Page 36 of Death By Llama
I strode over with a smile plastered on my face.“Hi, sorry to interrupt but my mother is ready to go to lunch, Oliver.”I gave a shrug to the woman.“She gets hangry if she doesn’t eat at noon on the dot.”
“Right.Sure.”She nodded, absently.“Hey, aren’t you?—
“Great to meet you, bye!”I grabbed Oliver by the arm and we headed toward the door.On the off chance this woman did recognize me from my short-lived mystery show, I didn’t want to get trapped in conversation with her.
Not that I was opposed to having a fan.We all want fans.But Oliver looked like he’d had enough and I was very distracted by the fact that Nick was clearly cheating on the brunette we’d seen him with last night.
My mother pointed to the door like she was ordering two naughty children to their room.“Outside, you two.We’re meeting the boys for lunch.”
“Who are the boys?”Oliver asked.“Do Navy ships dock in port here?”
One, he sounded far more eager than he should if that were the case.
Two, my mother was not in the mood.
That earned him an arched eyebrow.She dug in her purse, spritzed herself with hand sanitizer like it was Chanel No.5, and muttered, “I need a drink.”
“I think she’s having a hard time adjusting to the time zone change,” Oliver said.
I looped my arm through his.“She’s having a hard time adjusting tome.”
We were walking past the alley where I had seen Nick and Ashley.A glance in that direction showed Ashley was nowhere to be found.Nick was leaning against the brick wall smoking a cigar and wearing that same smug expression.I half-expected him to twirl his mustache.
Worried about Ashley’s well-being, I was about to confront him when I heard Ashley as she popped out of a door that led into a restaurant, heading directly toward Nick.“How soon until we’re back in Boston?I feel like there are constantly eyes on us here.”
That made me walk a little faster so we were out of view.
Was she worried about being seen with Nick?Or something more sinister?
TEN
“How wasyour afternoon in Bar Harbor?”Brandy asked from behind the bar as soon as I walked into Steamy’s.
Mostly annoying thanks to my mother.But I decided to focus on the news that wasn’t about me and my impending spinsterhood.
“It was interesting.”
Brandy gave me an inquiring look, her eyebrows raised as she finished filling a tumbler with soda.
“Did you go to Cool as a Moose?”Dave asked as he passed me with the tray of drinks.
I frowned in confusion.“What?”
“Did you go to Cool as a Moose?You know, the store with the cool moose logo making a peace sign.”With his free hand, he stuck up two fingers, apparently in case I didn’t know what the peace sign was.
“Um, no.We didn’t go there.”Clearly he didn’t know my mother.Moose, peace signs, and Lea Bieber did not mix.
“Bummer.I love that place.”He continued on to a table with a family of four seated around it.
I blinked after him, then turned back to Brandy.Dave definitely marched to the beat of his own drum.
“You said it was interesting?”she asked.
“Definitely.I saw Nick—you know, Saint Nick—in Bar Harbor with none other than Ashley.”
I waited expectantly for her reaction, but she only gave me a blank look.
“You know, Ashley,” I clarified.“The co-owner ofOpulent Occasions.”
