A Minute on the Lips (11 page)

He was sorry that Andi had pulled her hair back into her standard ponytail. But there was nothing she could do about the bangs. She fidgeted with them every now and then as if she couldn’t really believe they were there.

He’d known that Andi didn’t need rescuing and she certainly wouldn’t thank him for it, and then he’d headed out into the heat to do just that.

He slowed his jog before any of them looked up, and he pasted on a false, friendly smile. “Well, now, this is a very important meeting of the movers and shakers of Tall Pines.”

Instead of a pleased smile, Andi flashed him a disgruntled frown before she leaned around the mayor to survey the window of the newspaper office. After a quick glance from that window to the diner, she nodded at him. Her lips twitched. Finally, she was getting the picture.

He shook hands with both men and waved at Tammy before he rested against the wall next to Andi and put his hand on her shoulder. Right there in front of the mayor, her opponent and her best friend. Andi stared at his hand. And then she looked up at him. He watched her face closely, ready to jerk his hand to safety if needed, but she just tilted her head and looked back at the mayor. There might have been a slight pink to her cheeks but he liked it. A lot.

There was silence before he brightly said, “So what’s the scoop on this nice afternoon? Y’all solved the robbery yet?”

Mayor Jones shot Andi a distinctly peevish look. “Of course not. Although I’m sure the sheriff is doing the best she can.” Everyone there could hear the unsaid portion:
But that’s not very good, and if we had a different sheriff, this might not have happened in the first place.

“So glad you’re here, Mark,” Tammy said. “I wanted to speak with you about the debate we’re planning. Andi and Ray are going to talk over the issues in front of the town.” When she added, “And we thought you’d make the perfect moderator. Would you be interested?” both Ray and the mayor did double takes. That might have been the brightest spot of the whole day.

“Really?” Mark squeezed Andi’s shoulder as he spoke. She looked a little miserable at the suggestion, but she wanted to win this election. He wouldn’t mind helping her if he were sure that winning was what she needed, no matter his own vow to stay as far away from politics as possible. Might be another way to make up for any unintentional stress he’d caused with the domestic violence article. “I’d be happy to moderate the debate. I think I can put together some questions that people in town would like answered.”

Ray Evans crossed his arms over his chest. He might not have been aware he was doing it, but the whole time Mark spoke, he shook his head. “Now, hold on a minute. We didn’t talk about the moderator.” He jabbed a finger in Andi’s direction. “And it doesn’t look like he can be ‘unbiased.’”

Mark scratched his forehead with his free hand. He didn’t take the right hand off Andi’s shoulder. “You might be right about that, Ray. I have asked Sheriff Jackson out to dinner.” He paused to shoot a look at her. And then with a nice smile that showed all of his teeth but little warmth, he said, “And she finally said yes, so that’s something to think about. I’ll do my best to ask fair questions, though.”

Ray looked at him for a second. Mark could see the
yeah, right,
but he never said it out loud. He should get points for that. He finally motioned at Mayor Jones. “I think Tim oughta do it. As mayor, he’s an impartial party.”

Yeah, right.
He was in no way impartial, but he tried to keep everyone working toward the same goal. Mark admired that commitment to the good of the town even if he privately thought the mayor tried to run Tall Pines like his own little island. Term limits were unheard-of, and after pulling all the strings for more than a decade, the mayor had taken a proprietary view of the town and the people in it. Since most everybody seemed happy, Mark absolutely did not feel the need to challenge to status quo. No, he didn’t. He was a small-town newspaper man now and if his inner journalist, the one who thrived on investigating politics and power, ever sniffed the air like he might be after a story, Mark did his best to ignore it. He’d nearly killed himself following that urge. And moving to Tall Pines was supposed to be the cure.

Tammy smiled sweetly. “What a fabulous idea, Ray! I agree. Let’s go with both of them, and we’ll be sure everything is covered.” She patted Andi’s leg as she stood. “I think this is going to be good for Tall Pines and the sheriff’s race, don’t y’all?” As she headed down the sidewalk, she called over her shoulder, “Mayor, I’ll check in Monday to make sure everything is scheduled.”

When Tammy was safely away and the ex-sheriff and mayor looked confused about what had happened, Andi stood and smoothed the legs of her uniform. She held out her hand. “Ray, I’ll be happy to debate the issues with you.”

Mark wasn’t sure he was going to accept the gesture, but Ray eventually wrapped his hand around hers and gave it one firm shake. “I guess Tammy will let me know the time and everything.”

