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Josie: Oh my God.
Fox: What?
Josie: Is this a regular parting gift you leave your hookups?
I frowned at my phone. Didn’t like her thinking that.
Fox: I looked it up after you winced last night. Even though you denied that it hurt.
Josie: Oh.
Bill Merryman, the owner of the electrical company I was coming to bitch at for shoddy work, pulled into the parking spot next to me. He looked over and waved. I lifted my chin and went back to my phone.
Fox: Gotta run. Just got to the jobsite. Let me know if you need anything else. I can pick it up on my way home tonight.
Josie: Thanks. But I should be good. It was thoughtful of you to grab that stuff though.
Fox: Don’t spread the word I did something thoughtful. It’ll ruin my reputation in this town.
Josie: LOL! I won’t. Though I could do some pretty fast damage today. I don’t think I mentioned it, but I’m meeting my uncle at Rita’s Beanery. That place is a prime stop on the gossip trail.
Fox: How’d that come about?
Josie: We exchanged numbers when we met at the home-improvement store. He called and said he wants to get to know me better.
I frowned. Ray Langone was trouble. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. But he was her family, and I’d already given my thoughts on the subject. So I bit my tongue.
Fox: Have a good one.
Josie: You, too.
The day got away from me after that. By the time I got back to the office, it was after four o’clock. Opal was on the phone with one of her cronies. From the sound of it, she wasn’t gossiping about me, this time at least. Though she probably only clammed up on that topic when she heard me come in. After a few minutes of hertsking alternated with some “Lord have mercy,” she hung up.
“Trying to change the old timers in this town is as useful as attempting to bend steel with your bare hands,” she said.
I had shit to finish up, so I wasn’t taking the bait this time. I sat at my desk with my head down to work on the lumber order I needed to place before the yard closed at five.
Not surprisingly, Opal didn’t take the hint. “I never understood gambling. I work too hard to hand my money over and risk it all on a horse.”
I didn’t engage. Still didn’t stop her…
She shook her head, talkingatme instead ofwithme. “Don’t know how two people can be cut from the same cloth and be so different, either.”
I opened my laptop and shuffled some papers while it booted up to keep busy.
“How does Josie feel about her uncle Ray?”
Nowshe had my attention. I mentally flipped back through what she’d already said to play catch up. “Ray’s gambling again?”
“Rachael Minton told Bridget Hagerty who told Georgina Mumford that she saw Ray at the Crow’s Nest bar today. He was bragging how he had asure thingfor some dog race and was putting big money on it so he could pay off all his debt and take a sweet trip this winter.”
“Where would Ray get big money?”
Opal shrugged. “Who knows.”
I tended to think the worst of people, so I hoped I was wrong. But I dug my phone out to check in with Josie anyway.
Fox: Hey. Have a good lunch with your uncle?
