Page 660 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Come on Syd, you can’t come here and not get the buttermilk pie.”

The waitress returned. “That’s right,” she said, placing the pieces of pie in front of them. “We’re famous for our buttermilk pie.”

Sydney took a bite and let it slip like velvet on her tongue. She had to admit that it was delicious. She looked up to see Sean studying her reaction.

“See, I told you.”

“I only wish the company was as good as the pie.”

His hearty laughter broke the tension, and she found herself laughing too.

“So why did you take me to dinner?”

“If you’ll remember, I tried to take you after the football game, but you turned me down. I figured if I told you my intentions tonight, you wouldn’t come with me.”

“You’re right.”

He chuckled.

She studied his eyes, her face a question, letting him know he wasn’t going to get off that easily. “Well?”

He grew serious. “We’ve all been under so much stress with the OSHA inspection. You looked so keyed up this afternoon that I figured you could use a little r & r.” He leaned back in his seat. “Right?”

She followed suit and leaned back in her chair. “Yeah, it has been stressful lately. I’m just glad the inspection’s over with. Maybe now I can get to some of the things I’ve been keeping on the back burner.”

He took the last bite of his pie. “Speaking of which, how’s that report of yours coming along? The one establishing the ten-year accident trend.”

She couldn’t answer right away because she was too busy choking on a bite of pie. She should have known he would ask her about that. The man had a memory like an elephant.He knows…he knows the accident report was a ruse to find out what happened to Avery. But how? How could he know?She fought to keep her voice even. “I haven’t really pursued that any further. I mean—it’s just that I’ve had too much to do.”

“I see.”

Their eyes met, hers fire and his ice.What do you see?She wanted to scream.Tell me what you see!

“How’s Kendall?”

“Fine.”

Sean took his straw and twirled the ice in his glass before lifting it to his lips. The liquid swirled into a tornado. He gulped it down. “I figure he’s hoping to make it to state playoffs this year.”

She was still mulling over the accident reports. Her reply was automatic. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, from what I hear around town, it’s in his best interest to win state. He’s come close a few times—but no prize. In a town like Stoney Creek, winning guarantees job security.”

This caught her full attention. “Is that right? I wouldn’t worry too much about Kendall if I were you.” She thought she saw his jaw muscle work but couldn’t be sure.

“Believe me, it’s not Kendall I’m worried about.”

“Then who?” She changed the subject before he could respond. “Back to your comment about football. What makes you the expert? You know, it’s awfully easy to sit back and take cheap shots at Kendall when you don’t know the first thing about it.”

He laughed. “Do you think Lover Boy’s the only one who played football? It just so happens that I was the starting quarterback for my high school football team.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? Where did you say you went to high school?”

“Huh?”

“High School?”

“Oh, McCullough High.”

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