Peppermint Creek Inn by Jan Springer Page B

entire empire. Cooked a heap of potatoes and made a salad and more stuff. Here see for yourself.”
    He handed her a foil-wrapped parcel. Gently she unwrapped it and gasped as a hefty sandwich emerged.
    “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble, Tom,” she said without taking her eyes off the delicious-looking creation. Her mouth began to water. She hadn’t realized she was so hungry and without further hesitation she took a big bite.
    “Mmm. Very good,” she mumbled between bites. “My compliments to the chef.”
    “You sound surprised.”
    “Actually, yes. Most men I know don’t like to cook. Woman’s work, they say.”
    “Well then, you must not have met up with the right man yet.”
    Right man? What was he insinuating?
    He continued to heap a plate full of potato salad, bean salad, her homemade peppermint-pickled carrots and beets, acting as if he hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary. He’d called her pretty, and now he said she hadn’t met the right man yet? Maybe she was just reading too much into his words.
    He wouldn’t be interested in her. She was a widow living alone in the middle of nowhere, dressed like a scarecrow and not even wearing a touch of makeup. It was just her overactive hormones, she reasoned to herself or merely wishful thinking.
    He offered her a heaping plate of preserves and salad.
    Sara shook her head, gesturing her hand at him to take it away. “Oh, no. I couldn’t eat that much.”
    But her taste buds were already into overdrive. She was practically drooling.
    “Come on, take it. My beautiful scarecrow needs to put some meat on her bones. Besides whatever you don’t eat, we’ll feed to the ants.”
    His green eyes shone with encouragement and suddenly she began to feel better. Much better. She accepted the plate and chuckled. “We’re going to have some mighty big ants running around here then.”
    He poured two glasses of ice-cold ginger ale and handed her one then held his glass up in the air. “To good food, good ale, excellent company and a fine ole day. Cheers!”
    Sara couldn’t help but laugh as the glasses clinked together.
    “ Bon appétit !” she mumbled between hearty mouthfuls.
    They ate with occasional bursts of hearty chatter. Talking of nothing in particular until almost the entire assortment of food had been devoured.
    Then she remembered her phone calls last night.
    “I forgot to tell you that the phone was working for awhile last night so I tried to get a hold of Garry. He doesn’t own a cell and I couldn’t get him at his place so I called a good friend of his at the New York Police Department—”
    Tom’s mouth dropped open in surprise and he visibly paled. The easygoing innocent look flew from his green eyes and was replaced by a look of open distrust.
    “You turned me in?”
    “No! God, no!” Sara jolted with unease at the idea he’d think she’d betrayed him. “I never mentioned you. I only asked that Garry call me right away. And that it was urgent.”
    “Shit! You left a message with the New York police?”
    “Really, you don’t have to worry. His friend is very reliable. He used to be a lawyer, he worked with Garry and I didn’t even mention you.”
    Tom shook his head and the tiniest bit of a smile flittered across his lips. “I’m sorry, I freaked. I really do trust you. Please, tell me what he said.”
    “I just told him I needed to talk to Garry about some family business and if he knew where in Florida Garry and his brother had gone fishing for their vacation. Every year the two of them take a couple of weeks off and do the fishing thing. Anyway, he said Garry was working on a very important personal case that had suddenly come up and he’d forward my message to him.”
    “How about your sister? Did you get a hold of her?”
    “Well, actually the phone went dead again while I was dialing her number so I couldn’t talk to her. It was still dead this morning when I checked. If it’s the main line into