Buzz Off (26 page)

“Are you sure it was Grace?” This was the proof I was looking for! Grace and Clay really were having a clandestine affair! If Patti could be believed. From her detailed account, it had to be true.

“Like I said, I followed her about an hour later when she came out, dabbing at her eyes with a hanky. She’d been crying! I’m not sure why. She could have been calling it off with Clay, or he’d dumped her, because I haven’t seen her back and believe you me, I’d know.”

“That was the only time you saw them together?” I asked.

“That I know of, but I wasn’t on high alert until that Thursday.”

“Did you mention any of this to the police chief?” I asked.

“Should I have?” P. P. Patti said. “I didn’t think it mattered. I’m only mentioning it now because of our new friendship. This should stay strictly between you and me.”

“Carrie Ann heard about it through your fast-track grapevine, so we aren’t the only ones who know. Who else did you tell?”

Patti’s eyes shifted to the left, blinked, then her eyes moved to the right. “Maybe I did mention it to a few other friends. But I didn’t tell anybody about your own little secret.”

There! She’d brought it up. I felt my blood pressure spike. “Oh, really,” I said, “you mean the story you spread about Manny and me, saying we were lovers? Is that the secret you’ve been keeping to yourself?”

“Shhh,” Patti cautioned. “Someone will hear you. It’ll be all your fault if it gets out.”

P. P. Patti was impossible—crafty and cagey with a knack for twisting the truth to fit her plan. This entire dramatic moment was reminding me of high school and how relieved I’d been to graduate and get away from Moraine and its small-town mentalities.

“I heard from a reliable source that you’ve been spreading that lie yourself,” I said. Finally. Some guts.

“I don’t lie,” Patti said, narrowing her eyes. “All my facts are backed up with evidence.”

“You are so full of it. You don’t have any proof.”

“That isn’t the way to talk to a friend.”

“You aren’t my friend, Patti. Friends don’t tell horrible, spiteful lies about each other.”

“Is this the future event that you apologized for at the store? Because if it is, I’m not accepting this time.”

I blew steam out of my nose and ears. I even saw red. “You took an innocent friendship between Manny and me and insinuated that it was something nasty and dirty. If you don’t care about my feelings, you could at least try to care about Grace. How do you think that made her feel?”

“Grace was getting hers with that ex of yours.”

“I know you lied about me. Are you lying about Grace and Clay, too?”

Patti glared at me. She had her arms crossed. “I’m done talking to you,” she said. “Keep on bullying me and I’ll call the cops all right.”

The bullying part stopped me in my tracks, because I had an aversion to bullies and wasn’t exactly sure I hadn’t been acting like one, “I’m sorry,” I said. “But you put me in a serious position when you spread that.”

“Go away. You’re acting like a nut case. I know you’ve been through a lot lately, but don’t take it out on me.”

I left her sitting there and headed for Stu’s.

I needed a drink.

I was on my second Diet Coke.

After heating up to the boiling point, then cooling down some on the short walk over, the thought of drinking my lunch hadn’t been nearly as appealing. Not to mention that Stu had refused to serve me.

“I’m cutting you off,” he had said.

“I haven’t had a drop of alcohol yet. You can’t cut me off.”

“You’re my friend. This is my bar. I get to make the rules.” Stu gave me one of those smoldering looks of his. Then he grinned, making it hard to be angry.

“A Diet Coke then,” I said, pretending the switch to a nonalcoholic beverage was entirely my idea. “And make it quick. How’s Becky?”

“Great.”

“When are you two getting married?”

Stu opened my Coke and put it down in front of me. “And spoil our fun? No thanks.”

As I said, I was on drink number two when Hunter strolled in the door. I couldn’t help noticing he had a sexy strut. He and Stu gave each other knowing glances, and I picked up on the message going back and forth.

“You called him?” I accused Stu. “You told Hunter I was here? This is the last time I’m patronizing this establishment.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Stu said, flipping a towel over his shoulder and going back to work.

“You’ve been dodging me,” Hunter said, sitting down next to me at the bar. “We need to talk.”

“I’m all talked out, thanks to Patti. And I’m never apologizing to another living soul again as long as I live.”

“Why didn’t you return my calls?”

“What calls?” I said, shifting the blame to my little sister. I
had
been avoiding him.

Hunter gave me a look, like he knew I was dodging.

“Besides,” I said. “You know where to find me. If I’m not home, I’m at the store.” Which wasn’t exactly true. Since I had Holly to help out and Carrie Ann was actually showing up for a change, I was freer to come and go than I’d been in a long time.

“Your store,” Hunter said with a snort of amusement. “That place is a hotbed of intrigue and misinformation. I wouldn’t want to give your customers even more to talk about.”

“Not to mention that your girlfriend works there.”

“Come on. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“My place. I’d like to introduce you to Ben properly this time.”

My heart was pounding. I shouldn’t go to Hunter’s house alone. The man was hot and sexy and so not mine.

“You want me to meet your dog again?”

“Humor me.”

Hunter had ridden over on his Harley. He swung a leg across the machine, settled into the seat, scooted forward to make more room for me to climb on, waited for me to situate myself properly, and we were off.

I loved the ride. All the sensations of the machine under me—the firm grip I had on Hunter’s waist, the smells of the countryside that you just don’t experience inside a car, the wind whipping my hair, the absolute and exhilarating sense of freedom.

When we arrived at his house, I didn’t want to get off. Ben was in a kennel on the side, alert as usual. Hunter dismounted, opened the gate, and let him out. Reluctantly, I got off the bike.

“Story, meet Ben.”

“I’ve already met Ben.” Where was this going?

