Acquiring Trouble (6 page)

Morgan looked around and then pulled into the courthouse parking lot.
She grinned at the memory of climbing up one night and riding that horse
statue in front of the courthouse
until Sheriff Red made her get down. She was placed in the back of his car, her second home, and taken back to her father and mother.
Since her father was the
s
heriff's min
i
ster, she tended to
avoid most arrests
. Most of the time she
just got a ride home and had to endure one of her father's lectures until sunup.

She turned off her black Mercedes and looked across the street at the Blossom Café.
She could see the people in the plate glass window eating breakfast. Oh, she
was
going to have some fun this morning. Payback was a bitch.

Morgan looked
farther
up Main Street and back to the c
afé.
It appeared that it was still the only plac
e to eat in town. It might have
the only thing she missed from Keeneston
—t
he pecan
pancakes the Rose sisters made.

Morgan pulled out her purse
and applied some lip-
gloss.
When
she
returned the visor to its place
,
she
saw a curvy woman in a dark green suit
and camel pea coat
with beautiful auburn hair wa
ving madly out on the sidewalk.

"Who is that?" Morgan asked
herself
. She looked around to find out
who
the woman was waving at. No one was
near, so Morgan assumed she must
have been
waving
at
her. She could
have been
from high school. It wasn’t like she
had
remember
ed
every
one
after all these years. Could it be Stacy? That huge rock on her hand made her someone's wife.

Morgan opened the door
and slid out in her black pencil skirt and amethyst silk blouse.
She
put on
a
matching fitted blazer
and
took one last look around to make sure she was the only one there and then turned to the woman who had now stopped waving.

"Oh! I'
m so sorry! I thought you were someone else," the woman laughed. "There's only one person in Keeneston with a car like that. I take it you're lost."

"No," Morgan answered as she slid her oversized black sunglasses up and onto her head.

"Well," the woman smiled again. She really
was a peppy sort of person. "I'
m McKenna Ashton
, but everyone calls me
Kenna
. Do you need help finding anything?"

"Ashton? As in Will Ashton?" Morgan asked as she snapped her eyes back to the woman.

"Yes. I'm his wife."
Kenna
answered, a little hesitantly now.

"
You're not fr
om here and you're not Whitney," Morgan said, almost accusingly.

"Thank g
od for that."
Kenna
retorted with overwhelming sarcasm
.

Morgan grinned
. This woman had spunk. She hadn't liked Whitney either. She had been in the same charity group with Whitney in
DC
, but hadn't seen her
for
a while. She
’d
also never let Whitney know she grew up with Will. Not that Whitney would care.
Morgan just liked to hear her rant about her husband's hillbilly home. She didn't like to admit it, but every on
ce in a while she got homesick and it was nice to hear about Keeneston.

"At least Will got rid of her. I couldn't stand t
hat ditzy blonde act." Morgan slid
her
sun
glasses
back in place
a
nd started to walk toward the c
afé.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name?"
Kenna
called after her.

"Morgan. And it's so nice to be
back." She tossed a tight grin over her shoulder and headed across the stre
et. She had a town to shake up.

Daisy Mae Rose tapped her pen against the counter
inside the Blossom Café
as she waited for her sister, Violet
Fae
,
to finish
the biscuits and sausage gravy for John Wolfe's table.

"You got ants in your pants?" Violet asked as she poured the gravy over the large buttery biscuits.

Daisy rolled her eyes, "Come on already, will
ya
?" She tapped her pen some more since she knew it got on her sister's nerves.
Finally her sister put the plate down on the counter and
Daisy grabbed
it. T
he smell of the homemade biscuits and sausage
gravy made
her stomach rumble. She'd never admit it, but her sister made the best breakfast.

Daisy
headed to the front o
f the c
afé
where John sat by himself. It would be the perfect time to get caught up on the entire town's gossip. No one knew more about what was going on in Keeneston than John.  As she arrived at the table Daisy
glanced out the large front window and paused with the biscuits and gravy midway to the table.
"Oh my heavens!" she gasped.

"
Daisy Mae, what
is
the matter with you? Put the darn biscuits down on the table!" Violet called from the kitchen.

Everyone turned and looked
at Daisy and then followed to where she was looking.
Pam Gilbert, the PTA president
, stood up, smoothed her khaki slacks and straightened her pink polo shirt
.
She excused herself from the fundraising meeting and stepped over to t
he window with the rest of the c
afé patron
s.
Across the street she saw   a woman in
a
black suit talking to
Kenna
.

"What in tarnation?" Pam leaned forward for a better look. "Holy bologna!"

"Well slap me silly and call me
Sally," John Wolfe murmured as he
stood up to
join
Daisy and Pam at the wind
ow.

