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“I’m glad to hear it.” I lifted his hat and kissed him on top of the head. Even his hair smelled like dirt. “I agree with you—we don’t need any other man.”
His dimples showing, Layne grabbed his hat and shoved it back on. “So who’s babysitting us tonight?”
“Me. You two are coming along to dinner.” Old Man Harvey hadn’t specified that I had to come alone. Besides, I could use the bodyguards, just in case Harvey really was after my tail.
“Hey, Mom?” Addy called from the side gate.
I looked over my shoulder. “What?”
“There’s a man on the phone for you.”
“Who is it?”
Addy shrugged. “He says he’s replying to your ad.”
I hadn’t placed any ads, just sent out those postcards. Besides, how would he have gotten Aunt Zoe’s number? “What ad?”
“Probably the one that says you need a boyfriend.”
* * *
Tuesday,July 10th
“Addy did what?” Mona’s nails stopped clacking on her laptop keyboard. Her bronze eye shadow sparkled as she grinned at me.
“She used the money she earned last week giving neighborhood pets a bath to place a singles ad for me. See for yourself.” I tossed her the Sunday copy of theBlack Hills Trailblazer.
Mona slid her rhinestone-studded reading glasses higher on her nose. “Pretty mom looking for a nice man to wash her Bronco and give her the loving she needs. Must like kids and pets.”
I slumped into my chair and covered my eyes. “Can you believe her?”
“Well,” Mona’s attempt to hold in her laughter made her voice vibrate. “Addy’s heart is in the right place.”
“There were ten messages on the answering machine last night when we returned from dinner. After the first one, I had to shoo the kids upstairs. Nothing but a bunch of perverts detailing the ‘loving’ they planned to give me. One spent thirty seconds alone on the topic of spanking.”
“Give it a week and things will quiet down, especially when you don’t return their calls.”
“At least Addy didn’t include our address.”
Unease over the missing girls had made my hands clammy through much of the evening and into the wee hours of the night. By morning, I’d made the decision to educate myself on the two girls, to prove that Addy’s commonalities were few.
Nails clacking again, Mona yawned. “Hey, how did dinner go? Did Harvey sign?”
“Dinner, right.” My heartburn bubbled at the memory. “Let’s see, for the appetizer, Addy dissected her Cornish game hen on the linen napkin.”
Silence again issued from Mona’s keyboard.
“For the main course, Layne took one bite of his elk burger and spit it back on his plate, declaring to all of Deadwood that it tasted like poop.”
Mona’s grin was wide. “I’ve never been a big fan of elk.”
“And as a grand finale, Harvey leaned over to pinch the waitress’s butt while she was lighting my Cherries Jubilee and his beard caught on fire.”
“Is he okay?”
“Just a little singed. You know, that’s the first time I’ve been kicked out of a restaurant.”
“Well, at least you have a signed contract now.”
