Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel) (19 page)

A long red and chrome counter ran the length of one side of the restaurant, and a chalkboard listed the daily specials of
Chicken ‘Potsie’ Pie
and
Macaroni and ChaChi-eese.

As they waited for their food, Cassie and Maggie commiserated over their kids’ lack of summer activities and too much time spent on their computers. They laughed and sipped their cokes, and it felt like such a fun, normal day that Sunny hesitated to tell them of her previous evening’s adventure.

The waitress appeared at the table balancing three plates on her arm and set them ceremoniously down in front of each woman.

“Your salad,” she said to Cassie, as she set a plate, chock full of bright green crispy leaves of romaine and strips of char-grilled chicken, in front of her.

“Your salad.” She set a similar plate in front of Maggie, but added a small ramekin of creamy Caesar dressing to the table.

“And your salad,” she said to Sunny, as she set her plate before her, the tantalizing scent of grilled hamburger filling the air.

Sunny looked down at the gooey cheddar cheese that dripped over the sides of the burger and the pile of crispy seasoned fries and without blinking an eye, replied, “Thank you, it looks delicious.”

Maggie and Cassie laughed, then dug into their crunchy salads. Sunny picked up a fry and nibbled on one end. “So, I hate to put a damper on our fun lunch, but something’s happened, and I wanted to tell you about it before Edna called you and blew it all out of proportion.” 

“Ooo-kay.” Maggie’s fork full of lettuce stopped halfway to her mouth. A drop of dressing clung to the side of one leaf where Maggie had dipped it into the dish of Caesar. “This sounds serious.”

“No, not really,” Sunny assured them. “It’s not that big of deal. It’s just that late last night, someone tried to break into my bedroom window.”

“What?” Cassie choked on the gulp of Diet Coke she had
almost
swallowed. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, thanks to Beau. He practically jumped out the window, barking like a crazy dog and scared the guy off. Jake and Edna both came over because they heard him barking and evidently I must have screamed quite loudly.”   She looked down at her plate in embarrassment and crammed two more ketchup sodden fries into her mouth.

“Did you call the police?”  Cassie asked, just as Maggie said, “Jake to the rescue again, huh?”

“Yes, we called the police,” Sunny said to Cassie, then pointed at Maggie before adding, “and I said Jake
and
Edna came to the rescue. Only Edna was more dressed than Jake- but he was more armed than her. But just barely.”

Maggie set down her fork. “Okay, start from the beginning, and don’t leave anything out, especially what Jake was obviously
not wearing
. I’m dying to know what weapon in Edna’s arsenal she showed up with to save the day.”

“A can of Mace and a Taser gun.” Sunny smirked. “She was ready to shock Jake a good one when she flew into the house and almost caught us making out on the sofa.”

“Oh, my,” Cassie said. “You better tell us everything, and Maggie, put that damn phone away before I break off one of your fingers. No texting at the table. I swear you are like one of the kids.”

Maggie looked up guiltily from where she had indeed been texting beneath the table with a
Who, me?
expression on her face. “Sorry.”

Sunny began with the phone call from Jeremy and told the girls everything that had happened the night before. Between bites of cheeseburger, she calmly replayed the events as if they were a television show she had seen, or as if they had happened to someone else. Because they were her two best friends, she also told them about the couch time with Jake.

“I don’t know what came over me,” she said. She licked the traces of salt from her fingers. “I don’t know what it is about this guy. We haven’t even found Walter’s body or confirmed his death. My house is almost broken into, I know next to nothing about this man, and what I do know is probably a lie… and yet, every time I’m within three feet of him, I want to jump his bones.”

“Maybe you should take a few steps back,” Cassie said, a worried look on her face. “It may sound like I’m joking, but I’m not. Sunny, I understand he is seriously hot, but hot equals fire, and I think that’s what you’re messing with here.” 

“Maybe I want a little fire,” Sunny said. “I’ve spent the last several years hanging out in dating Antarctica. Maybe a little heat is exactly what I need.”

“Well, gosh, I hate to be the voice of reason here, but men
can
lie, and they
can
cheat, and they
can
use you if it helps them get what they need,” Maggie said.

“But what could he possibly
need
from me?” 

“Besides the obvious?” Maggie asked. “Who knows
?
Like you said, we don’t really know anything about this guy. Why is he here
?
Where is he
really
from
?
He is Walter’s relative, but why hasn’t he planned some type of memorial
?
Walter does have a nice-sized estate, so he has motive for killing him. Because of the fire, there’s no body, so he may have committed the perfect crime and is currently getting away with it.”

“Maybe Edna has a point,” Cassie added. “Could Jake have been the one who tried to break in and scare you, then showed up as the hero to try to gain your trust?”

“I don’t know. That doesn’t feel right,” Sunny said. “Why would he need my trust
?
He keeps telling me he’ll keep me safe, and that I should trust
him
.”

“Mags, can you use any of your connections to try to find out more about this guy?”  Cassie asked. “Surely you know somebody who could do a little digging into his background or find out more about him?”

“I’ll give it a try. But if Jake wasn’t the one trying to break in, then who was
?
Do you think Hank the Tank has taken stalking to the next level?”

Sunny took a sip of her soda. “I hate to believe it, but the alternative would mean there’s a third unknown man who tried to break into my house, and that
really
scares me.”

“Well, I’ll talk to Matt again and make sure he’s had that chat with Hank.”  Cassie reached across the table and took Sunny’s hand. “I’m really sorry this is happening to you, honey.”

“Thanks, Cass.” Sunny squeezed her friend’s hand. “I’ll be fine. I just need to get Jake out of my head.”

