Page 28 of Rest In Pink

Then I had another thought.

“Where’s Peri?” I said, sharply.

“I tied her to a tree out by the pool,” Anemone said, just as sharply.

“Double knotted?” Vince asked her, and I kicked him under the table. “Well, that kid is tricky,” he said to me.

“Her cousin Alex Wilcox is with her,” George said. “And his girlfriend, Sun Lum. They’re watching Disney movies.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” my mother said, staying in character as the Good Mom.

Alex and Sun were good kids, although they’d probably teach Peri something fascinating and illegal that she’d use on us later. They were ‘good’ for a particular subset of good. But they’d watch out for her, so I stopped worrying until I looked past my parents.

Honey O’Toole was staring at us. Well, at Anemone probably. I could see where Honey would see Anemone as the enemy. Famous, beautiful, rich, and wrapped around Honey’s ex-husband who was supposed to be gazing at Honey with longing over his loss fifteen years before and instead hadn’t noticed she was there yet. And also nabbing her cook.

Honey started to slither over, and I began to hope she’d try something so I could watch Anemone kneecap her—I was having an aggressive evening—when the door opened again, and Cash walked in. He was still dressed in black—trousers, shirt, tie and jacket—something he’d been doing ever since the funeral, really working the widower thing. Lavender would have kicked his ass for wearing all black, she’d had her faults, but she had excellent taste. He did look great in it with his thick dark hair and chiseled cheekbones. Any woman in the place who didn’t know what a rat he was would probably swoon for him.

Cash came to a halt five feet inside the door and scanned the room. His eyes fixed on me for a moment, flickered to Anemone, then back to me.

“And who is that?” Anemone said to me.

“That is Cash Porter,” I said, with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

Anemone studied him judiciously. “I forgive you for taking a piece of that when you were young and naive.”

“Excuse me?” Vince said.

“Don’t worry, darling,” Anemone said to him. “Men aren’t the only ones who fall for pretty and empty at least once.”

“Lizzie!” Cash came toward our booth. He tried to lean in and hug me, but I moved back, and Mac turned his shoulders between us to block him, so I sat behind the bulk of the nice fireman and listened to Vince do some kind of quiet growl from the other side of the table. Cash backed off, but he’d accomplished what he wanted: he was close to Anemone.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” Cash said, talking to me but smiling at her.

“You know Vince, Molly and Mac,” I said. “And my mom and my Uncle Dad. And of course, George.”

George glared at Cash. Mom flushed. Day sighed. Vince and Molly and Mac continued to destroy their tenderloins. So did I. My past with Cash was dead and buried with a stake through its heart; a great tenderloin was much more important.

Cash dialed up his dazzling smile. He did have good teeth. And good hair. And classic bone structure. I felt better about Anemone’s summation. The past was the past, as in fifteen years ago when I’d been a clueless teenager. Of course I’d fallen for the teeth, who wouldn’t?

“Come on, Lizzie,” the teeth said. “You know what I mean.”

“Nope.” Conversation in the place was muted as those close strained to hear. It was Burney and this was the best entertainment in town.

Cash dropped me, as he had several times in the past, and turned to Anemone, trying out the smile. “Mrs. Patterson. I’m—”

“Yes, I know,” Anemone said, dismissing him by turning back to me.

He really shouldn’t have dumped me three times in high school. Anemone took that personally.

Then the door opened and even the hushed conversations stopped.

And Vince dropped his sandwich and said, “Move,” to Molly.

Molly scooted out of the booth and Vince slid out after her and stood up, and I looked behind me again and saw Thomas Thacker standing in the doorway.

“So, this is the real Burney,” he announced, smiling. He opened his mouth to say something else, but somebody pushed in from behind him.

“Scuse me, ‘scuse me.” It was some new guy with really obnoxiously styled blond curly hair and a gold badge on his belt that looked a lot like Vince’s new one. “I’m here. What did I miss?”

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