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Zane waited, not understanding why he continued to badger her when he should have ended the conversation five minutes earlier. “Yes?”
He heard her soft intake of breath. “Lucy says I’ve hit the snooze alarm on my biological clock one too many times.”
“You want a baby?” he asked before he had time to analyze the question.
Lesley’s voice revealed her longing. “More than anything.”
A pain he could neither explain nor identify sliced through him.
“I have to go. Goodbye, Zane.”
The phone line buzzed in his ear.
* * *
Carl had avoided going into town for the past week, and with good reason. Someone was bound to ask him about his black eye.
He suspected most folks in Sleepy Valley had heard about his fight with Derrick Showberg the night of the Grange dance. That much was general knowledge. The s.o.b. had broken his nose, but Showberg wasn’t the one responsible for his black eye.
He’d gotten that from Candy Hoffman, the woman who was anything but sweet.
A punch in the eye was his reward for coming to the fair damsel’s rescue. He’d have been better off lending a hand to a frustrated porcupine.
One would think Candy would be grateful for his help. She had stood there on the dance floor struggling against that ape, Showberg, tossing Carl pleading glances like greased balls in a fast-pitch baseball game. And what did Carl get for his effort? A nose that was permanently bent out of shape. Well, he could live without her gratitude.
Carl parked the truck and glanced around self-consciously before heading toward Buckwald Pharmacy. When Mrs. Applegate had learned he was driving into town, she’d asked if he’d pick up her prescription for blood pressure medication. Carl could think of no logical reason to refuse, although he didn’t relish the thought of someone asking about his black eye.
“Carl.”
He tensed at the sound of Candy’s voice behind him. He whirled around, none-too-pleased to see her. It was just his luck to run into the little she-devil.
“What do you want now?” he demanded.
Everyone in the entire pharmacy turned to stare at him.
“There’s no need to yell at me.”
Carl decided the best thing to do was ignore her. He’d extended a hand of friendship to her once and had come away with a bloody paw. More the fool if he tried it a second time.
“I’d like to talk to you a moment,” she said, sounding all sweet once more. Carl had been buffaloed by her one too many times to be tricked again.
As he recalled, the last time he’dtalkedto her, he’d ended up wearing a beefsteak as an eye patch. There was nothing she could say that would interest him now.
Ignoring her, Carl made his way to the pharmacy counter. “I’ve come to collect Martha Applegate’s prescription.”
Elvira Buckwald, whose husband served as the pharmacist, rushed to deliver the order. She seemed as eager to get him out of her establishment as he was to go. Carl wasn’t two steps out the door when Candy shouted, “You’re the rudest, most arrogant man I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing.”
“Stupidest, too,” he added, “since you’re keeping tabs.”
“You asked for that black eye, Carl Saks.”
Wonderful. Now the woman had decided to stand in the middle of Main Street and publicly announce that she was the one responsible.
“How dare you think you could win me in a fight!”
Carl groaned. It’d been a joke. Well, it was clear to him the woman didn’t have a sense of humor. He should have picked up on that earlier.
“I…I didn’t mean for that to happen,” she admitted, her voice dropping several decibels. “It was a mistake.”