“I think the recipe for that is one cup of hot cowboy served on a bed of tight Wranglers.” Maggie wiggled her eyebrow and gave Sunny a wicked smile.

“Ooo yeah,” Cassie said. “Has Levi called you yet?”

“Yeah, he called yesterday afternoon and invited me out to his ranch for a horseback ride this Saturday.”

“How does he feel about you bringing a sassy gray-haired chaperone along?” Maggie asked.

“He laughed and said he thought it would be fine. He doesn’t really seem to be fazed by much. He seems to have the ‘good ole boy’ thing going on.”  

“Piper is really excited for you to meet him,” Cassie said.

“Tell her not to get her hopes up. I’m not much of a cowgirl. I’ve never even ridden a horse before.” 

“You’ll be fine,” Maggie assured her. “Even little kids can ride a horse. Go and enjoy yourself and forget about all this other stuff for awhile.”

“You girls having any dessert
?
The special today is Mrs. C’s Cheery Cobbler,” the waitress said on her next pass by their table. The girls shook their heads no, and she slapped the check upside down on their table.

“I got this one,” Maggie said, as Sunny and Cassie reached for their purses. She pulled a credit card from her immaculately organized leather wallet and slid it under the check.

“Cassie, you made a good point about doing some kind of memorial for Walter. Maybe I’ll just stop over at Walter’s this afternoon and see if Jake’s given it any thought,” Sunny said.

“No!” both Maggie and Cassie cried together.

“First of all, the police haven’t declared Walter dead yet, so let’s wait on the memorial service idea,” Maggie said. “Also, I think you need some time to think this through, so as of now, you’re on a ‘Jake-Break’. Give it a few days before you see him again. Maybe he won’t seem so great when you’re not in the middle of a stressful situation.”

Sunny sighed. “I don’t think the stress has anything to do with his smile or his abs or the way he fills out his Levi’s.”

“Oh, brother,” Maggie said. “A few months ago, we could barely get you to even notice men. Now you’re dating and mashing with dangerous strangers and talking about how they fill out their jeans. I think we’ve created a monster.”

* * *

This Jake-Break didn’t last long.
He was the first person Sunny saw as she pulled into the driveway and stepped from the car.

Jake walked across the lawn, holding a brown plastic Home Depot bag. “You gonna be home for a little while?” He fell in step with her as she walked up the drive.

“Sure, what’s going on?” Sunny asked as she unlocked the front door. Beau greeted her with his usual licking, butt-wagging and running around as if he hadn’t seen her in weeks.

“That’s quite a greeting.” Jake laughed as Beau ran around him, jumping and trying to lick his hand.

“Yeah, if only I could get him to cook, clean house, and put the toilet seat down, he could be the perfect man,” Sunny teased.

“I know how to put the toilet seat down, and I make a mean cheese omelet.” Jake’s eyes conveyed a message her body heard loud and clear.

“Well, uh, what’s in the bag?” Sunny stammered as she tried to veer away from that dangerous topic. Didn’t she just agree with her two best friends that she should take a step back from Jake and try to look at him more objectively?

“New deadbolts for your door.” Jake pulled two packages of shiny gold deadbolts from the bag. “I was in Home Depot earlier today and picked these up for you. After last night, I thought it might make you feel a little safer to have an extra lock on the doors. If you’re gonna be around for awhile, I’ll install them for you.”

“Oh, sure. I was going to work in the yard this afternoon, so I’ll be around. That’s really nice of you.” She wasn’t trying to be coy, she just couldn’t help but smile at the guy. He had gone to Home Depot for her, after all.

“It’s my pleasure,” he replied with a grin that might have made her heart skip a beat or two. “I’ll be right back. I’ve got to grab some tools.” 

He headed for Walter’s as Sunny blissfully watched his retreating backside.
Oh, you’ve already got plenty of tools.

Sunny giggled at herself and went into the house to change into some shorts. Beau followed, and she shut the door behind her as she tried not to think about the way Jake had said the wor
ds ‘my pleasure
’
.

16

“What does she see in that fake surfer-boy wanna-be?” he seethed. From in his car parked down the block, he had watched as Sunny had stepped from her car and Jake had come across the lawn toward her.

His blood boiled as she smiled and flirted with another man.

How could she not see through him?
He had waited for her to get home so he could talk to her and tell her he was sorry for scaring her last night. He had only wanted to watch her. He had no intention of actually entering her house.

But seeing her smile while she talked on the phone, and the way she absently played with that one wet tendril of hair that had fallen loose from the clip on her head, had done crazy things to him.

When she had hung up the phone, he had called her again just to hear her voice. He planned on telling her how much he cared for her and wanted to see her again, but when she answered, the words froze in his mouth. He could do nothing but stare at her. He wanted to say everything right so she would really understand that her future was with him. That instead of petting that stupid dog, she should be caressing him, telling him in her sweet way how much she adored and wanted him.

But her face changed when she answered the phone. She had looked angry and scared as she told him to quit calling her.
How could she mean that
?
He hadn’t planned to enter her room, hadn't meant to scare her. All he wanted to do was make her understand they were right for each other. But she'd seen his glove as he reached through the curtain. Then that damn mutt went crazy and tried to attack him.

He had gotten out of there fast, but not before he saw the lights go on in Walter’s house, and that damn Jake bolted out the door and headed for Sunny’s.

Why did Jake get to go over there and be the hero?
He would probably take her in his arms, and she would just give herself to him.

He slammed his fist against the steering wheel, and then took a deep breath to calm down. If she would give him a chance to explain, she would realize how he felt, and they could put this whole misunderstanding behind them.