Page 37 of Blink of an Eye
"I'm not getting married. Shelley got confused. Please,please, stop with this before I find out the Dead End Senior Center folks are decorating their hall for our reception."
Mellie started laughing. "Oh, boy, do I hear you. Remember the time everybody in town decided my grandma was in a love triangle with the Peterson brothers? All because they opened up late one day to give her a piece of pipe she needed to fix her kitchen sink. She nearly got into a brawl with Mrs. Frost in church!"
I winced. Elderly Mrs. Frost was tiny, but deadly. She also carried a crossbow in her purse and had great aim.
"This is a weird town," Dallas said.
He'd only lived here for a few years. What did he know?
"Whatever, Mr. Bones of your Enemies," I told him. "Is Mellie one of your KAs?"
He blushed, just a hint of red on his dark cheeks. "I hope so."
Mellie looked confused. "What?"
I laughed. "I'll leave him to explain it. I see Lorraine driving up."
I walked outside to meet Lorraine. She parked her little Chevy sedan next to Uncle Mike's truck and sat there for a moment before opening the door. She didn't look much more rested than she had when we'd left her the night before. I went down the steps and over to meet her.
"Are you okay? Did you get any rest at all?"
She sighed. "It's hard to sleep knowing I've been accused of murdering my husband. Anyway, did you figure anything out about the ledger or the note?"
"No, we got distracted." I told her about the shooter. "But don't tell Aunt Ruby or Uncle Mike about it. They worry about me enough."
"Tess. You shouldn't keep things from them. They're your family."
"Does the irony of saying that burn? Even a little?"
She had the grace to look abashed. "I know. But those were things that happened a long time before you were born. You don't have the right to know everything in someone's past, even if they are family."
"Maybe not. But that changes when the past affects the present, don't you think?"
She had no argument for that, so we just went inside.
Aunt Ruby called out to me. "Eleanor called. Win is making a big brunch for the three of them, so they won't be over. She said she'll be at work tomorrow, though."
I turned back toward the door, under the pretext of picking up the box of donuts, and whispered to Lorraine. "Okay, just us, then. Dallas and Mellie are here, but I'll get Jack to discreetly suggest to Dallas that he take Mellie home to rest shortly after we eat, and we can have a group meeting and figure this out."
"Is Eleanor here?"
"Nope. Couldn't make it. Or so she claims."
"Hey, everybody," Jack called out from the kitchen. "Food is ready."
Breakfast was crowded and delicious and fun. We couldn't all fit around my table, so we took the enormous amount of food out back to the two picnic tables I'd reclaimed and repainted a couple of years back. Shelley sat by Dallas and started peppering him with questions about being in the Army, because this week she'd decided she wanted to be a history teacher, Army general, or astronaut.
Or, possibly, the girl who ran the Ferris wheel at carnivals all across the country. Aunt Ruby had fanned herself with a handkerchief at that one.
The rest of us chatted about nothing in particular and enjoyed enough wonderful food to feed half of Dead End. We kept conversation light and off any mention of murder, stalkers, weddings, and other awful things, although Uncle Mike still shot the occasional steely eyed glare at Jack, who just gave him a blandly innocent smile.
I groaned.
Mellie told everyone the good news about Ann when Shelley ran inside for more biscuits.
"Well, that's wonderful!" Aunt Ruby shook her head. "It's all still hard to believe."
"It gets better," Dallas said. "I heard she enrolled in a new experimental study that is trying to use shifter DNA to help people regrow limbs."