"Move over, let me see,
"
said Noodle, o
ne of the Keeneston
s
heriff
d
eputies
,
as he
peered over Pam's shoulder. "Holy Mackerel
. I need to call the
s
heriff,
‘
cause here comes trouble."

"For the love of Pete, someone tell me what's going on." Violet yelled with her ever
-
present wooden spoon in her hand.

"Morgan's back and coming this way!"
Daisy shouted
back, causing the rest of the c
afé to gasp in unison. Some people eyed the back door and the people crowding
the widow scattered.

"Morgan?
The
Morgan?" Tammy asked as she shoved her wa
y to look out the window. "S
hut the front door!"

"Good idea!" Daisy hurried to bolt
the door of the c
afé.

"Miss Daisy, it's just an expression."

"Oh, well, it was still a good idea," Miss Daisy mumbled.

"What do we do?" Noodle asked
, his eyes widening in
panic
.

"Get it together!
Y
ou'll probably have to arrest her."
Miss Violet
said
from the safety of the kitchen.

"What on Earth is she doing here, Pam?" Daisy asked.

"I don't know." Pam shrugged her shoulders and stared
as the
woman approached the c
afé. "But we're about to find out."

Morgan
approached the c
afé and saw the faces behind the window scatter.
Some things never changed. She wanted to make a splash and this was the best way to do it. All those years away she wondered how many of them thought she was in jail. They probably just hoped she'd never come back, but trouble had just returned to Keeneston.

She opened the screen door and then pushed open the door.
The smells that wafted over her were delicious, but it was the silence that caught her attention. She looked
around and noticed some familiar faces. The Rose sisters looked exactly the same. John had gotten rounder and Noodle had turned into a man
—a
nervous man at that.
Morgan removed
her sunglasses and smiled at the roomful of people. T
he smile didn't reach her eyes.

Morgan watched as Pam approached her. Pam had aged. Her dirty blonde hair had turned brown. She
looked so much older. Morgan supposed the same went for her, but at least she hadn't turned into someone resembling
a stick-in-the-
mud
like Pam had.

"Hello, M
organ," Pam said as she stepped
in front of Morgan.

"Hello, sis."

Morgan looked into the blue eyes of the sister she hadn't seen in seventeen years. Morgan hadn't
returned
for
her wedding thirteen years ago. It was the one time she had called home
randomly
. Her mother answered and let it slip that Pam was getting married. The phone was
snatched away by her father
who told her in no uncertain terms that she was not to return home and ruin her sister's day. No one wanted her there to put a dark stain on Perfect Pam's perfect day.

They didn't have to say it, she knew why. They were afraid
she'd steal the groom away like they thought she di
d with Pam's last boyfriend. In fact Morgan
had heard from Whitney about Pam's two boys. Apparently they
had made too much noise at the c
afé after a soccer game one night. Whitney bitched about it at the ne
xt meeting. All the society mom
s nodded and talked about how ha
rd it was to find a good nanny.

"What are you doing here?" Pam asked in a cold tone she inherited
from their
father.
Morgan was actually surprised Pam would even acknowledge her.

"Don't worry, I won't intrude on your town for long. But you better lock up your husbands and boyfriends just to be safe." Morgan
smirked and
held some dark satisfaction when Pam's face paled.

"I'll ask again,"
Pam
said in what Morgan could only describe as a Mom voice, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm in town for business and to have some pecan pancakes." She looked at Miss Violet who only grunted in acknowledgment of the breakfast order, but refused to move from her spot behind the counter.

Morgan turned when the front door flew
open and hit the wall. Miss Lil
y s
tumbled through the door
with her white hair on end
and her broom in her hand.
She looked around and then went to stand by Miss Daisy.

Pam turned back to Morgan and looked her over. "What kind of business are you in?"

"Yea, it must be good if that's your car." Daisy nodded out the window to the Mercedes.

"Yes. It is. I'
m
Director
of Mergers and Acquisitions at
Top Produce
rs
in Washington
DC
," she said with pride. They were
all
looking at her with interest now. The bad girl had gone corporate instead of to prison.

"What does that have to do with Keeneston?" Pam asked accusingly.

"I believe she's here to see me. Isn't that right Miss Hamilton?" Miles stood from
his seat in
the back of the
room and buttoned his dark gray suit coat.

Morgan was momentarily stunned. He had grown another inch at least. His body had filled out and matured even more. His shoulders were wide and thick. His eyes were a dark hazel and no longer held the spark of innocence and youth. He was handsome as sin and Morgan
couldn't help but remember the kiss. Her eyes went to his lips and then dropped lower.
My, oh my, had he grown up good.