Bite the Biscuit (A Barkery & Biscuits Mystery) by Linda O. Johnston Page B

wanted to go out with him.
    I’d wanted to come here.
    I did, however, insist on leaving the tip, and since I appreciated Gwen’s potential clue I was even more liberal in the amount than I usually am—and I’m not particularly stingy.
    “Do you want to head out of here?” Reed asked as we strolled into the lobby. There weren’t many people around now, but Neal was still behind the registration counter.
    I took Reed’s hand and headed in Neal’s direction. We passed a couple of open doors to offices, and I noticed that the Ethmans were all gathered in one of them.
    Well, not really all the Ethmans. I hadn’t thought about him earlier, but there was one missing who was actually fairly nice, or at least I thought so: Les Ethman, the City Councilman who’d come to my opening party … was it just yesterday? Too bad he wasn’t here making his family members act somewhat polite, even if their mind sets were nasty.
    Mrs. Ethman—Susan, I thought her name was, Harris’s and Elise’s mother—spotted me and glared. I simply smiled and kept going, but the event helped me decide how to respond to Reed’s question about leaving. “Not yet,” I said. “Why don’t we take a walk on the beach?”
    Although it was getting late, there were lights on near the water, I’d noticed, so it wouldn’t be too dark there. I wasn’t sure if the Ethmans would notice us, but I at least would know that I was defying them, or maybe all of them but Walt Hainner. Before we were out of view, though, Susan’s husband also saw me. His name, I believed, was Trask. His glare was similar to his wife’s.
    I was good friends with quite a few senior people: Arvie and the Nashes in particular. But these Ethman seniors were anything but buddies of mine. Aging apparently didn’t always make people grow nice and kind and civil. With some, maybe, the opposite occurred.
    I knew they saw that I’d ignored their statement that I wasn’t welcome here. To rub it in further, I spoke loudly enough for them to hear. “I think the beach outside will be a great place to walk this evening.”
    I felt Reed’s slight tug on my hand and looked at him. His grin was sideways, his expression amused. He knew what I was doing. And, sweet guy that he was, he went along with me.
    “Right,” he said, also loudly. “I really enjoy walking along the beach at this resort.”
    I laughed and used the leverage caused by our clasped hands to swing our arms as we walked out one of the lobby’s rear doors and down the concrete stairs to the beach.
    The lights illuminating the vicinity were attached to the upper areas of the building. The sand was a wide path, leading to the edge of water that sparkled under the artificial radiance. We were far from being the only people there. Some were walking. Others lay on blankets or towels on the sand, mostly fully clothed. A few hardy souls in bathing suits waded into the lake despite the coolness of the late spring evening.
    “Want to take off your shoes?” Reed asked. I looked down at my low tan heels and considered it.
    “Why not? Although I don’t want to get into the water.”
    We walked slowly along the sand, and I felt its grittiness on my soles and between my toes. We talked not about what had brought us here, but about animals we’d been treating at the clinic.
    Eventually, I said, “I’m really enjoying myself, but I think we’d better go. I have to be at my shops at five o’clock tomorrow morning.”
    “Really? Every day?” We’d stopped, and Reed looked down at me. I enjoyed the concern and amazement in his shining brown eyes.
    “Yes, at least for now, till I get things started. My assistants may help me in that way, too, soon, but I have to get into a routine with them and make sure I trust them to do everything necessary at that hour before I’ll let either or both of them get things started in the morning.”
    “You could also hire someone else,” he said.
    I nodded. “That’s another possibility