Page 9 of You Can Leave Your Hat On

There was silence for a full minute before Aaron said, “Then why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me.”

Well, shit. How the hell does he… Oh. Carly. I’ll have to remember to thank her for that, Maisey groused internally. “You’ve talked to Carly, haven’t you?”

She turned just in time to see his face, and he wasn’t lying when he said, “No. I haven’t talked to Carly. Did you girls have a falling out or something?”

“No, no. Nothing like that.”

“Then what?”

“Who says anything happened?”

Aaron stopped, turned to lean back against the countertop, and folded his arms across his chest. “Maisey Maureen, I know you as well as anybody ever has, and I know when you’re not telling me something. And you’re not telling me something. Spill it.”

The look on his face told her there was no point in fighting it. He was right, he knew it, and he wouldn’t give in until she’d told him. “Okay, fine, but let’s get this cleaned up so we can sit down and talk, okay?”

“Okay. But I won’t forget.”

Maisey sighed. “Don’t worry. Neither will I.”

They worked along in silence, scraping the plates, putting away the leftovers, and loading the dishwasher. When they were finished, Aaron glanced over at his wife. “Glass of wine?”

“Yes, please.”I probably actually need a bottle of whiskey, she told herself. She’d for sure need one after she finished telling him. He was going to be mad. Of that she was sure.

By the time Maisey was settled on the sofa, Aaron had appeared with a glass of wine in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. Maisey took the glass, downed a big swig, and set it on the coffee table. She waited until Aaron had gotten a swallow of his beer down and set the bottle by her glass. He turned to her and asked, “What happened?”

“Just what I told Murielle. We went to the farm, then the restaurant, and then I came home.”

“Okay, but there’s a detail somewhere. What happened at the restaurant?”

Get it over with, idiot, she told herself. “It’s what happened as we were leaving the restaurant.”

“Okay.” And he said nothing else.

Maisey wanted the ground to open up. “Okay, so you know how big that hat was?”

“Yeah.”

“It was in the way, so I hung it on the hat rack in the foyer while we ate. And then when we left, I picked it up and went to get into the van. And when we got back to the hotel for me to pick up my car, I didn’t have enough hands to carry everything, so I put it on. Figured that would be easier than carrying it.”

“Okay.”

“One problem.” He waited, one eyebrow hiked up, and she felt trapped. It took her a second before she whispered, “It wasn’t my hat.”

“What do you mean, it wasn’t your hat? You took someone else’s hat?”

“It looked almost exactly like mine, but the band was a little different. It wasn’t my hat.”

Aaron just stared at her, and somewhere deep inside, Maisey heard a voice say,Wait for it… wait for it… it’s coming… “So it wasn’t your… No. Oh, no. No, no, no. Not again. Maisey, please tell me…”

“I wish I could, but I can’t.”

Aaron hopped up off the sofa and started to pace. “Maisey! Oh, my god. Seriously? A hat? You can’t go to a tea at a restaurant without bringing home bad juju?”

“I can’t help it! It was an honest mistake! The girls thought it was my hat too!”

“Did you go back and try to find the owner?” he bellowed.

“No! I didn’t want to come face-to-face with a murderer!”

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