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At least the woman didn’t deny she was a snoop.
“You’re nosy and meddlesome and—”
“Don’t say something you can’t take back.”
“I’m not,” Pepper said quickly. There was no bite to her words, just the usual volley between these two. “Meddlesome is your middle name.”
“I get no respect around here.” Miss Adeline looked at me and threw up her hands.
“Anybody hungry?” I asked, pretty sure I didn’t want to get into the middle of this one.
“Are you cooking?” Miss Adeline asked.
“Sure.” It would be nice to do something familiar.
“Don’t bother going back upstairs to scrounge around to see what we’ve got that you can whip up,” she said. “Unless Corn Flakes is on the menu.”
I snorted. “I think we can do better than that.”
“I have an idea.” Pepper wrestled away the alligator.
“I’ll take requests,” I said. Learning the food she liked was another piece to her I couldn’t wait to get my hands on.
“This one is for the nosy woman.” She pointed at Miss Adeline. “You tell me what you offered Teague’s father and I’ll open the envelope.”
Whoa. Pepper played hardball when she had to. And she must really want to know since I’d seen just how much shedidn’twant to open the letter.
Miss Adeline glanced back and forth between us. “It’s irrelevant. Now what’s for lunch?”
Pepper nodded smugly, like she knew Miss Adeline wouldn’t cave. They had an interesting dynamic. In some ways, they danced around lines with one another, while in others they crossed them without abandon.
Neither of them seemed testy about pushing one another. That seemed to come from the mutual respect and love that permeated everything between them.
“I’d check to see what I have at my place, but I already know the answer.” I formed my hands in the shape of a zero. “Nothing.”
“Are you right on the other side of that wall?” Miss Adeline pointed in the direction of my loft . . . that I rarely went to.
“Yes ma’am.”
“You any good at demolition?”
I thought we were talking about lunch?
“Umm—”
“You can’t knock down walls between properties you don’t own,” Pepper said, like she could read the woman’s mind.
I shook my finger at Miss Adeline. “I like the way you think.”
Pepper groaned. “Don’t encourage her.”
“The same person might own both buildings,” Miss Adeline said with disgust.
Pepper stopped tugging on a rope, and the dog who got it nudged her in the hand, not ready to stop their game. “What do you mean?” she asked carefully.
Miss Adeline waved her hand dismissively. “Not a thing.”
Pepper narrowed her eyes. “Woman . . .”