“You bet. She’ll give you a call and let Mark know so he can get the details out in the paper this week and next.” Andi looked at him with a question in her eyes. He nodded. “And so we’re set!”

Andi’s own attempt at perky optimism met mixed results. Ray and Tim seemed to think the heat might be getting to her. Mark thought it was cute. And when she did the awkward dance where she tried to figure out what to do with her hands, he wanted to hug her close.

“Fine,” Mayor Jones said. “I’ll get with Tammy, and we’ll let everybody know what we set up.”

When he and Ray wandered on into the Country Kitchen and slid into a booth in front of the window, Mark had a feeling he knew exactly what the hot topic in the diner would be.

Andi glanced in the window and then turned to face him. “I agreed to a
working
date.”

“Yeah, I’m surprised you didn’t spell out your terms right there in the Hair Port. I guess our plan to work the case undercover was more important, huh?” She had that small wrinkle on her brow. He wanted to smooth it away. Really, he had the strangest urge to kiss her forehead. Mark would never have guessed someone as prickly as the sheriff would bring out his protective instincts or his softer side. Unable to help himself, he took both of her hands in his and squeezed. “The debate wasn’t your idea, right?”

Andi rolled her eyes. “Well, no. Tammy makes all the strategy suggestions, but when we talked about it over lunch, I decided it might be a good idea to go ahead and get all the mud flung at one time instead of having little bits and pieces tossed at me when I least expect it.”

He nodded. “Good plan. Did it work out like you hoped?”

“We had decided we might need both of you to moderate if that’s what you mean. I wish there was more time to prepare, but the Fall Festival can’t be stopped. I guess the timing’s still good.”

His thumbs traced circles on the backs of her hands, and he asked, “Well, you know you’ve given yourself a deadline, right?”

Andi was watching his hands. Mark managed to contain a wild grin. She was distracted. By his hands on hers. He wasn’t sure she even heard his question.

He pulled one hand away and waved it in front of her face. “For solving Jackie’s case? You’ll have to find the thief by then or Ray’s got a pretty powerful way to discredit you in front of the town.” He shrugged. “Not that anybody has a lot of love for Jackie, but they will want to know who broke into his place.”

“Oh, man. You’re right.” Andi groaned. “And I’ve made it exactly nowhere today.”

He clutched one hand to his chest. “As soon as I recover from the astonishment of hearing you agree with me, I’m going to offer my help again. You need it now more than ever.” He held up one finger and looked at the sky. Andi swatted his hand away.

“Ow, ow! Okay. Fine. Tomorrow I’ll pick you up at six. We’ll eat at Fat John’s and then we can figure out what to do from there. Pretend it’s just a regular date and we don’t tell anybody we’re working on Jackie’s case. What do you think about that?”

Andi stepped close to him, near enough that he could feel the drag of her buttons on his shirt. This time she looked left and right like she had a secret to share. And then she smiled. She put every bit of winsome sweetness she could manage into it. That smile was like the first sunny spring day after a long, cold winter. Warm. Exciting. New. Beautiful. And a little unlike her. That made him nervous. She looked pretty pleased with herself.

He should expect some payback for laying his hand on Andi as though he could do that anytime he wanted. Waiting for that shoe to drop would have him nervous.

When they were this close together, Mark could see the shadows in her dark blue eyes and crazy-long eyelashes. And she smelled like starch and hair spray and warm woman. On her, it worked. She licked her lips and said, “I think that sounds fine. Over dinner we can talk about ways you can help me solve Jackie’s case?”

He swallowed and nodded.

“And you aren’t going to turn this into anything other than a
working
dinner, right? Because I know better defensive moves than I’ve shown you so far.”

He shook his head slowly.

Finally Andi smiled again. She stepped back and took a deep breath. And he started to breathe, too. “This is going to be fun, then.” Andi took two steps back. “You know where to find me?”

A smile flirted on his lips when he raised his eyes up to the awning over the Country Kitchen. Then he obviously looked over his shoulder at the Smokehouse. Finally, he made a show of leaning over to peer around Andi at the Hair Port behind her. He’d had zero trouble tracking her down in the past two days. He had skills.

Reluctantly Andi laughed. “Oh, yeah. Got it. I’ll see you at six then.”

She backed up a few steps, then spun around and pretended she didn’t care whether he was watching her walk away. As she opened the door to her SUV, Mark called, “Hey, Sheriff!”

