Diane, what harm was there in letting him in?

“Is that Barry?” Diane called from the living room. Oh, so she did know him—I stepped aside and gestured for the man to come in.

“Thanks,” Barry told me, and I could see a slight flush to his cheeks, as though he was excited about seeing her. He headed in to the living room, where Diane beamed at the sight of him.

Lily and I exchanged another look as Silver sprang to her feet to greet the new man too—she seemed to know him well, and Barry crouched down to say hello as he spoke to Diane.

“So how are you feeling?” he asked her.

“Oh, not doing too badly,” Diane replied. “You didn’t need to come out of your way here, though...”

“It’s on the way to the store,” he assured her. “And besides, you think I would just leave my favorite customer here with no help?”

Favorite customer? What did he say he did again? Ran the hardware store? I couldn’t imagine what would have had Diane going in there all the time, but clearly, these two knew each other pretty well. My mind was racing as I tried to put the pieces together, but, as they began to chat, I figured it was only fair to give them some privacy.