Page 49 of Trouble Walked In

“Uh, right. Will do.” Bill scurried out without a backward glance.

“What was that all about?” Lizzie wondered out loud.

“Maybe you make him nervous,” Renic said. “You do have that way about you.”

She frowned at him. “What way?”

“That way that makes men want to bare their souls and bodies.” He grinned wickedly at her.

She immediately pictured him naked. The bed was invitingly close, and the house was quiet. She flushed, then tried to cover it up by clearing her throat.

“I’m going to check in with Carrie.” She left before Renic could say anything else.

She found Carrie curled up on the cushy sofa in the small lounge that looked out over the backyard. A movie played on the TV over the fireplace, but the sound was off. Carrie stared at her phone, occasionally punching the screen with her thumb. There was a half-empty bottle of wine at her elbow.

Carrie looked up when she entered the room and lowered the phone. “Finally! Where the hell have you been?”

“I told you I was taking Renic shopping to get him away from Della.” Lizzie flounced down into the chair near her friend.

Carrie stared hard at her. “You said you were going for twinkle lights. You seemed so worried about everything we still had to get done I thought for sure you’d be back by lunch. Dinner at the latest.”

“It took longer than I expected.” Lizzie looked around at the lounge. It was pristine. The books had even been dusted. “How are things here? Do I need to pick up the cake tomorrow? What about the meat delivery?”

“The bakery found another driver for the cake, and the meat made it around five, which you’d know if you checked your texts. Everything’s on schedule, so stop deflecting.” Carrie narrowed her eyes at her. “You’ve been gone for fourteen hours. I thought you’d been kidnapped. Did you have to hitchhike your way home? Was your phone broken? What did you do to Renic?”

Lizzie cleared her throat. She started to say she didn’t do anything to Renic but realized that was a flat-out lie. “I’m sorry. My phone died.”

She waved her blank phone at Carrie as proof.

Carrie looked like she wasn’t buying the excuse. “And Renic’s phone died too? He didn’t have a car charger? None of the stores had phones?”

Lizzie lowered her chin in meek submission. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I’m really sorry.” She looked up from under her eyelashes in her best puppy dog impression. “Forgive me?”

Carrie narrowed her eyes. “It depends.”

“On?”

“How much information you’re willing to spill. Come on, you’ve been out all day and most of the night, alone with thehot music guy you claim to hate. And going by the look on your face, something interesting happened. I wantallthe details.”

Lizzie glanced at the bottle of wine. “I’m going to need a full glass.”

Carrie eyed her speculatively, picked up an empty glass from the side table next to her, and handed it to Lizzie. “Thought you didn’t like wine without a meal to go with it.”

“It’s been a long day.”

Lizzie went through a mostly detailed account of the day but stopped when she got to Jacob Evans.

“Oh my God, I know him!” Carrie exclaimed. “He goes to Hobart with Carter. We heard him play at the Spring Fling last year. He was terrific. Wow. Think Renic will sign him?”

Lizzie laughed. “Renic’s probably emailing him the contract as we speak. Anyway, by the time we waited for roadside assistance to fix the tire, and sat through Jacob’s set, and then talked with him, it was really late. I’m sorry I didn’t call.”

Carrie tilted her head, thinking. “Jacob did the lunch set.”

“Uh huh.” Lizzie took a sip of wine while she waited to find out where her friend was going with the interrogation.

Carrie studied Lizzie. “It’s past ten.”

“So?”

---