Here Comes Trouble (22 page)

She lifted one shoulder in a negligent shrug. “There is no more ‘this,’ so say whatever you want.” When he merely stared at her she said, “I meant it when I said it would be better if we stayed just friends.”

“You consider us friends?” His gaze dropped to her breasts, which were covered in some shiny green material.

Again, she shrugged. “Why not? There’s no reason why we can’t be friends. What?” she demanded when he blinked at her.

He ran a hand along his chin. “I’ve never slept with a friend.”

She crossed her arms beneath those spectacular breasts. “Curly-haired underwear woman wasn’t a friend?”

Chase glanced to the other side of the patio when Avery stood from the table and lifted Lily out of Tyler’s arms. “No.”

Lacy didn’t pursue that particular subject, for which Chase was grateful. No way did he want to have that argument again. Avery disappeared inside the house with the baby.

Lacy nudged his elbow with hers. “You’re falling behind on the job.”

“Sorry.” He pushed at the ground with his foot and rocked them higher.

“Did Becky Lynn have a conversation with you recently?”

He tore his attention from the party-goers and settled it on the woman next to him. “At the restaurant?”

“Yeah. Not too long ago she was acting kind of weird and said she needed to talk to you.”

“How long ago?” Was Becky Lynn a party to whatever was going on at work? He hadn’t found any evidence so far.

“I don’t know. About a month ago. I told her to talk to Anita but she said she could only talk to you.”

Becky Lynn was a young, quiet girl and one of the more solid waitresses he had. He’d never had any issues with her being late or not showing up, and she earned good tips. “She hasn’t said anything to me.”

“There’s something’s going on at the restaurant, isn’t there?”

His gaze settled on hers again. “What do you mean?” How could she have guessed that? Had she seen something that she needed to tell him?

“I’m not sure. Things just seem different there lately, more chaotic and disorganized.” She turned sideways in the swing so she faced him. “
You
seem different at work, too.”

Did all women have that freaky intuition where they just knew stuff? How could she have picked up on that?

He nudged her chin with his knuckle. “Paying a little too much attention to me?”

She swatted his hand away. “Oh, and you would like that, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m not complaining.”

“So, Becky Lynn never talked to you?” she asked to get them back on the subject at hand.

“What exactly did she say?”

Lacy picked at the hem of her skirt. “The day she talked to me, she asked if you were working. I said you weren’t and maybe Anita could help her with whatever was bothering her. She said no, she had to talk to you.”

Chase lifted his index finger and ran it through a few strands of her sleek hair. What did she put on her head that made her hair so damn irresistible? “She hasn’t said anything to me.” His finger made a journey from her hair to the outer edge of her ear. Her gaze dropped down to his mouth.

“You have a one-track mind.” Her voice had gone from normal to raspy in the amount of time it took his finger to make little circles around her ear.

One side of his mouth tilted up in satisfaction. “You like my one-track mind.”

“Maybe at one time,” she said and pushed his hand away. “But we’re not there anymore, remember?”

How could he forget? She made it a point to let him know they were no longer together. Fine, he could settle for being friends. At some point, she had crossed that friendly acquaintance line and had become something else. When that happened he wasn’t sure, nor was he willing to dissect it. All he knew was that theirs was a complex relationship. Chase wasn’t sure he’d ever understand Lacy.

“I guess Becky Lynn changed her mind then,” she said.

“My father thinks someone at the restaurant is stealing,” he blurted out without thinking. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to share this information with her. On the other hand, Chase was one hundred percent sure he could trust Lacy with this knowledge. Unable to stop himself again, he lifted his hand and tucked some hair behind her ear.

She swatted his hand away. “I can’t concentrate when you touch me. Say that again?”

He dropped his hand. “Forget it. I really shouldn’t be talking to you about this.”

“No, you can’t do that.” She nudged his thigh with her foot. “You brought it up, so now you have to tell me. Why does your dad think someone is stealing?”

Lacy gave new meaning to the word “tenacious” and would never back off now that he’d mentioned, the whole stupid thief thing.

“Let’s go for a walk. I don’t want to talk about this here.” He stood from the swing, which sent Lacy swinging back under the absence of his weight. “Come on.” With a tug of his hand, he pulled her up.

Eleven

Lacy slid her sandals on and followed Chase out the side gate.

Once on the sidewalk, they fell into a companionable silence and walked side by side.

“Does the shortage of supplies have anything to do with this?” she asked after they’d walked for about a minute without talking.

He didn’t bother asking how she knew. Lacy had already proved to be more observant than anyone gave her credit for.

“My dad seems to think so.”

She glanced at him. “You say that like you don’t agree with him.”

A boy on a multi-colored ten-speed flew down the street in the opposite direction. “I’m not sure what to think yet. So far, I have no solid evidence against anyone. Except maybe Henry.”

Her attention jerked to his when he said that. “Henry? No way would he steal from you. He’s the head chef.”

“True,” he agreed. “But every time something goes missing, he’s the first to notice.”

“Wouldn’t he anyway? He’s always doing inventory counts.”

“I know.” They walked around a car which hadn’t been pulled in the driveway far enough and blocked the sidewalk. “But right now, I have no actual evidence and a whole bunch of things that don’t add up. In all the years I’ve been running this place, nothing has ever gone missing before. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe Henry is miscounting or overlooking some things. There’s always the possibility of human error.”

“That’s what I told my father.” Unfortunately, his father didn’t agree with that.

“Your father doesn’t think Henry is stealing, does he? I honestly don’t think Henry would do anything like that. I mean, he’s been working there longer than you. Why would he just now steal?”

