side window. “Where’s the fire?”
“Fire? There isn’t any fire. My dear sweet sister drives like this all the time. Unless one of Jake’s is in the car. Then she drives like a tortoise,” Leona said with a groan as she closed her eyes and leaned against the vinyl backseat, her now red fingernails waving back and forth in front of her face.
“I’m surprised to see you, Leona. I didn’t know—”
“Get in Victoria, time’s a wastin’.” Margaret Louise reached across, unlocked Tori’s door, and then patted the empty passenger seat with her hand. “Leona just told me!”
“Told you what?” Tori yanked open the car door and stepped inside, her hand barely reaching for the handle before Margaret Louise pressed down on the gas pedal. “Whoa! What’s the rush?”
“We’ve got a stop to make before we head out to Gabe’s place.” The woman’s short, pudgy hand turned the steering wheel sharply to the left, her maneuver barely clearing the line of massive moss trees that were as much a staple of the property as the library itself.
Dropping her notebook onto her lap, Tori reached over her right shoulder and pulled the seat belt forward, locking it into place.
“Smart girl,” muttered Leona from the backseat. “I bet you hadn’t entertained the idea of an untimely death when you left for work this morning.”
She considered refuting her friend’s weary words but opted to remain quiet. Talk of Colby and his fate would come soon enough. Ignoring Leona’s continued mutterings, she cast a sidelong glance at Margaret Louise, the woman’s face-splitting smile impossible to ignore.
“Where are we stopping?” she asked, the fingernails of her right hand digging into the gap between the window and the door as Margaret Louise peeled out of the parking lot and headed west.
Looking up into the rearview mirror as they sped along, Margaret Louise giggled with glee. “A little birdie informed me that we have a bride-to-be in our midst. And it’s only proper that we stop by to offer our congratulations, don’t you agree?”
Ahhh, yes, it made perfect sense now. Leona had finally tracked her sister down with the juiciest gossip to hit Sweet Briar since Colby blew the town’s claim to fame right out of the water.
“So Leona told you?”
“Sure as day . . . didn’t ya, Twin?” Looking into the rearview mirror once again, Margaret Louise winked at her sibling. “I have to say it was a surprise but sooner or later her fictitious man had to propose. Though it’s goin’ to be much harder for her to explain away his continued absence now.”
“Perhaps she can hire a stand-in from time to time,” quipped Leona in a voice that suggested her excitement hadn’t waned much since hearing the news herself earlier that morning. “There are places like that . . . not that I’d have any reason to know, of course.”
Tori shook her head as she looked over her shoulder. “You two just don’t quit, do you? Why do you think Billy isn’t real?”
“Billy? You know his name?” Margaret Louise pinned Tori with an amused stare as she blew through a four-way stop and turned north, her foot pressing more firmly on the gas pedal as they sped along. “It took years before she finally gave us a name. Before that it had always just been her man or her gentleman. Remember that, Twin?”
“I do, indeed. When I moved here nearly six years ago she was still being mum on his name. She’d say she didn’t want to take a chance that sharing particulars might disturb the relationship.” Leona leaned forward and rested her right forearm on Tori’s seatback. “I think it took me all of about ten minutes to realize she was the one who was disturbed.”
Tori glanced down at the black and white marbled notebook in her lap, recalled the list of potential suspects and motives she’d crafted in lieu of doing the work she should have been doing around the library. “If you both dislike her so much, why on earth are we
“Fire? There isn’t any fire. My dear sweet sister drives like this all the time. Unless one of Jake’s is in the car. Then she drives like a tortoise,” Leona said with a groan as she closed her eyes and leaned against the vinyl backseat, her now red fingernails waving back and forth in front of her face.
“I’m surprised to see you, Leona. I didn’t know—”
“Get in Victoria, time’s a wastin’.” Margaret Louise reached across, unlocked Tori’s door, and then patted the empty passenger seat with her hand. “Leona just told me!”
“Told you what?” Tori yanked open the car door and stepped inside, her hand barely reaching for the handle before Margaret Louise pressed down on the gas pedal. “Whoa! What’s the rush?”
“We’ve got a stop to make before we head out to Gabe’s place.” The woman’s short, pudgy hand turned the steering wheel sharply to the left, her maneuver barely clearing the line of massive moss trees that were as much a staple of the property as the library itself.
Dropping her notebook onto her lap, Tori reached over her right shoulder and pulled the seat belt forward, locking it into place.
“Smart girl,” muttered Leona from the backseat. “I bet you hadn’t entertained the idea of an untimely death when you left for work this morning.”
She considered refuting her friend’s weary words but opted to remain quiet. Talk of Colby and his fate would come soon enough. Ignoring Leona’s continued mutterings, she cast a sidelong glance at Margaret Louise, the woman’s face-splitting smile impossible to ignore.
“Where are we stopping?” she asked, the fingernails of her right hand digging into the gap between the window and the door as Margaret Louise peeled out of the parking lot and headed west.
Looking up into the rearview mirror as they sped along, Margaret Louise giggled with glee. “A little birdie informed me that we have a bride-to-be in our midst. And it’s only proper that we stop by to offer our congratulations, don’t you agree?”
Ahhh, yes, it made perfect sense now. Leona had finally tracked her sister down with the juiciest gossip to hit Sweet Briar since Colby blew the town’s claim to fame right out of the water.
“So Leona told you?”
“Sure as day . . . didn’t ya, Twin?” Looking into the rearview mirror once again, Margaret Louise winked at her sibling. “I have to say it was a surprise but sooner or later her fictitious man had to propose. Though it’s goin’ to be much harder for her to explain away his continued absence now.”
“Perhaps she can hire a stand-in from time to time,” quipped Leona in a voice that suggested her excitement hadn’t waned much since hearing the news herself earlier that morning. “There are places like that . . . not that I’d have any reason to know, of course.”
Tori shook her head as she looked over her shoulder. “You two just don’t quit, do you? Why do you think Billy isn’t real?”
“Billy? You know his name?” Margaret Louise pinned Tori with an amused stare as she blew through a four-way stop and turned north, her foot pressing more firmly on the gas pedal as they sped along. “It took years before she finally gave us a name. Before that it had always just been her man or her gentleman. Remember that, Twin?”
“I do, indeed. When I moved here nearly six years ago she was still being mum on his name. She’d say she didn’t want to take a chance that sharing particulars might disturb the relationship.” Leona leaned forward and rested her right forearm on Tori’s seatback. “I think it took me all of about ten minutes to realize she was the one who was disturbed.”
Tori glanced down at the black and white marbled notebook in her lap, recalled the list of potential suspects and motives she’d crafted in lieu of doing the work she should have been doing around the library. “If you both dislike her so much, why on earth are we
Similar Books
