Undone (A Country Roads Novel) (15 page)
“Lunch?”
“I can’t. I’m going to your grandmother’s for lunch.”
“Oh yeah.” He grinned. “You’re part of their Thursday afternoon gossip fest.”
“Tomorrow night?”
“Can’t. I have baseball practice.”
“So Friday then,” she said, disappointed that she had to wait that long to see him.
“I don’t know if I can handle that. I’ll have to think of something,” he said before he leaned in for another kiss.
* * *
Paige was still giddy on Thursday when she walked into work. She kept biting the corner of her lip in an attempt to hide her smile, but there really wasn’t anything for it. Short of wearing a mask, there was nothing she could do to hide how she felt.
“What’s with you?” Tara asked as they sipped their coffee in the kitchen.
“Nothing,” Paige said, shaking her head.
“I don’t believe you,” Tara said. “You’re practically glowing.”
“Must be the sun,” Paige said, looking at her coffee. “I’m just tan.”
“Right,” Tara said slowly. “Oh great,” she muttered under her breath a second later. “The witch is back.”
Paige looked up as a petite blonde woman with overly teased hair, a pointy nose, and equally pointy heels walked down the hallway. The
witch’s
eyes narrowed on Paige as she walked into the kitchen and came up to them.
“Missy,” Tara said, switching into southern belle mode. “This is Paige Morrison. Mr. Adams hired her last week. Paige, this is Missy Lee. She’s the assistant funeral director.”
“And the great, great, great-niece of one Robert E. Lee,” Missy said, letting her southern twang lose on every single syllable.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Paige said, sticking out her hand.
“Likewise,” Missy said through a saccharine smile. “A real
pleasure.
I’ve heard that you’re to
thank
for our new
renovations
,” she said, gesturing to the hardwood floor out in the hallway. “How
creative
of you.”
Every word she emphasized felt like an insult.
“Thank you?” Paige asked.
“How was the conference?” Tara asked, changing the subject.
“Very informative,” Missy said, but didn’t elaborate on anything that she’d been “informed” about. “You come to me if you have any
questions
or
ideas
about
anything
,” she said to Paige. “I’d be more than
happy
to help you. You two have a
great
day,” she said and then walked out of the kitchen.
“Is she a pod person?” Paige whispered.
“Probably.”
“That was the weirdest freaking conversation I’ve ever had.”
“Get used to it. And I’m not joking when I say watch your back when it comes to her.”
“Why?”
“I’ll tell you at lunch,” Tara said, getting more coffee. “Too many ears around here, even the dead ones.”
* * *
“From what we’ve gathered, Missy Lee has been married four times and engaged seven,” Pinky said over her Caesar salad.
“You’re joking,” Paige said.
“Nope,” Tara said. “And two of them died.”
“You’re serious?”
“The second and fourth,” Panky said, holding up her fingers.
“To be fair,” Grace added, “the second one was very old.”
“How old?” Paige asked.
“Seventy?” Lula Mae said, shrugging and looking around the table for affirmation.
“About that.” Grace nodded.
“How old was she?” Paige asked, both disgusted and perversely fascinated.
“Oh, she was twenty-seven when she was married to Rubel Ruffin,” Lula Mae said.
“Rubel?” Paige asked bewildered.
“Yes.” Panky nodded.
“Ruffin?” she asked, saying it slowly.
“Yes,” Pinky said.
“And he was forty-three years older than her?”
“Yup,” Grace said.
“That’s disgusting,” Paige said, pushing her empty plate away and taking a sip of her tea.
“Just imagine all that loose skin,” Pinky said. “And his old balls.”
Paige choked, spitting tea all over the table. Tara and Grace snorted.
“Pinky,” Panky said, scandalized. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“I’m just speaking the truth,” she said with absolutely no repentance. “The sex was probably horrible.”
“Pinky,” Panky said, shaking her head, her soft red curls bouncing around her shoulders. “Do you filter anything that comes out of your mouth?”
“Now, where would the fun be in that,” Pinky said. “Anyways, the fourth one died in some sort of freak hunting accident.”
“Freak?”
“Yeah, he shot himself in the foot or something.”
“Or something?” Paige asked.
“Well, it was a little fishy. But Missy was never implicated,” Grace said.
“What happened to the first husband?”
“Divorced, and the third one as well,” Lula Mae said.
“And she made a killing on both of them,” Panky added.
“That’s one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever heard,” Paige said, leaning back in her chair. No wonder she needed to watch her back. The woman was a gold-digging, bad luck charm. “What about all of the engagements?”
“She only married locals the first and second time,” Grace explained. “The others she tends to find online. She sets her hooks in them—”
“Fangs more like it,” Panky said. “That woman is a black widow.”
“Yeah,” Grace said. “She is a black widow. So anyways, she gets her fangs in them, gets them to propose, and then keeps the ring. I don’t know who her next victim is though.”
“Geez,” Paige said, shaking her head.
“Yeah, so be careful around her,” Tara said. “She’s very manipulative.”
“Enough about Missy,” Pinky said. “What’s going on with you, Paige? Delta Forns came in to get her roots touched up. She told me that Brendan came over to your parents’ last night.”
Paige’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
“So that’s why you were glowing,” Tara said, slapping the table.
“You were with Brendan last night?” Lula Mae asked. The bell rang and her eyes flickered to the door behind Paige.
