The Red Hat Society's Acting Their Age (17 page)

“Hey there, Ed,” Henry called out from the corner.

Eddie nodded at the table of old men. “Mornin’.”

“See you over at Joe Pat’s again tonight?” George asked as he slid a wry look at Tom Pellinger.

“Maybe.” Eddie walked to the counter and looked from Aggie to Mia then back again. “Ladies.” He gave a low whistle as he took in Aggie’s appearance. “You’re looking spiffy, Ag. I almost didn’t recognize you.” He held up a hand. “Not that you didn’t look good before.”

Aggie fluttered her lashes at him. “So you approve?”

He smiled. “I sure do.”

When he shifted his attention to Mia, she inwardly winced at the sight of his bloodshot eyes. Still, even exhaustion and worry didn’t detract from the high school quarterback machismo Eddie Chilton had never lost. At one time or another, every female in Muddy Creek had swooned over his swagger and moody James Dean eyes. And had cursed Leanne for taking him off the market.

“Lea in back?” he asked, running a hand through his wavy dark hair.

“She hasn’t come in yet,” Mia told him.

“I expect she’s sleeping late this morning,” Aggie said. “Crying yourself to sleep at night will wear a person out.”

“
Aggie
.” Mia frowned. If Leanne had shed a tear the night before, Mia hadn’t seen it.

“Well, it will.” Aggie dipped her chin and peered over the top of her red glasses at Leanne’s husband. “You two kids have no business spending the night apart, mad at each other.”

“That was her doing, not mine, Ag.” Eddie sounded like a little boy responding to a scolding from his mother. “She thinks we need time apart.”

Aggie tsked. “Just apologize and put an end to this foolishness. It’s as simple as that.”

“Apologize?” Eddie slapped a palm against the counter. “Shoot, if I will. For what?” He took the cup of coffee Mia handed him. “Lea’s the one acting crazy. I didn’t do anything.”

Mia crossed her arms, pressed her lips together, and stared at him. He looked from her to Aggie, and found identical expressions on their faces.

Chuckles drifted from the corner table. “You look to be outnumbered, son,” Tom said.

Eddie glanced over at the group of men. “Whose side are y’all on, anyway?”

“When you get to be our age, you’ll figure out it’s no use trying to stand your ground against a pack of females.”

Shifting to look at Aggie, Eddie said, “Even if I wanted to apologize, I couldn’t. I stopped by Mia’s. Lea didn’t answer the door. She won’t answer the phone, either.”

The bell jingled again and Cade walked in. Mia met his gaze as Eddie asked, “What’s she up to? And don’t say ‘nothing.’ I know better.”

Betty slid into a table by the door and pretended not to listen. The Coots didn’t try to hide anything. They stared openly, as if watching the best show in town.

Grabbing a damp towel, Mia wiped down the counter. “What’s wrong with everybody? I swear the whole town’s paranoid all the sudden.”

Henry’s spoon clinked against his cup as he dipped into his pudding. He took a bite, his gaze never leaving the group at the counter. Choking, he reached for his coffee, took a drink, then sputtered, “What
is
this concoction?”

“A dirt cup,” Aggie informed him. “With gummy worms on top.”

“Do I look like a fish to you?” He wrinkled his nose. “What ever happened to the days when you only served pie and sweet rolls around here?”

“A little variety’s a positive thing.” Aggie looked coy as she tilted her head and smiled at the men. “Don’t you know? It’s the spice of life.”

Tom returned her smile with a flirtatious one of his own, and George muttered, “Maybe Roy’s right about his wife, after all.”

“What’s that?” Aggie blushed to the roots of her hair.

The men drowned their snickering with coffee, avoiding Aggie’s humiliated eyes.

Mia wanted to pop the fools with the tip of her wet towel. What were they talking about, anyway? And why on earth would they want to embarrass Aggie? So what if she was feeling the effects of her makeover, trying a few of Leanne’s flirty moves? That didn’t mean she was making a pass. Aggie remained the same innocent soul she had always been. Mia glared at the men. All it took was a woman jazzing up her appearance for people in town to start talking scandal.

She shifted to Cade. “Coffee?”

“Please.” He took his hat off and sat it on the counter. “While you’re pouring it, I’d like a word with Aggie.”

“With me?” Aggie frowned.

He nodded toward the kitchen. “In private, if you don’t mind.”

