Thirty and a Half Excuses (4 page)

I wasn’t so sure she’d approve of the two guys I had in mind, but with such short notice, beggars couldn’t be choosers. Besides, their characters might benefit from a little time spent working on church grounds.

“He sure does know how to work the older women of Henryetta.”

Mason Deveraux stood next to me, eyes fixed on Jonah.

“Does he? It looks like they love him.”

“Oh, they sure do.” There was a suspicious note in his voice.

I looked up at him with a grin. “Are you worried you have even more competition for most eligible bachelor of Henryetta?”

His eyes widened in confusion, but I wasn’t sure why. He was a fine looking man from a respected Arkansas family. With his dark blonde hair, hazel eyes, and fit physique, the women in town were trying their darnedest to get his attention. Rumor had it he hadn’t dated at all since his arrival, which only added to his allure.

I shook my head. “Surely, you know you’re on the list of the most eligible bachelors in town. You and Brody MacIntosh.”

Mason’s face reddened. “That explains all the baked goods that keep appearing in my office.”

“And that explains the five pounds it looks like you’ve gained.”

His eyes widened again, this time in alarm.

I leaned my arm against his. “I’m joking. You look great, Mason.”

His shoulders sagged with relief.

I shot him a glare. “Why have you been avoiding me the last couple of months?”

It was my day to shock him. “Um…” A frown creased his forehead. “I’m the wrong person to be talking to about that.”

“Then who is?”

“I think you know.” Mr. No Nonsense was back, the man I’d met at the beginning of Bruce Wayne Decker’s trial, not the man I’d gotten to know. Without a backward glance, Mason walked toward the cars parked in the street.

Who was he talking about?

And then it hit me.

Joe.

Chapter Three

When I found Joe, he was carrying a flat of asters to the street and loading it into the car of one of the garden club cronies. The sight of him being so helpful made my irritation fade slightly. How many boyfriends would be so helpful? As the woman’s car drove away, Joe made his way toward me, and my irritation won out.

“What did you say to Mason about me?”

“What?” He narrowed his eyes in confusion.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the back corner of the building. “Did you tell Mason not to talk to me?”

Joe recovered his senses and had the nerve to look angry. “What did he say?”

I put my hands on my hips. “He didn’t say anything, but I think you just answered my question.”

“Rose.” He inhaled, a hard look filling his eyes. “There’s a lot you don’t know about Mason and me.”

“Then tell me.”

He glanced at his watch and groaned. “I don’t have time. I have to go in a few minutes.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I shot him a glare. “How convenient.”

Joe gripped my arms and tugged me to his chest. “Rose, I love you, and I’d never do anything to hurt you. Yes, I did ask Mason to stay away from you, but I have my reasons.”

I leaned my head back and cocked my eyebrows. “And those are?”

He whipped me around the back corner, out of sight of the customers, and pushed me against the wall. His lips covered mine, and he kissed me so thoroughly I forgot what we were talking about. But then again, that had probably been his plan. He knew I couldn’t stay mad at him for long when he kissed me like that.

Lifting his head, he sighed, worry in his eyes. “Mason and I have a history that I don’t have time to get into right now. When I get back, I promise to tell you everything.”

His news wasn’t a total shock. After Joe’s overreaction to finding me with Mason on my porch the night I was first attacked by Jimmy DeWade, I had since suspected they had a past together. “Why haven’t you already told me about it?”

He grimaced. “It’s not something I’m proud of.”

My stomach dropped. What could Joe have done to make him so ashamed? “I don’t get why you don’t want Mason to talk to me.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“How could talking to Mason hurt me?”

“I was scared he would tell you about what happened in Little Rock. I want to be the one to tell you, but I wasn’t ready yet. It was wrong, and I’m sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair, leaving a ruffled mess and looking miserable. “Darlin’, I have to leave in less than five minutes, and I don’t know when I’ll see or talk to you again. I’d rather spend that time kissing than dredging up my miserable past. I’ll explain it all later, okay?”

No, it wasn’t okay. He should have already told me, but he was right. I didn’t want to spend these last few minutes talking about something upsetting. It bothered me enough that he was leaving.

