Page 18 of Fiona and the Fixer

Was it a deli?

A cartoon pickle that looked blatantly phallic was to the left of the name on the sign. I’d seen that pervy pickle before, on the t-shirt worn by the guy who’d robbed Pops’ convenience store. It had to be a popular place if it was right downtown and sold t-shirts. It also meant the guy who now had first degree burns on his face and arms was probably local. Although, Pops didn’t recognize him. Maybe it was a chain. But thePickle Hole?All I could picture was a group of men with small penises sitting around a conference table and overcompensating as they came up with the name.

They must’ve unloaded all the pickles for the daybecause the interior lights went off and they climbed into the van and drove off.

I continued my run. Not even a block down, I found Hannah’s bookstore nestled between a baby boutique with fancy, tiny clothes that would only be worn for a few months before they’d be outgrown, and a sports store that had an ice climbing display in the window.

Happily Ever After Books had a cheery and very girly pink exterior. I stopped in front of it to catch my breath. The window display was all fall themed with orange and yellow paper leaves hanging from string. Bales of hay–what was it with them in this town?–were stacked with paperback books artfully arranged on top with a sign that said “Fall in Love with a Book.” While the display was lit, the rest of the store was dark. Putting my hands up to the glass and peeking between them, I could make out rows and rows of books with a few comfortable reading chairs tucked here and there. It looked… inviting.

I’d stop back later and meet Hannah. Maybe even get a book. Because if the guys in this town ran stores called the Pickle Hole, I had a feeling the only place I was going to find good sex around here was in a spicy romance novel.

8

DAX

I wokefrom a dream that I was suffocating, that I was being subjected to the medieval torture of a heavy stone placed on my chest. It had some fancy French words for it, but my dream didn’t know them. Only that I couldn’t breathe.

My eyes popped open in panic, then realized it was Pancake sitting on my chest.

“Fuck,” I muttered, gently shoving the stupid cat to the side. “You need a diet,” I mumbled, as I heard a knock on the door.

Glancing at the bedside clock, I saw that it was seven-twenty. So much for sleeping late.

Pancake eyed me, his tail sliding back and forth across the comforter.

“Who could that be?” I asked, although I wasn’t going to get an answer from him.

Pushing up, I realized I never made it under the covers, nor out of my clothes the night before.

Rubbing my hair, I opened the door and found on the stoop an older woman who immediately began to eye me up and down.

“Well, they grow them big in Denver,” she said.

Gray hair cut in a neat style. White blouse. Jeans. A ruffly kind of decorative scarf around her neck. She was stylish and put together, but not fancy. Idling on the street behind her was a small sized SUV. Just as clean and tidy as she was. Behind the wheel was a similarly aged man with similarly gray hair.

The only threat right now was my morning breath.

“I ate a lot of spinach as a kid,” I replied.

“Does a bodyverygood,” she commented, a wry smile twisting her lips. Her compliment was more teasing than pervy. “I’m Mrs. Metcalf. I worked with Hannah at the library and I’m a part-timer at HEA.”

HEA.HEA.What the hell was HEA?

I scratched my head. “That’s nice. Hi. Um… I’m Dax, Jack’s friend.” It was early, but I still knew my manners.

She nodded. “Yes, I know all about you.”

I arched a brow, unsure of exactly what she knew. Obviously, she knew Jack. But had he shared his former career before he settled into hitman retirement?

“I’ve got a problem,” she admitted.

“I can probably fix it.” It was my job, after all. I doubted that she needed a body dumped or some charges dropped though. Or money collected because she was a loan shark for the senior crowd.

“Yes, Hannah said you liked to fix things.”

Ah. The truth, but without context it made me sound like a handyman. Shit, hopefully she didn’t want me to fix her garbage disposal or something.

“Elise is having an appendectomy.”

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