“I know, but I was remiss, considering your past history and Ben’s intimidating presence. But Ben isn’t anything like the dog that attacked you. He would never hurt you.”

Hunter had to bring that up! When I was ten years old, a German shepherd had attacked me on the street, pulling me off my bike and mauling me. I still had scars on my right thigh to prove it. Hunter knew all about it.

“Tell Ben to sit,” he said.

“I don’t want to.”

“Come on, Try it.”

“Fine. Sit, Ben.”

Ben glanced at Hunter, then back at me. The beast sat. He watched me in case I had another command ready. I looked at Hunter, still wondering what was up.

“Ben knows all the basic obedience commands,” Hunter said. “Sit, down, come, stay, heel. He responds to my orders one way, and to commands from others a little bit differently. He’s been trained to attack and to back off when I tell him to, but only if I give the command. That part of his job is between him and me. We’re partners.”

“You trust him?”

“Completely. He keys in on aggressive behavior and can read body language better than any human I know.”

“He’s creepy,” I said. “Like he knows what I’m thinking.”

Ben the dog didn’t move a single muscle, still waiting.

“Try giving him another command. Tell him to come.”

“Ben, come.”

He came to my side and stood at attention.

“Nice dog,” I said, impressed in spite of myself.

“Ben has been trained to remain focused even during distractions,” Hunter said. “Crowds don’t faze him, neither do other dogs. He’s a working dog and takes his job seriously. He would never attack unless he was called to assist me in a dangerous situation. So what do you think? Can you try to work out a truce with Ben? Give him a chance to prove himself?”

“I don’t see why it matters to you,” I said. “I’m not the one who is hanging around here with you. Carrie Ann is.”

“Story, Carrie Ann isn’t my girlfriend.”

That wasn’t what I expected to hear. A big fat grin spread across my face. I fought it down. “She’s not?”

“No.”

“But I thought—”

“Yeah, you thought wrong. And I’d like the misconception cleared up so we can move forward.”

“But you and Carrie Ann were riding your bike together, and she said she couldn’t come to the town meeting because she was with you. I automatically assumed you were a couple.”

Hunter didn’t say anything for a while, then he said, “Let’s go sit down.”

Hunter released Ben from further obedience and led me over to a wooden glider. We sat side by side not speaking, watching the dog search for the perfect spot in the sun until he found it and flopped down. My heart was doing some kind of palpitation thing and my palms were sweaty, not because I was afraid of Ben but because I realized something serious was coming. I wasn’t used to that from Hunter. He’d always been light and silly with me.

“Story,” he finally said, “I’ve been avoiding you ever since you came back to Moraine two years ago. You came back to town married, and I, well, I had to stay away. I couldn’t stand to see you with that creep, and to hear the stories circulating about him. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands.”

I gulped. How had I ever walked away from this hunky man?

“I’m sorry,” I said, racking up another apology, “if I hurt you in any way when I left Moraine.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Well, I’m sorry anyway.”

“Do you think we could give it another try? See where it goes this time?”

“What about your relationship with Carrie Ann?” I wanted to know. “We haven’t quite cleared that up yet.”

Hunter let out a heavy sigh like he was hoping we could skip this part. “Carrie Ann came to me because she wanted to stop drinking. And I said I’d help her.”

“What could you do to help her that she can’t do for herself? I’m confused.”

“She asked me to be her sponsor.”

That hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew enough about AA to know that sponsors were recovering alcoholics themselves. That meant Hunter had his own personal demons to deal with.

“Nobody told me you were a recovering alcoholic.”

“I’ve been sober more than ten years. It’s old news.”

“Did I do that to you?” I said, thinking maybe he’d found solace in a bottle after we split up. “Did I drive you to drink?”

Hunter laughed. “No. Don’t you remember how much I drank in high school?”

“We all did.”

“Yes, but everybody else slowed down or quit altogether. I couldn’t stop. Finally, I took the big step and joined AA.”

That explained the close connection between Hunter and Carrie Ann in a way I could understand. “So you were at an AA meeting together the night of the town meeting?”

“Yes. It’s an important step for Carrie Ann, admitting her problem and attending these first meetings.”

“Someone said they saw you making out with Carrie Ann,” I said, figuring I better get everything out in the open.

Hunter laughed. “Let me guess. Patti Dwyre?”

“So it’s true.”

“Not at all. Patti saw me giving Carrie Ann a hug of encouragement and she misinterpreted it.”

Figures! “I can’t stand that woman,” I said.

“She’s a real trip to the beach, isn’t she? But tell me about the town meeting.”

So I did—about how the topic of killer bees went absolutely nowhere because of the false alarm, and about moving my bees to a safe location without revealing where. I also told him about Manny’s missing journal and the elusive, possibly nonexistent, Gerald Smith. And about Stanley Peck’s sudden interest in beekeeping.

“Bees all across the world are being affected by Colony Collapse Disorder,” I explained to Hunter. “And honey producers have seen big declines in their bee populations. Manny and I were lucky we didn’t have to deal with CCD, at least not yet. Bee colonies are going for premium prices, and I think this Gerald Smith, who might even be Stanley for all I know, stole Manny’s beehives and now he wants Manny’s journal because it has all his research notes in it. I need to find it first.”

“But the man isn’t stealing if Grace sold them to him. Just because you can’t find him doesn’t mean he isn’t legit. Maybe you should let it go and move on.”

“How would you feel if someone took Ben?”

“That’s different.”

“No, it isn’t. Getting up every morning and remembering that all the bees Manny and I raised have vanished feels exactly the same as if someone took your dog. It left a big empty hole in my life.”