Page 206 of Love Bites

CHAPTER8

Fifteen minutes later, after dropping Doc off at his car (aka my parking spot), I walked into Calamity Jane’s, my mind preoccupied with Jeff and the clothes. I stopped by the bathroom to wash the garbage smell off my hands, then headed for my desk. Mona greeted me with a big smile and a huge bouquet of daisies.

I didn’t bother sniffing them. Daisies don’t have the sweet scent of roses or the vanilla aroma of heliotrope. However, their happy yellow faces and white manes always make me feel like lounging in a field of grass under a cobalt sky. I must have been a cow in a past life.

“Are these from you?” I couldn’t think of anything I’d done for Mona lately that would spur her to shower me with flowers.

“No. The florist delivered them a little while ago.” She handed me a tiny purple envelope. “This came with them.”

Tearing open the flap, I pulled out a small card with a cupid on it and read aloud:

Roses are red.

Violet is new.

I walk by your window,

Here’s looking at you.

“Wow.” Mona’s chair creaked as she sat down. “That’s kind of weird. Who’s it from?”

“It doesn’t say.”

I read it again under my breath, and then stared out the blind-free front windows.

Were the flowers from Doc? He must have walked by the office many times, and Addy had told him that daisies were my favorite. However, that was just this afternoon, and I’d been with him until two minutes ago. Maybe he’d phoned them in.

Grabbing a vase from under the bathroom sink, I filled it with cold water. Creepy card or not, they were still daisies.

I set the flowers on the bookcase over by the coffee maker instead of on my desk, which didn’t have much available surface area.

When I dropped into my chair, I noticed a white envelope with my name scrawled on it tucked partway under my keyboard. I recognized Jane’s handwriting and tore the envelope open. A signed check from Wolfgang and a Post-It note with his cell phone number was inside. He must have stopped by while I was out.

I tucked the check into my wallet. I’d cash it and pass the money to Natalie later when we met at the Hessler Haunt, as she liked to call it.

“How’s it going with our next-door neighbor?” Mona asked. “Any bites yet?”

“Barely a nibble.” Mostly a bunch of sniffing.

“Well, your luck has turned,” Mona said. “I have a gem that just landed in my lap.”

“Is it in Deadwood?”

“A couple of blocks away from your Aunt Zoe’s.”

“Price?”

Mona rattled off a number that made me sigh. It was fifty thousand more than what Doc wanted to spend. “Think they’ll come down any?”

“Maybe five grand. It’s in great shape and located in a primo neighborhood.”

It sounded perfect, except for the extra fifty thousand bucks. “It’s too expensive.”

“You could still bring him by.”

I could tell by the pinch of Mona’s lips that she wasn’t going to give up easily. “How about Sunday afternoon?”

Mona shook her head. “I won’t have it ready for showing yet. If this is above his max, you need to wait until I have it all polished and shiny. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

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