Killer Cousins by June Shaw Page B

the man a chance. Check out his buns. He might be really hot.
    But then I was tugging at my clothes like they were uncomfortable and determined I was considering myself and Gil. Yes, he was really hot. And I’d often checked out his buns. Very nice.
    And I was confused and angry about my thoughts. I used to believe that by the time a woman reached a certain age, she would be done with indecision. I found that not true, at least for me. I wanted Gil.
    But didn’t want commitment right now.
    A woman behind me giggled.
    “I’m sorry,” she said as I turned. She was maybe forty, with a man probably her husband, pushing a buggy. “You just looked so funny. Nodding real hard. Then shaking your head like you were telling somebody no.”
    I stared at her.
    “Oh, I’m really sorry,” she said and rushed her mate toward a checkout farther from me. She lowered her voice, but I heard what she said. “That poor woman. Probably has a tic, and I had to go and point out how she kept shaking her head.”
    “See? I told you you talk too much,” her mate warned her.
    I stood in the first line, making certain I didn’t move my head or allow another single thought of Gil to enter it.

Chapter 9
    I drove to Stevie’s house, deciding I wouldn’t become a matchmaker with Babs and Jake. Even though at first they seemed a good match, I wasn’t sure now. I wasn’t sure if I really thought they’d go well together, or if I’d wanted an excuse to keep going to Cajun Delights. Now my mind was made up. I was keeping my nose far away from their business. And Gil’s restaurant.
    With my purse on my shoulder, I hauled my filled bags toward the kitchen. Noise from the rear section of the house stopped me. Voices.
    I set my bags on the floor. Who was in the house? What should I do?
    Before I could get too frightened, one voice spoke louder. Stevie’s. I hadn’t thought she’d be home. “So that’ll be fine,” she said.
    “Are you sure?” The second speaker was April, I could tell once I carried my bags into the kitchen. Stevie was speaking on the phone with her. I couldn’t hear every word April said but could hear her loud voice.
    I gave Stevie a sarcastic smile. Why had she left me? Where had she gone? Why had she made me believe she was leaving me all alone today?
    She frowned at the bags I set on the table. “I’m sure. See you later.” She hung up and stared at me.
    “I thought you’d be gone all day,” I said, somewhat dejectedly.
    “To mass?”
    I noticed her clothes. A little nicer than the loose long dresses she wore to school. Her shapeless outfit looked less like nightclothes and more like something she’d wear during the day. “I didn’t realize you had mass today.”
    “I didn’t ask you since you were never a churchgoer.”
    “I was when I was young.”
    “Your momma made you go then. That was a long time ago.”
    Was she purposely stressing my age? As if I wasn’t months younger than she? Or did she think I looked older than she did now?
    “You didn’t need to buy groceries. I have food.”
    Yes, and it’s rich enough to make me double my size.
    “Most of what I bought isn’t to eat.” I pulled out smoke detectors. “I didn’t see many of these.”
    She grimaced. “I’m going to change clothes.” She stomped out of the room.
    I removed everything from the bags, angrier by the minute. Leaving it all on the table, I marched over to Minnie. “Do you see what she’s like? My cousin is so frustrating!”
    “Like you aren’t?” Stevie was back in the room.
    “You were going to change,” I said, like she was the one who’d been caught doing the wrong thing.
    “I changed my mind. We might go out to eat today.” She came across the kitchen so quickly she might have been much younger. “You know what? You think I’m stupid for having candles and stones and chimes. But guess what? I am not the woman in this family who thinks a cactus is a person.” She poked her finger at Minnie.
    “I know