He brushed the hair out of my face, gazing into my eyes. “I love you, Rose, more than I think you even realize. You see me as Joe McAllister, the man you met four months ago, but there’s more to Joe Simmons than you know, parts I’d like to leave behind. You make me want to be Joe McAllister.”

“You
are
Joe McAllister to me.”

He hesitated. “I’m thinking about quitting.”

My chest froze. “Quitting what?” I whispered.

“The state police.”

I blinked, sure I’d heard him wrong. “What?”

His hand cradled my cheek. “I miss you. I want us to be more permanent than just weekends and some weeknights.”

I closed my eyes as guilt rushed in. Two months ago, I’d agreed to move to Little Rock with Joe, but then I’d realized I wasn’t ready. And now that I’d opened the nursery with Violet, I was stuck in Henryetta. With Little Rock two hours away, our situation was far from ideal. “I’m sorry.”

He kissed me again, a sweet kiss full of love and tenderness. “No, don’t be sorry. You love what you’re doing now, and I think you’ll be great at it. Plus, I’ve had fun helping you get ready to open the store. I wouldn’t dream of taking this from you.”

“But if you quit, what will you do?”

“I put my application in with the Fenton County Sheriff’s department a few weeks ago, and I had an interview yesterday afternoon. That’s part of the reason I’m here.”

My stomach tumbled with excitement. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you know my attempt to transfer here with the state police didn’t work out. I didn’t want to get your hopes up, only to disappoint us both. They have an opening for a deputy, though, and I’m sure they’re going to offer me the job.” He smiled. “This is the last time I’m going undercover. I never want to purposely be gone from you this long again.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Oh, Joe. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you.”

His mouth found mine and I clung to him, unshed tears burning my eyes. I told myself the most he’d be gone was a few weeks, and I’d more than likely get to talk to him several times, but the dangerous part of his absence terrified me. What if he didn’t come back?

“Be careful.” The lump in my throat made my voice tight.

“Always, darlin’. I’ve got too much to lose.” He wiped the tear escaping down my cheek, his eyes becoming more stern. “And I’m serious about being careful with Jonah Pruitt.”

Joe’s tone gave me second thoughts about doing business with the man. “Is he really that dangerous?”

“No, nothing like that. I don’t think he’d physically hurt someone—not that I know of anyway—but watch him with your financial dealings.” He lowered his voice. “I’ve already told you more than I should have.”

“I told him we need half down, which more than covers the cost of the flowers.”

He gave me a tight smile. “That’s my girl.”

I rested my cheek against his chest, the dull thud of his heartbeat in my ear. I soaked in his presence, trying not to think about the dangers he was going to face over the next few weeks. Instead, I had to trust that he’d do everything in his power to come back to me.

I walked Joe to his car and gave him one last kiss goodbye.

“I love you, Rose. Don’t ever doubt that.”

I forced myself to be strong and not break down. “I love you too, Joe. If anything happens to you, I’ll make you regret it.”

He chuckled and ducked into the car. “I’ll keep that in mind. Stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”

“It’s not like I go lookin’ for it.”

He shook his head with a grimace. “That’s the part that worries me the most.”

I watched him drive away, my heart leaving with him. At least getting the store up and running would fill up my time and keep me from missing him too much.

We had a steady stream of customers for the next several hours. We’d hoped to sell plants for fall beds, and we were doing better than we’d expected. But then again, the only other places to get bedding plants in Henryetta were Walmart and the hardware store.

Around two o’clock, things died down so I could get away to measure the New Living Hope Revival Church beds. Neither Violet nor I had thought to bring a measuring tape to the nursery. I had one in my kitchen junk drawer, so I decided to swing by and pick it up on the way there.

As soon as I pulled onto my street, I knew something was wrong. A small crowd had gathered on the sidewalk in front of Miss Opal’s house, Miss Mildred’s next-door neighbor. A police car and an ambulance were parked at the end of the street, their flashing lights swirling. Over the last few months, anytime there was a vehicle with flashing lights in our neighborhood, it always stopped in front of my house. The ladies of the Busybody Club—a.k.a. the neighborhood watch—had to be confused.