Instead of her normally hard-to-read expression, Andi had a slightly goofy grin on her face. She put her hand over her eyes so she could see him better in the glare of the late-afternoon sun. He propped his hands on his hips. And this time he couldn’t contain the smirk. He was getting to her.

He held up two fingers in what might have been construed as a victory sign. “Two things.”

Andi raised her eyebrows. “All right. Go ahead.”

“First, after you left the Hair Port, the ladies told me they might have seen a dark, older-model pickup truck outside the Country Kitchen on the night of the break-in.”

Andi took out her notebook to jot down the information. They both knew that having that description was akin to narrowing down the hay field to the haystack. It was still going to be nearly impossible to find the needle.

After she made a note, she looked up at Mark. “All right. Thank you for passing that along. What’s the second thing?”

“Wear your hair down.” In front of all the people in the Tall Pines downtown, that’s what he said.

Andi shot him her best
do not mess with me, buster
glare. She slapped her notebook closed, got in the SUV and drove away. Mark watched her turn the corner and head out of town, and he did his best not to do a victory dance in front of the Country Kitchen. He was making progress.

CHAPTER EIGHT

A
S
SOON
AS
A
NDI
got back to the office, she called her grandmother to tell her about the date and ask if she’d like to go shopping. Once Gram got over the shock, she was up for a trip, even though Gram would have to make a number of changes to her busy Saturday schedule.

After working late to catch up on reports and update her notes on Jackie’s case, Andi drove home just before dark fell to meet a jubilant Mojo. Most of the time, Mojo kept his emotions well hidden, but Andi could tell by the faster-than-normal flip of his tail that he was happy to see her. She
was
the only one who could reach the cat food.

The next morning Andi stumbled out of bed early and drove Gram’s car to Shady Pines. Every Saturday, Andi took Gram grocery shopping and over for a visit with the group that assembled at Purl’s Place. Andi was sorry to miss the normal Saturday stitch-in, but she had every intention of demanding to see the new sock yarn later in the week. After she solved Jackie’s case and smiled all the way through the preparations for Fall Fest, she would reward herself with a new skein.

Every week, after Andi got her grandmother settled in the passenger seat, Gram told her to sell the car, but it was nice to be out of the sheriff’s SUV for a while. Plus, if she didn’t win reelection, Andi was going to need as many paid-for necessities as she could hold on to.

“Morning, Gram!” Andi tried to pretend she was chipper. Her grandmother looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“This is not a good hour, Andrea. Please do not pretend that it is.”

Gram wasn’t a morning person, either. It had made getting ready for school rough during Andi’s senior year. Well, that had been a drop in the bucket of rough things that year, but it sure didn’t help.

Andi shut the door to Gram’s apartment, locked it and helped her get situated in the front seat before she stored her chair in the trunk. In the early days, Gram had been convinced she wouldn’t go anywhere if she couldn’t walk under her own power. People would talk. And she wasn’t that kind of person. In time, Andi’s steady dripping onto her rocky stubbornness actually wore her down. Her grandmother had decided she didn’t give a good gosh darn about it. Gram didn’t cuss, either, but it was the rare person who failed to get the message from her eyes.

They didn’t say a word for the hour-long drive. When Andi pulled up in front of her favorite boutique shops, her grandmother turned to face her. There was a small smile on her face when she said, “Good morning.”

Andi laughed. “Good morning, Gram.”

“I see you decided against blond.” Gram opened her car door, and Andi grabbed her chair to help her out. “But I like the bangs.”

“I thought it was time for a change.”

Gram arched an eyebrow but withheld her comments.

They made it to the store just as the salesperson flipped the sign to Open. Andi started pulling things down and stacking them in Gram’s lap. And when she didn’t like Andi’s choices, her “shopping cart” would not accept the clothing. Gram politely handed every single reject to the woman following them around. Andi couldn’t blame her for keeping a close eye on the two of them. The things that came out of Gram’s mouth would be pretty entertaining unless she was aiming them too close for comfort. Andi cringed a few times but laughed more often than not at Gram’s succinct judgments.

After a frustrating hour and a half, Andi walked out with twice as many clothes as she needed. Shopping with Gram was a fun but expensive proposition. If Andi was ever in doubt about getting something, Gram’s answer was always yes.

Her grandmother also had some firm ideas about what was appropriate date wear, and all of them required showing more skin than Andi was strictly comfortable with. When Andi showed her the first outfit she’d picked out, a long broomstick skirt and a cotton button-up with three-quarter sleeves, Gram had asked if she was getting ready to move west in a wagon. That had entertained the entire store.