Chase was silent a moment and studied the cement beneath their moving feet. “That was my logic too.”

“Was?”

He lifted a shoulder. “Now I just don’t know. Henry being the thief would account for the food but not the money. That part doesn’t add up.”

Her gaze locked with his. “Money’s come up short too?”

“A few times. And it’s only been small amounts, which leads me to believe that maybe the drawer isn’t being counted properly.”

Lacy tucked her hands in the front pocket of her skirt. “So you either have a dishonest employee on your hands or a very sloppy one.” They fell silent again. A man and a woman with three small kids and a golden retriever walked by on the other side of the street. The man lifted his hand in greeting which Chase and Lacy returned. “What’re you going to do if you can’t find any real evidence?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to have to start double checking all of Henry’s numbers and keeping a closer eye on the staff.” This solution most likely wouldn’t appease his father, but Chase was running out of options. The only thing he hadn’t done was interview the employees. Luckily for him things had been pretty quiet in the past few weeks. Business was steady, and nothing had come up missing or short. Maybe their would-be thief had decided to back off.

They turned around at the end of the street and started back toward Noah’s house.

“Do you think whatever Becky Lynn has to say has anything to do with this?” Lacy asked, after neither one of them said anything.

“I think she’s as likely to steal from the restaurant as I am.” He glanced at the evening sky. “Maybe she’s got some personal problems.”

“I’ll keep my eye open for you while I’m on the floor.”

He glanced at her. The street lamp from overhead cast an orangey glow on her hair. “I’d appreciate that.”

Her delectable mouth turned up in a smile. “We’re friends, remember?”

“I can’t think of too many friends I’ve seen naked.”

“Ditto.”

Against his better judgment, he skimmed the back of his index finger down her soft cheek. “Are you sure you don’t want –”

“Yes.”

His thumb traveled across her lower lip. “Maybe you don’t remember how good it was.”

She pushed his hand away. “Oh, I remember.”

“Because I specifically remember you saying it was the best sex you’d ever had.”

A frustrated groan flowed out of her. “I knew I was going to regret saying that.”

“Your buttons are too easy to push,” he said with a grin.

“Only when you’re around.”

“I think you love having me around, Miss Twiggy.”

She stopped in her tracks and gestured toward Noah’s house. “Weren’t you just saying before –”

He slid his arm around her and forced her to keep moving. “That time I said it for fun.”

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “It’s hardly fun.
“It is for me.”

****

“You and my entire family will be happy to know I have a date tonight.”

Lacy glanced up from her sketch to Brody sitting beside her on the park bench. Anita had given Lacy the past three days off in a row, an unusual event. Not that Lacy was complaining; it was nice to have a little time to herself. She’d decided to take Brody’s advice and signed up for the art festival. Yesterday and today she’d used as time to perfect her drawings and come up with new ones. Ever the perfectionist, Lacy had yet to deem anything worthy of public showing. “You shouldn’t live your life for the rest of us, Brody.”

His gray gaze followed Tyler as the boy climbed across the monkey bars on the playground in front of them. “Tell that to my family.”

Her pencil flew across the paper to complete the lines of the domed clock cupola of the Trouble Town Hall. The bench the two of them sat on was the only one that lent a full view of the historical building. Trouble had precisely two historical buildings: Town Hall and the Masonic Center. It had been a dream of hers to draw the Trouble Town Hall for years. After getting approval from Brody’s friend, Steven, Lacy decided to go balls out and sketch the circa nineteen fifteen building.

“They only want you to be happy,” Lacy replied after tearing her attention away from her drawing.

“Yeah, I have the world’s most worrisome family.”

Brody might complain about his family but he loved them. What wasn’t to love? He had two parents who actually put forth effort for their kids’ happiness and a whole slew of other people who had his best interests at heart.

“Consider yourself lucky,” she reminded him.

He patted the top of her head like he would a dog’s. “Yeah I know. You have people too, Lace.”

“Such as you?” she asked as she flipped over a page in her sketchpad and started her drawing over. Something about the scale of the building didn’t quite look right.

“You know it.”

“So, who’s the girl?” Tyler jumped down from the top of the monkey bars and ran to the small rock-climbing wall.

“She was the student teacher in Tyler’s class.”

On the third version of the town hall, Lacy started from the cupola and worked her way down. “Student? How old is she?”

“Twenty-five. That’s only a four year difference.”

She lifted her shoulders and hid a grin. “I didn’t say anything. What’s her name?”

“Danielle. I bumped into her when I picked Tyler up from summer school yesterday. I always thought she was kind of cute.”

Lacy turned her head to look at him. “Do yourself a favor and don’t tell her she’s cute to her face.” She returned her attention to the work in her lap. “That’s the kiss of death.”

“What’re you talking about?” He took his gaze off his son. “Isn’t that a compliment?”

Men really didn’t understand women did they? “Women generally don’t appreciate having the same adjective describe them as you would a puppy. Choose a different word like, ‘gorgeous’ or ‘beautiful’.”

“Women are so sensitive,” he muttered. He nudged her shoulder with his hand. “You and my brother looked mighty comfortable with each other the other night.”

If Brody only knew. “We were talking about the restaurant.” Okay, only a half-truth. Not even for money would Lacy mention the other things she and Chase had talked about. Brody most likely wouldn’t understand. He had a dominantly protective streak when it came to her. He probably thought Chase would use her, then dump her. Sometimes Lacy thought Brody overestimated her.