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Oh my God, was he a father? To that pretty family?
She wasn’t dressed for the night. Wearing jeans, a pair of sneakers, a shirt with the saying “Feminism is my favorite F word,” and a pair of dark blue-rimmed glasses, she looked younger than the bombshell from the other night, but not less beautiful. She was the image of the girl next door.
Fighting my gut, disgust rolled around in my stomach for being a trusting idiot again. Taking his distraction at his girlfriend (wife?) and son to my advantage, I slid my cart around him and rushed out of that aisle, straight to the cashier, hoping I had everything I needed.
I wondered what they were doing there. We’d met a few towns over, and I didn’t consider he might live in Holy Water. I thought my new beginning in this place was shaping up to be so wonderful.
I should’ve known it was too good to be true.
I looked around, startled by the noise, and found an embarrassed Gabe looking at the mess he most likely had made. His trembling chin matched his eyes, which were filled with unshed tears, as Mia was squatting down, trying to comfort him.
My shame was instant for having realized I’d forgotten about them in my quest to flirt with Forest.Damn it. I hadn’t asked for her name again. I was off my game.
I glanced to my side and noticed her gone, which didn’t surprise me. She was probably feeling right about her assumptions that I was a cheater. Ignoring the longing I felt for a stranger, I walked toward those two people I knew and cared about and tried to forget about the redhead who had been tormenting my mind for the last few days.
“Hey buddy, are you okay?”
Gabe turned his teary eyes to me and nodded. Mia was stroking his cheek and talked to him in a soothing voice. “Don’t worry about it, okay? Everything is fine, it was just some soda, and we can clean it up in no time.” Right on cue, the owner’s son, a helpful teenager who hadn’t mastered yet how to fight pimples, appeared, holding a rug and some cleaning products. “Thank you, Stevie.”
He dodged her raised hand that was stretched in a silent offer to clean it, his cheeks a dark shade of pink. “It’s my pleasure to clean it, Mia. Anything you need.” Sucker.
“Then thank you again. That’s sweet of you.”
If he kept getting redder, I feared he might explode. To be young and have a crush on an older woman.
We turned around with the items we intended to purchase and grabbed a few more things. Gabe’s sadness was already forgotten as he asked for more candy than he could handle and Mia agreed to everything.
We stayed silent, both lost in our own thoughts until she broke it quietly. “I need to know who was that woman, it’s driving me crazy.”
My gut froze, and my heart sped up, and I had no idea why. I tried to keep my voice steady. “Just a woman I met.”
“Wait, you know her? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t exactly know her. We’ve met before, and I wanted to ask her out.”
“Good Lord, Benny. She’s barely legal.” What was she talking about? Forest even looked older than Mia. Which wasn’t a hard feat. Mia normally looked younger than she was. “And again, why haven’t you told me? I’ve been wracking my brain trying to remember where I know her from.”
“It’s recent. We’ve met at the Picadilly and talked a little.”
“When? I kept an eye on their table the whole night. And how did you get away with it? Zach was on our case so we wouldn’t intervene.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her Zach was onhercase soshewouldn’t intervene. Besides, this conversation was weird. Did she see the guy Forest was on a date with? Why did she keep an eye on her table? She was alone when we met. But I’d probably intervene if I saw the moron. I didn’t know the guy, but I knew he was a moron.
“We just talked at the bar.” Mia stopped and gazed at me, still holding Gabe’s hand, who was oblivious to our conversation, too entranced by the variety of ice cream. Maybe we shouldn’t have stopped in that aisle.
“I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing.” I looked at her in confusion, and she answered my silent question. “I was talking about the girl we saw attheirtable. I can’t stop thinking about her. For the life of me, I can’t explain why I think I know her, and from where.” Her frustration was clear, although she tried to mask her emotions. We resumed our leisure walk, still grabbing things we didn’t need.
“We need to look back at our previous cases, maybe it’ll lighten—”
“Wait. What wereyoutalking about?” I tried to control my squirm, avoiding her big, brown, inquisitive eyes. Understanding dawned on her face. “She’s the beautiful girl you were talking with just now.”
I nodded but didn’t elaborate. At least until she raised a single eyebrow at me. I didn’t know why that always made me spill my beans.
“I met her a few days ago.”
She nodded. “That makes more sense. So? Who was the beautiful woman?” She looked at me intently, but her voice wasn’t sharp; just curious.
“Just some woman I’ve met.”