They stopped for a quick lunch, then Gram insisted they both get manicures. She was having a great time, but Andi was starting to wear down. Before long, Gram was ready to head back home, too.

When she loaded her grandmother into the car, Andi asked, “So do you think I’m ready for this?”

Gram looked over at Andi with one eyebrow raised.

Andi snorted. “You know what I mean. Will we convince people we’re just two people out for dinner?”

“Well, aren’t you?” Gram patted her leg. “You know my answer. Try smiling.” She shrugged as she looked out the side window. “And just in case, wear the short skirt.”

As Andi started the car and pulled out of the parking spot, she said, “If you’d made it to Purl’s Place, you’d have heard about Jimmy and Maylene spending time together and how I told Edna it was none of her business.”

She glanced over at Gram to see how she took the news. She and Edna had been friends for a very long time.

Gram folded her hands together and then flicked her fingers to watch the light shine off the red nail polish. Gram had always been colorful. “Probably didn’t hurt her any.”

Andi smiled. “That’s it? No shock over the news?”

“Well, now...which news? If you’re talking about making Edna mad, no way. She gets a lot of mileage out of being mad. You probably made her day. And if you’re talking about Jimmy and Maylene, I don’t see how that’s a big surprise. I wish them luck and happiness.” Gram tilted her head. “You could take a page out of their book, Andi.”

Stumped on how to answer that, Andi concentrated on the traffic. But Gram wasn’t ready to let it go. “You have two people doing what makes them happy. They’ve been here long enough to know the consequences, but a little talk isn’t going to keep them from going after what they want.” Then Gram turned to look at the passing scenery. “In fact, Edna’s got nearly the same philosophy if you really think about it.”

And apparently that’s all she had to say. The lack of response was a little deflating.

The drive back took longer thanks to the weekend tourist traffic. Andi didn’t mind. She loved driving the curving roads and was happy to spend time with her grandmother. She decided to get Gram’s opinion on the rest of Jackie’s list. She pulled the folded papers off the dashboard and showed them to Gram. “Do these names ring any bells? Like maybe I ought to investigate them?”

Gram read the list quickly before she pursed her lips. “No, honey, I can’t say they do. I mean, it seems I remember a few small arguments between Jackie and some of these folks, but I think you’re looking for a special someone who’ll go to the trouble of stealing something for revenge.”

She held the paper out and Andi folded it up and put it back on the dashboard. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I think I’m out of options.”

Andi huffed as she wiggled around in the seat to stretch her legs. “And now, thanks to Tammy, I’ve got a deadline. If I don’t have the answer by the debate, Ray’s going to nail me to the stage.”

Gram shook her head. “It’s too bad that he’s running against you. As I recall, he always was a big-man-on-campus kinda guy. I think he was the same year as your daddy in high school.”

“Were they friends? I thought Daddy would have been the big man.” Andi looked over at her. “I used to wonder what he saw in Mama. She was so quiet. Reserved.”

Gram patted her hand. “And she was so very beautiful. Just like you, Andi. That’s what he saw.” Gram chuckled. “And yes, he was very much a big fish in a little pond even in high school. You can imagine how many times he and Ray butted heads.”

“What about Jackie and Ray? Can you remember any trouble between the two of them?”

While Gram thought about her question, Andi waved her fingers on the steering wheel to admire the sheen of the French manicure her grandmother had talked her into. Normally Andi was completely low maintenance. If her fingernails were clean, she was happy, but now she knew she could be happier. It was amazing what primping had done for her spirit and general outlook on life. It was a little humbling, too. In the big scheme of things, a manicure was a small luxury, but it put a smile on her face and that was a pretty big thing.

Finally, Gram said, “I can’t think of any big blowups, but you know that Jackie hasn’t changed a bit, and if he keeps you running back and forth, he’d have done the same with Ray.” She looked over at Andi and shook her head. “And I have my doubts that Ray was as polite about it as you.”

They passed Jackie’s diner, and Andi was pleased to see he had a good crowd. Maybe he was difficult, but he had a nice menu, and she wanted every business around the courthouse square to take full advantage of the season. It wasn’t always easy to make a living in Tall Pines. Good tourist traffic made all the difference.

As Andi pulled to a stop in front of Gram’s unit, she thought about her answer. Ray Evans hadn’t been on Jackie’s long list of suspects, so they’d either ironed things out to his satisfaction or he’d forgotten to add the ex-sheriff. Considering the length of the list, it was also possible he’d run out of ink.

