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“That’s thirty miles out of town. You said you wanted to buy within the city limits.”
“I do.”
“Are you being enigmatic on purpose, or is this just a special Tuesday treat for me?”
“Mr. Harvey asked me to come out and take a look around, give him my thoughts on some stuff, and I agreed.”
“What kind of stuff?”
Doc shrugged. “The usual.”
Right. Doc must have a bachelor’s degree in Vagueness, with a minor in Cryptic Retorts. “Then why do you need me?”
“Maybe I just like your company.”
“Hey, what’s that smell? Oh, yeah, it’s just your brand of hogwash.”
Chuckling, he said, “Okay, you got me. I needed a navigator. So, lead the way, please.”
I made it until we reached the edge of Deadwood before asking the question burning my tongue. “How was your meeting with Natalie?”
“It went well.”
“What did you two talk about?” I fished for some job information.
He spared me a glance as he wound his way up Strawberry Hill. “Mostly her. How long have you two been friends?”
“Since we were kids. I grew up in the house next to her cousins’ down in Rapid City.” As our parents grew comfortable with each other over time, Natalie would spend weekends with me down on the prairie or at Aunt Zoe’s when I visited Deadwood for weeks at a time during the summer. During winter breaks, I’d hang with Nat’s family out near Nemo, where her parents used to live before they retired to the bright lights of Hill City.
Doc rumbled past a hulking RV plodding along in the slow lane. “Has she always been so forthright?”
“Since birth, according to her mother.” I tried to swing the subject back to his occupation again. “She says you’re meeting again on Thursday.”
“She invited me to lunch at her place.”
My stomach felt like he’d bounced a bowling ball on it. “Oh.”
“But I already have a lunch appointment that day.”
Whew!I grinned in relief.
“So she’s going to cook me dinner, instead.”
Shitfire!My grin flipped upside down. I stared out the window so I didn’t have to try to school my features while I beat back my hostility toward my best friend.
“Natalie is a good cook,” was the only compliment I could spit out between gritted teeth at the moment. Jesus, I had to find a way to tame the jealous ogre clubbing around inside of me before Natalie’s visit tonight, or she was going to catch on that I had a silly crush on the guy she was doing her damnedest to bed.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Doc asked.
“One of each. My brother travels the world as a photojournalist. His home base is in Rapid, but we usually only see him at Christmas and the twins’ birthday, if he can swing it. Layne is a huge fan of his uncle Quint.” I leaned my head back against the headrest. “I just wish he could hang around more. My son needs a male role model. I’m afraid living with three women is warping his young mind.”
“What about your sister?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her since I caught her in bed with my boyfriend when the kids were toddlers.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, that’s not the half of it.” But now was not the time to reach into that pile of dung.