After I parked in my driveway, I walked across the street to find out what was going on. I lived in an older neighborhood, and the bungalow homes on my street were mostly occupied by elderly women. The only residents under retirement age were me, the neighbors in Joe’s old house, and the house on the corner, the one belonging to Thomas’s family.

The elderly women huddled in a tight pack, all of them staring at Miss Dorothy’s front door. The front of her house was filled with several emergency personnel. She lived between Opal and Thomas’s family. Mildred stood in the middle of the pack, not surprisingly in the position of ringleader. She lifted a shaky hand to her mouth. “I knew something was wrong when I didn’t see Dorothy at Violet’s nursery this morning. She’d been planning on going to that grand opening since she found out what Violet was up to. She always loved that girl.”

My next door neighbor Heidi Joy waddled up to me, her right hand on her back, supporting the weight of her pregnant belly. Her nine-month-old baby was perched on her left hip. “What’s all the commotion about?”

“It’s Dorothy,” Opal answered from the ranks. “Mildred found her.”

Heidi Joy’s eyes widened. “What do you mean
found her
?”

“She was lying on her living room floor.” Mildred’s voice shook. “Dead as a doornail.”

Gasping, Heidi Joy covered her mouth and wobbled.

I grabbed her elbow to help steady her. “Do you want to sit down?”

She shook her head, but her face had paled. I lifted the baby from her arms and set him on my own hip. He grabbed a handful of my hair and promptly stuffed it in his mouth.

“What happened to her?” I asked.

Mildred’s face was almost as pale as Heidi Joy’s. “I don’t know. I just found her lying there.”

A dark sedan pulled up to the curb behind the police car. The driver’s door opened, and Mason got out, surveying the crowd. His eyes landed on me for several seconds, but he was wearing his no-nonsense face.

Mason was here as the Fenton County assistant DA.

“Who’s that?” one of my neighbors asked.

“Mason Deveraux III, the assistant district attorney,” Mildred answered before I could. “He’s from a good Little Rock family.”

I nearly groaned. I didn’t know much about Mason’s upbringing, other than he came from money. But in this part of southern Arkansas, it wasn’t necessarily whether you had money or not. It was where you were born, as well as where your parents and grandparents were born. The further back in the Arkansas state birth records your family went, the more social status you achieved. My family went back pretty far if I didn’t take my birth mother’s Louisiana heritage into account. But then again, only a handful of people knew about my birth mother. I’d only found out about her back in June, and I hadn’t told anyone other than Violet and Joe. My aunt and uncle had known all along.

Mason disappeared into the house as we kept our vigil. I considered leaving since I had plenty of work to do, but I was curious about what was going on. Besides, Heidi Joy still looked peaked, and I wasn’t sure she should be holding a twenty-pound baby. As I shifted him to the other hip, I wasn’t sure
I
should be holding a twenty-pound baby. I had no idea how Heidi Joy did it, pregnant to boot. Then I remembered that this was her sixth pregnancy. She’d had plenty of practice.

Several minutes later the paramedics came out the door, bumping a gurney down the steps with a sheet-covered body strapped on top. Several women gasped. Perhaps they hadn’t trusted Mildred’s medical assessment.

I couldn’t help remembering when I was on the other side of the line—the watchee instead of the watcher. My mother’s death had drawn a larger crowd, but then again, there’d been no doubt she’d been murdered. And it was a Saturday night.

Mason came outside a few minutes later, walking down the steps and toward his car. He caught my eye and shifted his eyes to the side.

I handed the baby back to Heidi Joy and left my post to meet him at the driver-side door of his car.

He stopped in front of me, a soft smile raising his mouth. “Rose, you looked domestic with a baby on your hip.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad one?”

“Neither, just an observation.”

“What happened to Miss Dorothy?”

He looked back at the house before turning toward me. “I suspect natural causes.”

“You mean like Miss Laura?”

He frowned. “That’s why I’m here. But the damn paramedics had already moved her to the gurney by the time I showed up.”

“And that’s bad?”

“If she truly died of natural causes, no. But with all the bungling that’s gone on with the police department since I’ve come to town, I’ve requested that they notify me whenever there’s a death. That way I can investigate the potential crime scene too.”