“Now you get on home and start primping. If I don’t hear about the scandalous way the sheriff was dressed by the end of the church service tomorrow, I’m going to be demanding some answers.” She shook her finger. “And don’t you work all night, Andrea Louise Jackson. It’s a night out with a handsome man. Live a little.”

Gram’s eyes sparkled as she laughed and suddenly the whole day made Andi happy. She still had a case to solve with an annoying lack of suspects and if she thought too long about going on a date with Mark, her stomach tied itself in a knot, but it didn’t matter. Gram was happy. It was a beautiful day. Business was good. She had some time to figure out everything else.

After she helped her grandmother inside, Andi kissed her cheek and said, “I’ll call you when I get in tonight, okay?”

She shook her head. “Tomorrow is soon enough. You stay out too late and have too much fun.”

Andi snorted. Too late for her was after ten. Andi was a real wild child. She opened the door and made a theatrical show of locking it before she said, “I love you, Gram.”

Gram made a shooing motion with both hands before she reached over to answer her ringing phone. “Love you, too, Andi. Now get to work.”

When she caught a glimpse of her hair in the rearview mirror, Andi knew her grandmother was right. It was going to take some work. Andi had about two hours to create a new, better Andi. She didn’t think it was going to be enough time.

Mojo was waiting as Andi staggered into the house under the load of her purchases. He might have been a smidge concerned, but after Andi put out some food, he gobbled it up and went back to his spot in the window. Clearly, she was on her own.

Getting ready for this adventure took every bit of that two hours. In fact, Andi would have taken two more if she’d figured out a way to turn back time. She showered, shaved, loofahed, lotioned, dried, straightened, curled and straightened again. Her hair went up, then down, then back up, and finally she left it loose around her shoulders. The curls were tamed when she surrendered, but they had a funny way of sneaking back when she stepped away from the mirror.

Andi applied a very little bit of makeup then tried on everything in her closet and the new clothes she’d brought home...twice. And she hated all of it. Since Mojo refused to offer an opinion, she decided to go with Gram’s favorite outfit of the day. It was casual, but she liked that message. Andi just wished it had more fabric. The scrappy cotton skirt ended in a flare just above her knee and the magenta button-up was sleeveless.

As Andi stood in front of the full-length mirror doing her version of positive affirmation, she heard the doorbell ring. A panicked glance at the digital alarm clock showed that he was right on time.

She strapped on the woven leather belt—Gram had insisted it would define her waist—and slid her feet into the sandals she’d picked out. Then she scooped up her watch and earrings.

Andi was sliding the second hoop into her left ear when she opened the door. She could hear Gram’s repeated advice and pasted on a nervous smile.

Mark had done a little extra prep for tonight’s date. This might be the first time Andi had seen him wearing anything other than running shoes. Instead, he wore loafers that worked well with his dark jeans and crisp button-up. The sleeves were rolled up to show off his really nice forearms.

When he didn’t say anything, Andi forced herself to look away from those arms and saw that he was stuck, too. “You have legs.”

The smile slid off her face. She had imagined a hundred different opening lines. This was not one of them. Finally she rolled her eyes. He didn’t see that, either. She grabbed her purse and called, “Mojo, be good,” as she pulled the door shut behind her. He was still frozen in place so she brushed past him, bumping his shoulder in her haste to get things moving.

“Hey, wait, where’s the fire?” Mark propped his hands on his hips.

“Just... Can we go?” Andi stopped at the bottom of the steps and watched him shake his head before he followed her down.

Andi would have stormed off. She meant to. Instead, she froze in place when he grabbed her hand.

He looked embarrassed when he said, “I’m sorry. That wasn’t the way I meant to greet you tonight. I must be out of practice or something. Let’s start again.” He raised both eyebrows and waited for her answer.

She nodded once.

He pulled her back up the steps to the porch and stopped in front of her door. And he waited.

She raised one hand to fidget with her hair. “What?”

He pulled her hand down. “Let’s do this from the beginning. And this time, I want you to introduce me to Mojo, whatever a Mojo is.”

Andi sighed as she yanked open her purse, snatched out her keys and jammed the key into the lock. She stomped over the threshold and slammed the door in his face.

* * *

M
ARK
COUNTED
TO
ten and then rolled his head on his shoulders as he tried to put his reaction into perspective. He laughed at himself standing in front of her closed door like a teenager on his first date.
Get it together, man
. He punched the doorbell again.