Page 27 of Say Yes to the Hot Mess

“Yeah, but when we were kids—” I stop and shake my head. “You know what, never mind. I was actually just wondering if you had her chocolate chip cookie recipe lying around anywhere.”

Jude, for all his womanizing ways, is a whiz in the kitchen. If anyone has Fae’s cookie recipe, it will be him.

“I…might?” he says slowly. “I can check when I get home. I’m out right now though.” He pauses, then says, “What brought this on?”

“My new neighbor brought me cookies,” I say. “They’re…” I trail off, not wanting to insult Maya’s genuine efforts. “They’re not like Nanny Fae’s” is what I finally decide on.

“New neighbor, huh?” Jude says, laughing. “You’ve got a little old lady wrapped around your finger already?”

I laugh, too. “She’s actually younger. Like, younger than me.”

“Huh,” Jude says, sounding interested now. “She hot?”

“Jude,” I say warningly.

“What?” he says, sounding far too innocent. “It’s just a question.”

“Meh,” I say.

Silence falls between us, and then Jude says, “Well? Is she?”

I scrub one hand over my face, avoiding my glasses. “I—she—” I break off, sighing. “Yeah,” I finally admit. “Totally gorgeous.”

“Look at you, man,” he says with another laugh. “Charming the girl next door.”

I give a snort of laughter. “Hardly. She can’t stand me, actually. That’s sort of what the cookies were for.”

“What, she was trying to poison you or something?”

I look suspiciously at the cookies before saying, “No, she just wanted to start over. She offered to be my date for Corbin’s wedding.”

“And…you said yes, right?”

I don’t answer.

“Right?” Jude says, more insistently this time.

“Of course not,” I finally say, rolling my eyes.

“She’s gorgeous and she brought you cookies. Where’s your holdup?” Jude says.

“We can’t all just jump in with any woman that comes along,” I say, starting to get annoyed. “You know, ever since—”

“Don’t.” His voice is suddenly quiet but firm, and though Jude is rarely serious, right now there’s not a hint of laughter or joking.

“Sorry,” I say grudgingly. I’m pretty sure he’s still in love with his ex-fiancée, but no way am I going to voice that suspicion out loud. “Well, if you find that recipe, send it my way?”

“Sure,” he says, sounding more normal now. “I gotta go, though. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later,” I echo. I get the feeling he doesn’t actually need to go, but I don’t push it. I want to head up to the community center anyway; it’s Saturday, but I have some flyers I’d like to post, and I should talk to some of the community members too. I have no idea how to go about hunting down our black market perpetrator, but I figure returning to the scene of the crime, as it were, is probably a good place to start.

So I grab the small stack of papers I printed out yesterday, glancing at the one on top to make sure they look okay. They’re not particularly pretty, but that’s not the point anyway—instead each flyer just warns people to be wary of anyone trying to sell them unauthorized, unprescribed medication. I also have my direct office line listed so that anyone with information can call and talk to me about it. I feel a little like I’m asking the seniors here to narc on each other, but…well, that basicallyiswhat I’m doing.

I don’t regret it. I do not need anyone dying on my watch because of something that happened in the building I have authority over.

It’s a short drive to the community center. The one-story building is all light brick and warm tones—an attempt to be an inviting space for people to spend time, which I know was the point. It’s not a huge place, but it’s certainly bigger than your standard neighborhood clubhouse, and much, much nicer. Although Sunset Horizons is technically only one subdivision, it’s a big one, with numerous branches and side streets that allow for higher occupancy. I wondered when I first interviewed for this position if the community center wasn’t overkill, but once I checked out the rest of the neighborhood, I realized it was a good fit.

The parking lot is relatively empty when I pull in, but that’s not surprising; though we do have our fair share of residents in their fifties and sixties, much of the population here is older and prefers not to drive. The community shuttle makes stops here three times every Saturday; my guess is it’s probably pretty busy inside.

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