Page 60 of Vows of Murder

A small scream slipped from my lips before I realized it was Josh Thomas. “You almost gave me aheart attack.”

“Sorry, we’ve been waiting for you. Get in.” He held his arm out.

“Did we have an appointment today?” I asked. Josh was an odd duck, but he’d been getting less odd since he got married. Maybe he’d left me a message that I’d missed. “Is this about the Winter Wonderland Festival next weekend? I told Darla to just bill us for our share of the costs. With the wedding, I couldn’t commit any time to the project.”

“It’s not about the festival. Get in.” He waved me into the truck. I looked inside and saw Kyle, Josh’s store assistant.

“Hey, Miss Gardner, I mean, Mrs. King. Congrats, by the way.” Kyle started up the truck. “Climb in.”

“Don’t tell me that Greg asked you to drive me home.” Now I was annoyed. Greg was going to get a call from me when I got home. First, he’d chaperoned me to work, then called Deek, and now this?

“Kind of. I stopped by your house yesterday afternoon, but you were gone. So when I saw Greg this morning, he said to pick you up right after your shift. Should I have come inside the shop to gather you?” Josh held his hand out and helped me up into the front of the truck. “I thought this would be more efficient.”

“Why were you at my house yesterday?” NowI was curious.

Josh and Kyle exchanged a look. Neither one of them answered my question.

“Why are the two of you grinning like that?” Had the world gone crazy?

Josh leaned out the window. “You’ll find out soon enough. It’s a pretty day for January, isn’t it?”

“Josh Thomas, you owe me.” I didn’t want to get into specifics in front of Kyle, buthe did owe me.

Josh ignored my threat.

“I should back the truck in, right?” Kyle asked Josh as we approached my house. My Jeep was the only vehiclein my driveway.

“That will work.” After Kyle parked, the men jumped out and opened the back door. I walked over to see what they were looking at. The bedroom set Amanda and I had seen at the antique store was in the back, along with a new mattress set.

“What is going on? Did Greg buy this?” The bed was beautiful and reminded me of the furnitureat the Castle.

Josh handed me an envelope. “Not Greg. He came over and approved it, but someone else bought the set. We would have had it set up Saturday night, but we had a delay on the mattress delivery. I thought you’d want all of it together. Can you open the door and move Emma to the backyard so we can get this set up? I told Mandywe’d be fast.”

“Give me a second.” I wasn’t sure my bedroom was ready for visitors. I hurried and unlocked the door and sent Emma outside. Then I grabbed a basket and cleared out the drawers in the nightstands and anything sitting on the surfaces and put it in my closet. Then I grabbed another basket and emptied the clothes from the dresser.

We had another bedroom to put the extra furniture in, but it was filled with boxes. I ran over there as I heard someone coming upstairs. Maybe we could squeeze in the furniture. I swung open the door to find the room totally cleared of boxes and junk. “What the heck?”

“Surprise,” a voice saidfrom behind me.

I turned with my hands up in a defensive boxing stance. When I saw it was Greg, I let my hands fall. “Whathappened here?”

“Mom bought us that bedroom set you loved, so I cleaned out this bedroom to make room for the old stuff.” He studied me. “You’re okay with that, right?”

“I’m over the moon. It’s just a shock.” I hugged him.

“Well, tell Toby, Josh, and Kyle to get up here and we’ll move out all the furniture. Then we’ll bring up the new, or old, stuff.” He glanced inside our bedroom. “Do we need to clean up anything?”

“No, I already cleared out the dressers and nightstands. I can’t believe you set all this up without me knowing.” I kissed him before headingfor the stairs.

“I’m glad to know I can still surprise you with some things,” he called after me.

As the furniture got moved and the new bedroom set up, I had a few minutes to read Amanda’s note. I took it to the back porch so I could watch Emma as she supervised the activityby the fences.

Dear Jill,

I’d address this to you and Greg, but he’s already in on the secret, so I guess this is your gift. I saw how much you loved the bedroom set so I hope I didn’t overstep. And if I did, Josh Thomas has told me he will take the furniture back and give you a credit in his store. Minus the mattress set. I hope you like it. If not, the mattress store has a 30-day return policy too. I’ve enclosedthe paperwork.

I’ve also enclosed a letter that I found in my purse a few days ago when you brought it back from the mission. It’s from Sherry to Greg. I haven’t read it. I didn’t know the letter was in there. I should have realized that she didn’t come to Nebraska just to visit me one last time. I feel like those women who are used to carry drugs through customs. An emotional mule, right?

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