Luke and I were meeting for a nice dinner out, and I was nervous.
He’d been acting oddly since the resolution of Mariah Weller’s murder. Apologizing for working on Sunday and again for putting in overtime early in the week to catch up on all the paperwork involved with putting a murderous villain behind bars for a very long time.
I would have thought he’d stop by to check on me, mostly because he could be a bit of a mother hen when I was under the weather. But he’d checked in frequently by text and phone. How could I begrudge him the time he’d needed to do his job properly? Especially when that job was putting away someone like Will Weller?
But maybe it wasn’t about how I felt. Maybe Luke’s repeated apologies were some sort of foreshadowing. A clue about how he felt. That he didn’t have the time to put into a relationship right now. Especially a relationship with a woman who kept getting herself into all sorts of trouble.
My hand drifted to my neck. The bruises had faded to a horribly unattractive yellowish-green color. They didn’t hurt, but they were a reminder.
Fairmont bumped up against my bare leg and then leaned. I’d opted for a sundress and then wrapped a pretty, feather light scarf around my neck. It might be a little odd, but I’d prefer odd to having those fading bruises on display.
I petted his head. “You’re right. I’m imagining things. Those thoughts aren’t anything more than nonsense.” Luke and I were good.
My pep talk got me through Luke’s somewhat reserved greeting and the relatively quiet drive to the restaurant. It was one we hadn’t gone to before, a good twenty-minute drive.
If I was breaking up with someone, I wouldn’t want to do it in a public place in White Sage. That would feed gossip for the next month. It might even overtake Mariah Weller’s murder.
But that was a ridiculous thought. Luke wouldn’t break up with me on a dinner date. He wouldn’t break up with me at all, not when our feelings for one another hadn’t changed.
And they hadn’t. I loved him. I knew he loved me.
Hmm, I was freaking out. “Can you pull over?”
He shot me a worried look but pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so.
“What’s going on? You haven’t been yourself.”
He squeezed the back of his neck and wouldn’t make eye contact. He also didn’t answer my question.
“Are you breaking up with me?”
Luke’s widened with genuine shock. “No! Hell, no. I’m sorry, that’s not…” He groaned and there was a distinctly frustrated flavor to the sound. “That’s not where I was going with this date.” He gave me a sheepish look. “It’s a really nice restaurant.”
“Where exactly are you going with this?” I couldn’t help that my tone was a little snippy. He was freaking me out.
He reached for my hand, and I immediately relaxed.
“We had plans to go to the drive-in in April.”
“Right.” I had no clue what he was getting at. “Helen and I ended up going.”
“Because I canceled.”
I rolled my eyes. “You had to work. Wasn’t there a drug bust a county over? They needed additional hands. Not like you could say no, given that you rely on them for extra manpower, too. Besides, you have more experience with that sort of thing than anyone else on your staff. And you’d hardly send your guys without going yourself.”
“Yeah, that’s not the point.”
“Ok, then what is the point?” I squeezed his hand and hoped he got the message that I wasn’t upset, but he was still freaking me out a little bit. If he wasn’t breaking up with me, the other option, the flip side, wasn’t as dire but also not one I was ready to contemplate. Even with, basically, the perfect man.
“I’ve canceled our last four scheduled dates for work.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’ve been counting?”
“You haven’t?”
“Luke.”
“Don’t do that. Say my name like that. It makes me want to kiss you.”
I grinned. “Really? That’s good to know.”
He smiled back, but it was tentative.
I laughed. Whatever was happening right now, he wasn’t breaking up with me, and I didn’t think he was going the other direction either.
Then I realized what this was, an apology. “Are we on a guilt date right now?”
“No. We’re on a nice date. If we don’t miss our reservation, at a nice restaurant. With nice wine. Where your nice boyfriend doesn’t stand you up for a change.”
Now he was just being ridiculous. “Since when have you ever stood me up?”
“You’ve already been in one relationship where you were taken for granted.” True fact, but also somewhat more complicated than that. But I didn’t interrupt, and he continued, “I don’t want to be the man who takes you for granted. The one who cancels last minute. The one who’s always making you second best.”
I lifted my hand, stopping him right there. “No. I’m dating you, Luke McCord, Sheriff of Sage County, part-time remodeler of houses, and former football player who can tackle even though he played quarterback. There’s lots more that I won’t mention right now, and you know what I mean.”
He blushed. It was adorable, especially since he was a generous lover and not at all shy in bed.
“My point is that I’m dating all of you. Not just the convenient parts. I love all of you.” I took a deep breath. “Please don’t tell me that you love me less for getting in trouble and doing silly things like running at the crack of dawn across from a killer’s house because I had a passing whim.”
“No. Of course not. I love you just as you are.” He didn’t argue the fact that “just as I was” included the occasional poor life choice. We both knew it was true.
He did look affronted at the idea that I might not know he loved me in my entirety, flaws and all. Hello, irony.
As if I’d give him less grace than he gave me.
I gave him a meaningful look. “Okay then.”
He blinked and waited.
I looked at him, then at the road ahead of us.
He got the hint and asked, “Can I drive us to the restaurant now?”
“Yes, please.” And I said it with a grin because I was happy.
With Luke. The man who didn’t always have a lot of time for me but made every moment we were together one to hold close to my heart.
* * *
Thank you for reading The Sleuthing Granny Gang and the Summer Scandal! I hope you enjoyed Zella’s adventures with her silver-haired sleuth friends. To read the next mystery in Fairmont’s series, grab your copy of Hunting the Traveler’s Tragedy.
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Would you like to read about the day that Zella adopted Fairmont from the shelter? Download Fairmont’s Gotcha Day, an eight-page short story, here. You’ll be asked to sign up for my Cate Lawley/Kate Baray newsletter as a part of the process.
That link again: CateLawley.com/fairmont-finds-bonus
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You don’t have to wait to read more pet cozies from Cate Lawley. Death Retired Mysteries is a paranormal pet cozy with a possessed bobcat. Clarence isn’t near the gentleman that Fairmont is, but underneath his silliness his heart is just as big.
Turn the page for an excerpt from the first book in the series, Death Retires…
Turn the page to read an excerpt…