Wringing her hands, Aggie started for the swinging doors, motioning for Cade to follow. “Is anything wrong?”

He winked. “Nothing you can’t put a stop to pretty darn quick, I’m betting.”

Cade leaned against the kitchen sink and cleared his throat. He admired Aggie Cobb and always had. He hated having to tell her something he knew would humiliate her. And he felt guilty. He was partly to blame for Roy’s recent bad behavior. They’d had their little talk a couple of days ago, and Cade had dropped plenty of hints that Aggie might be brewing up something other than coffee. Cade never guessed that Roy would take that to mean his wife was cheating on him.

“For heaven’s sake, Cade, spit it out.” Aggie fidgeted with her apron tie. “Has something happened to Roy?”

“No, Roy’s fine. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Then what?”

Cade sighed. “I hate to be the one to tell you, but Roy’s been all over town the past couple of days accusing men of . . .” He cleared his throat. “Of having an affair with you.”

“What?” She touched her neck, staggered back against the stainless steel workstation. “That man . . . I didn’t think he’d go this far.”

“So he mentioned his suspicions to you?”

She nodded. “Crazy fool. As if anybody’d be interested in messing around with me.”

Cade smiled. “Don’t be so sure about that.” He scanned her hair, her new glasses, her clothes. Aggie looked like she’d been on one of those TV makeover shows.

For a moment, Aggie looked flattered before worry crept back into her expression. “I’ll talk to him, Cade. I’m sorry if his silly notions upset anybody.”

“I’m afraid there’s more to it than that, Aggie. Buck Miller called a couple of hours ago to file a complaint. Apparently Roy almost banged his door down late Monday night and again last night.”

“Oh, good grief.”

“Roy made threats that if Buck so much as glances in your direction, he’ll have his hide.” Cade bit back another smile. “Or something to that effect.”

Aggie pursed her lips and blinked eyes that, to Cade’s horror, shimmered with tears. “That man,” she said again.

“I’d no more than hung up the phone from Buck when Marcus McCoy dropped by the office. And not to deliver the mail, I’m afraid.”

“Mr. McCoy’s such a nice young man. I’ve talked to him a time or two at Mia’s when he brought her mail. Don’t tell me—”

“Roy stopped him this morning on his route and asked if he delivered to Mia’s house. When Marcus said he did, Roy started asking some pretty strange questions about whether or not Marcus had ever run into you over there. Things like that. Before long, the questions started sounding like accusations.”

“Oh, that poor boy.”

“Marcus said the last thing he wanted to do was get into a tussle with a man twice his age, but he had to defend himself.”

Aggie looked startled. “Defend himself?”

“Roy punched him.”

Her expression shifted from mortification to anger.

“I convinced both Buck and Marcus not to press charges, Aggie. I told them I’d have a talk with Roy, and I did. He knows if he crosses either one of those men again, they’re not likely to be so easy on him.”

“What did Roy say?”

“He said he’d back off.” Cade winked at her. “But that husband of yours has a head as hard as marble. He didn’t convince me, which is why I’m here. Maybe you can get through to him.”

Aggie tugged off her apron. “Oh, I’ll get through to him, all right.” She hung the apron on a hook beside the freezer and went for her purse. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Cade. Just leave it to me.”

Cade followed her up front where, without going into any detail, she told Mia she needed an hour or so to tend to some personal business.

“While I’m out,” she added, “I’ll run that box of sweet rolls the Rotary Club ordered over to the Cactus Hotel for their meeting later this morning.” Aggie took the back way out.

Cade sat on a stool at the counter and shot the breeze about nothing in particular with Eddie Chilton while Mia finished serving a customer. He’d heard that Leanne had left Eddie yesterday. Something about a mysterious trip and a shouting match at the rest stop outside of town. Kay Lynn Ryan had passed them on her way to Amarillo. She said they looked ready to murder each other.

When Mia’s customer left the shop, Eddie stood. “I’d better get back to the paper,” he told Cade, then nodded at Mia. “Would you ask Leanne to call me?”

“Sure, Eddie. But I wouldn’t count on her doing it. You know Leanne. You’re going to have to make the first move.”

“I just did, by asking her to call.”

Mia crossed her arms, tilted her head, scowled at the ex-football stud. “You know what she wants.”

“Maybe she needs to give some thought as to who owes who what.” He glanced at the Coots, who watched him, talking quietly. Eddie lowered his voice. “When Leanne gives
me
an explanation,
I’ll
think about returning the favor. Tell her that, too.” He headed out the door.

