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“Thanks, Walter. I really appreciate it.”
“So, how’s the job going?” He nods toward my uniform. “What’s this deal with the half-price pots?”
“They were overpriced by double, to begin with.” I manage a shrug. “It’s going all right, I guess.”
“Whatever happened to you starting up your own gardening firm? Last I heard, you were looking to buy some land.”
“That requires savings and I’ve got zip right now.”
“What about landscaping, grass cutting, that kind of thing?”
“No one wants someone without experience and I can’t get experience because no one will give me a shot. I’ve tried asking all around town. Didn’t have much luck although I did cut Vera Copperfield’s hydrangeas in return for a cake last week.”
“It’s a start.” He smiles. “You’ll get there someday. You want to ask Andy about it tonight.”
“Ask him what?”
“He’s started his own business. Web design or something. I don’t really understand it. I’m sure he could give you a couple of pointers.”
“Thanks, maybe I’ll do that.”
He leans back in his chair and stretches. “You’ve got a goal,” he says. “Not everyone your age knows what they want out of life. I admire you. I never knew what I was doing at your age.”
“You were already a deputy, weren’t you?”
“Only because my Pappy was one. I kind of fell into this and I’m still here all these years later.” He gets to his feet. “Probably drop dead in this chair someday.” There’s a grim smile on his face like it might happen sooner than he’d like. “Look at me spending all day yakking. Better get back to it. I’ll let you know soon as I can, all right?”
“I appreciate it.”
He sticks a hand out and we shake. “Past ain’t what matters most,” he says as he lets go. “You want to be thinking about your future. That’s what counts. That’s what my Pappy used to say.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
He opens the gate for me and I head out of the station. The wind’s died down a little but I can still feel rain in the air. The humidity is getting to my hair and I just know it’s going to be a nightmare preparing for my date tonight.
As I’m walking home, a sleek black sedan drives past me and I just know it’s him. Enzo Lauria, no doubt staring at me as he goes by. I should feel creeped out but my own body is busily betraying me, heating up at the idea of his eyes fixed on me.
Bad guy, that’s what Walter said. Trouble. Not someone I should have anything to do with. So why am I acting like a lovestruck teenager just because he’s driven past me in the street?
Said something else too, didn’t he? Said Enzo’s taken a shine to me. What does that even mean?
It doesn’t mean babies and wedding rings, that’s for sure. At best he’d want to make me a notch on his bedpost and then move on to his next conquest. No thank you. My body might want him but my mind, luckily, is more rational about this.
I get home and Maisie’s eating cereal, stretched out on the sofa in front of the TV. Spock’s asleep on her chest.
“Nutritious dinner as always,” I say as I take my jacket off.
“You know it,” she replies with a grin. “All the bright colors a growing girl needs.”
“I don’t get how you can work at the diner but eat like that when you get home.”
“Because, and I’ll let you in on a secret, at heart I’m a very lazy person.”
“I know that. Your underwear’s been drying on the radiator for over a week.”
“It’s an art installation, that’s all. How’d you get on with the sheriff?”
“He’s going to dig the file out for me and he’s booking me in for a DNA test.”
