Page 27 of Fortune's Control
“His decision to place his furniture for sale was a bit of serendipity, wasn’t it?” he asked.
She flashed me a curious glance. “It was indeed.”
I cleared my throat.
Pete noticed and ignored it. “We all owe you our thanks.”
“For what?” Lilah asked.
“Well, the whole town heard what happened at the Gator Tale. Diane said you two made eyes at each other all night. You brought him out of hiding, and we worried that might never happen. It’s been a tough year, and it turns out all he needed was you.”
My eyes blazed a warning. “I have a few smaller items ready to go. Can I drop them by in the morning?”
“Sounds wonderful. You both enjoy your meal.”
“What furniture for sale?” Lilah asked once we were alone. She crooked her neck. “Those pretty chairs. Did youmake those?”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. You’re an artisan, Shane. You will show me more tomorrow.”
I chuckled at her order. “Yes, m’am.”
Lilah’s voice lowered as she leaned in. “It’s not my business, so I’ll respect it if you refuse to answer.” I tensed, already knowing the question. “May I ask what happened a year ago? Your friend is the second person to reference that.”
Who was the first?
“I joined the Marines to see the world. I came home, which meant adjusting to civilian life. With my parents and sister gone, it was…different.”
She covered my hand with her own. Her soft touch left sparks behind. I flipped my palm and laced our fingers together, knowing half the restaurant patrons still watched us.
“We need to talk about Pirate.”
Her sudden change of topic confused me. “The cat? What’s wrong with her? Wait, you want another one already?” I asked.
Lilah covered her mouth to suppress her laughter. “No, not that. She refuses to come indoors, right?” I nodded. “We’ll keep working on that. Here is an important question. What does every pirate need?”
I knew instantly. “Every pirate needs a ship. You want me to make her a ship?”
“Could you?”
“Cats don’t like water.”
“No, they don’t, but that’s not the point.” Her shoulders shook. “A sleeping nook.”
“She’d better enjoy it,” I grumbled.
“Pirate already loves it.”
“Pirate is a cat. She doesn’t care.”
“Ours does. She’s special.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “I’ll make it for you.”
“So, I decided to start my job search tomorrow,” Lilah announced right after our food arrived.
“Why? We haven’t found your grandmother, and we still have the last batch of newspapers to review. Then we can move through our list of suspects.”