Mia shook her head. “Stubborn.”

Cade narrowed his gaze on her. “Like someone else I know.”

She escaped his scrutiny by turning to refill containers on the coffee bar. “What’s going on with Aggie? Can you say?”

“Probably be best if she told you since it’s personal. But don’t worry. Nobody’s hurt or anything like that.” He chuckled. “I take that back. Marcus McCoy’s probably not going to be doing any winking with his left eye for a while.”

Mia’s frown brimmed with speculation. “What does Marcus McCoy have to do with Aggie?”

“According to Marcus, not a thing. But ask Roy and you’re likely to hear a different story.”

Mia blurted a laugh. “Poor Aggie. She told me Roy’s all worked up about her new look. You’d think the man would enjoy being married to a knockout.”

“He’d rather knock out anyone who notices.” Cade handed her his cup for a re-heat then asked, “So I hear you have a houseguest.”

The muscle beneath her right eye jumped as she turned to top off his coffee. “You mean Leanne?”

He waited until she faced him again, took the cup from her hand and said, “Who else would I mean?”

Mia busied herself behind the counter pouring coffee beans into a grinder. “She and Eddie had a fight so she spent the night with me.”

“She do that a lot?”

“No, this is the first time.”

“Seems we have an outbreak of marital discord in town. Must be something in the coffee.” He shifted on the stool. “I always thought Leanne and Eddie’s marriage was solid.”

“It is.” At least, she hoped that was true. Ever since Christmas, she’d sensed unhappiness in Leanne. “The thing with those two is that, whatever they do together, they do it with gusto. Even fight.” She smiled. “This’ll pass.”

Cade sipped then said, “Rumor is, Eddie’s not too happy about all the extra hours Leanne’s putting in here at the shop.” He shrugged. “Funny, I haven’t noticed her being here any more than usual. If anything, seems like I see less of her.”

“We’ve changed up our hours some. I guess you keep missing her.” Mia seemed determined not to look at him. She kept her gaze on the bag of beans as she closed it and put it away beneath the counter. Then she turned on the grinder and wiped up the coffee she’d spilled while refilling his cup.

Another customer came in. A young woman whose name Cade couldn’t recall. She’d married the Richardson boy a couple of months ago. They’d met at college, but she was from somewhere south of Abilene.

He watched Mia fill the woman’s order. She was quick and efficient while making leisurely conversation with the customer. Cade liked that about her. Her relaxed way with people. The smile as quick as her hands. The slow, fluid cadence of her voice.

Once, just once, he’d like her all to himself. To have that smile directed at him alone, her sweet words spoken only to him. But he knew once wouldn’t be enough. It wasn’t likely to happen, anyway, now that she’d taken the law into her own hands. Eventually, he’d be forced to call her on it. He’d taken too long already, dragging out the inevitable, biding his time before really pursuing some hard evidence she couldn’t deny. If Mia had Rachel Nye, and Cade was certain she did, he knew the girl was safe, at least. Maybe he used that as an excuse to go slow. Which bothered him. Excuses weren’t his style. But he’d never dealt with a situation like this one. Until now, he’d never had his personal feelings tangled up in his work.

The young woman paid Mia, took her coffee and left the shop. Cade set down his cup. “I heard you made a trip to Amarillo on Sunday with Aggie and Leanne.”

Mia straightened the bills in the register then closed the drawer. “That’s right. We did some shopping.”

“That when you bought those panties?”

He heard a choking noise behind him and turned to see Henry spewing coffee out his nose.

“Shhh.” Mia paled. “Now you’ve done it,” she whispered. “By supper time, everyone in town will think we’ve got something going on between us.”

“In that case, maybe we should give them something to talk about, like the song says.” He grinned. “So did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Buy those panties in Amarillo?”

Mia glanced at the chuckling table of old men then propped a hand on her hip. “Is this another interrogation, Cade? If so, quit. I don’t see what my purchases have to do with anything law-related.”

He caught her hand when she reached for the sugar container. “Tell you what . . . I’ll make you a deal. I’ll stop interrogating you if you’ll have supper with me.”

She flinched, drew back as if he’d burned her. “Cade—”

“One date, that’s all.”

Glancing across at the Coots, she said in a lowered voice, “And you’ll stop stalking me, too?”