Page 41 of Tempting as Sin
Lily said, “You know what? I can fix this one.” She hurried inside, and Bailey wasn’t sure if she was supposed to go with her or leave or what. She came back, though, with her purse. “Here,” she said, holding out a card. “Use this.”
Bailey said, “Really? Cool. I could bring it back when I bring back Chuck.”
“You could,” Lily said. “Or you could hang onto it for now in case you need to go back. I’ll be honest, I thought about filling out the form for you, putting my own name down, but it’d be lying, and I hate lying. It’s not lying for you to borrow my card, though. You’re allowed to loan them. If I need to get a goat book or something, I’ll borrow it back. Just remember to return the books by the time they say, so I don’t have to pay a library fine.”
“Maybe I could get the books for you,” Bailey said. “Like, if you needed a goat book, I could find it. You have to look it up on the computer. Ms. Swan showed us when we did a field trip. I know how. I could see if they have dog books, too, so we could learn about Chuck.”
“You could be my research assistant,” Lily said. “You sure could. I’ll bet they have good stories about dogs, too. You could ask the librarian.”
“OK,” Bailey said. “I’m going there. Come on, Chuck.”
The girl took off, standing on the pedals as usual and with Chuck’s leash wrapped around her hand in a way that wasn’t one bit safe. Lily caught the flash of sunlight from the duct tape at one corner of her backpack when she reached the street, and then the two of them were gone.
She threw away the trash, brushed her teeth, thought,It’s a couple simple little things, a library card and a sandwich, not the parking lot of the Heartbreak Hotel,wondered if it were true, and decided there was no point worrying about it. Then she went back into the front of the store and asked Hailey, once she’d rung up her customer, “Do you feel like an iced coffee? I feel like an iced coffee.”
“Sure,” Hailey said. “Want me to get it?”
“No, I’ll go, unless you’d rather.”
“Go on,” Hailey said. “You’ve been restless all day. Do you want me to close tonight?”
“What? No. Of course not. I’ll close. I’ll just go…Iced caramel latte?”
“I shouldn’t,” Hailey said, which was what she always said, before she said, “But yes. Please. Can I get it this time?”
“Nope. My treat.” Lily grabbed her purse, adjusted the ruching on her dress so it was straight, and left the shop. Two women got out of a black Escalade with Washington plates and headed into the store, and Lily hesitated, then ran across the street. Five minutes.
Running—and the sandwich—reminded her that she’d been holding her stomach in hard all day, because, first, she’d decided to wear a form-fitting dress, and, second, she hadn’t wanted to make the statement to herself that a control garment would have suggested. That is, she’d been trying to look good while pretending she didn’t care about looking good, just so she could wow a certain werewolf during the five minutes that he’d spent dropping off Chuck. Unless she forgot to hold in her stomach.
Considering the milky crotch and the chicken manure, she should have worn the control garment. Go big or go home.
She headed into the café and got in line, the guy in front of her turned around and looked her over, and she considered leaving again.
Trent Maxwell. Real estate. When he and his wife had split up and she’d moved to Kalispell, Lily had lost one of her best customers. Sometimes, she wished women didn’t share quite so much when they shopped. She could have lived her whole life without knowing everything she did about Trent Maxwell.
“Hi,” the man in question said. “Fancy meeting you here. Can I buy you a drink?” He smiled. “So to speak.”
A coyote, not a wolf. Lily was an expert biologist. “No, thanks,” she said. “I’m good.”
A family of tourists was at the counter ahead of them, and the mother appeared to be asking about the sourcing of the sandwich ingredients. This could take a while. Across the street, a couple got out of their car, stretched a little stiffly in the sunshine, hesitated, then headed into Sinful Desires, and Lily shifted from one foot to the other.
“I’d like the turkey one on gluten-free bread, then,” the woman at the counter was saying. “Do you have soy-free mayonnaise?”
“Why do I still not see you nearly enough?” Trent asked. “I thought being single meant finally getting to spend quality time with the women you had to pretend you didn’t notice when you were married. Although maybe I didn’t pretend all that well.”
“And a cookie,” the woman was saying now. “Chocolate chip—no, oatmeal. I guess both. One oatmeal, and one chocolate chip. And a…what do you want, honey? A coffee, or what?”
Lily thought,Kill me now. Just kill me now.Her heels were frankly too high for work, and her feet were throbbing. Trent said, “What do you think? Wildfire, Friday night? They’ve got a new white Zinfandel that I bet you’d love. It’s a little spendy, but I’m a spendy kind of guy, and you look like a pink wine kind of girl. I promise to take care of you if you get tipsy. I’ll even promise to drive you home.”
“I’m afraid I’m busy,” Lily said. Busy not being handcuffed.Trent took escapist fiction as operating instructions, apparently. She’d have to share this one with Hailey. They’d both liked the former Mrs. Maxwell. Lily should call her, in fact. Maybe they could have coffee the next time Lily went to Kalispell. It stunk when leaving your marriage meant leaving all the pleasant little interactions from your daily life, and that would be fun. Also, the story of the spendy pink wine and the creepy ride home, plus a caramel latte, would be worth a busy ten minutes on her own to Hailey, if Lily ever got there. The woman was paying now, though. Any minute…
“Do you have another card to use?” the kid behind the register asked, the woman said, “Oh, darn it,” and Lily could have smacked her forehead.
“Come on,” Trent said. “We never did get that drink we talked about.” Thathe’dtalked about. He went on, “We could make it late, if you’re working. It’s all good. A little moonlight, a little candlelight, and a whole lot of wine? Who spoils you, Lily? You deserve it, but you always seem to be fighting it. I wish you’d let me show you how.”
He was that one step too close. His breath smelled like peppermint, and as he spoke, he touched her arm. Lightly, but she froze anyway, then pulled her arm away and stepped back. “Trent,” she told him. “Stop talking.”
She’d swear the air moved behind her. She didn’t even have to turn around to see who it was.