“Glowing?” Grace smiled. “Why would Brendan make you glow, Paige?”
“Yeah,” a deep voice said in her ear. “Why would I make you glow?”
Paige jumped out of her seat as Brendan pressed his lips to her neck.
“Hi, ladies,” he said as he walked over to Lula Mae and kissed her on the cheek.
“What are you doing here?” Paige asked, looking over at him, her mouth hanging open.
“I’m going to drive you back to work. You guys done?”
“We haven’t had dessert yet,” Grace said, standing up. “Sit down,” she said, gesturing to the now vacant seat next to Paige. “I’ll go get it.”
“I’ll help you,” Pinky said, standing up too. “Tara, why don’t you help us?”
“Panky,” Lula Mae said, pushing her chair back. “Let me show you that thing I was telling you about.”
“Oh, yeah.” Panky nodded, following her. “That
thing
.”
“Well…” Brendan laughed as he pulled a chair close to Paige and sat down. “I’ve never seen them scatter faster in my life.”
“You know that they’re all watching us.”
“Then let’s give them something to watch,” he said before he leaned in to kiss her.
“Stop it,” she said, smiling and pushing him away.
“Why?” he asked lightly, pressing his mouth to her jaw before he sat back in his chair.
“Because there are people everywhere,” she said, looking around the small café. But no one was even paying attention to them.
“Do you not want people to know that we’re together?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No, it’s not that,” she said, shaking her head. “I just don’t want to be the center of more town gossip.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Pinky said, coming back to the table with Grace and Tara, their hands full of bowls of banana pudding. “If Delta Forns knows about the two of you, then everyone knows about the two of you,” she said, sitting down in a chair.
“Yeah,” Grace said as Lula Mae and Panky sat down. “I heard about the two of you making out all over town on Monday.”
“Oh my God,” Paige said, putting her hands to her flaming cheeks. This couldn’t be happening; this just could
not
be happening. “How?” she asked, looking around the table. “How does everyone know?”
“Paige, if you’re going to live in a small town, you need to understand that if one person sees something interesting, it’s pretty much going to be news,” Panky said, shoving a spoonful of pudding into her mouth.
“Hell, if you get a speeding ticket around here they put it in the paper,” Pinky said.
“Please tell me we aren’t in the paper.” Paige gave Brendan a pleading look.
“You all are freaking Paige out,” Brendan said, putting his hand underneath her elbow and pulling her to her feet as he stood up. “We’re going to take these to go,” he said, picking up Paige’s bowl and handing it to her. He grabbed his own and put his free hand on her back. “You ladies have a nice rest of the day. Come on, Paige,” he said and guided her out the door.
He kept his hand on her back as they walked to his truck. He let go of her as he opened the door, grabbed the pudding from her, and put both bowls down on the seat. He grabbed her waist and pulled her into him, his hands on her back and his lips coming down hard on hers.
“I’ve wanted to do that since I walked in there,” he said against the hollow of her ear. “God, you smell good.” His mouth trailed down and he pressed his nose into her neck. “How do you smell this good? Like oranges and vanilla only so much better. Mmm,” he hummed against her skin.
“You work with men and cars all day. You haven’t got much to compare me to.”
He pulled back so he could look at her. “No, Paige,” he said and shook his head. “There’s nothing that compares to
you
.”
P
aige was wrapped in just a towel as she searched for something to wear. She had exactly twenty minutes before Brendan was supposed to pick her up. There was a knock on her door as her hands closed over a pair of jeans.
“Come in,” she called over her shoulder.
The door opened and Paige turned, throwing her jeans onto her bed.
“What time is he picking you up?” Denise asked as she stuck her head inside the doorway.
Paige had a sudden flashback to high school when her mother would help her get ready before a date. She immediately thought of Brendan and Grace and how their mother had died when they were both so young. They’d missed out on so much, especially Grace. Paige couldn’t imagine not having all of those years with her mother and she felt intensely grateful for every single one of them.
“At seven. You busy?”
“No,” Denise said, shaking her head.
“Will you sit and talk with me while I get ready?” Paige asked.
“Yeah,” Denise said, her mouth breaking into a smile. She opened the door farther and walked into the room, a glass of wine in hand. She shut the door behind her and sat down on the edge of Paige’s bed, just like old times. “What are you going to wear?” she asked, grabbing a pillow and playing with the frilly lace edging.
“Jeans,” Paige said, pointing to the pair on her bed. “I haven’t decided on a shirt though,” she said and turned back to her closet.
“Shoes?”
“My black wedges.” She thought it was appropriate, as she’d been wearing them the first time she’d met Brendan.
“What about your red peasant top. The one that hangs off your shoulders and hugs your waist.”
Paige grabbed the shirt and turned around, holding it up to show her mom.
“Red on a first date?”
“You look good in red,” Denise said.
“You don’t think it’s too much?”
Her mother gave the blouse a critical eye. “Just wear ugly underwear. If you wear stuff that you don’t want him to see, you’ll be less likely to sleep with him.”
“Mom!” Paige said shocked. “I’m not going to sleep with him on the first date.”
“I know. Just wear something to keep you grounded, and then you won’t slip.”
“I have some self-control.”
“Yes, well, I’ve seen that boy. Slipping would be completely justifiable considering the circumstances.”
“What circumstances would those be?” Paige asked as she walked over to her dresser and opened her underwear drawer.