"Something smells good," I said when I walked in the kitchen that evening after closing up shop. Bella left her post next to Cooper, where she was waiting patiently for him to share some food, and came to rub herself up against me.
“Hey, girl. I missed you today.” I bent over and rubbed her ears. “Thanks for picking them up from the flower shop for me.”
"No problem. The smell is barbecue ribs that I just took off the grill. I used a new peach BBQ glaze that I’ve been dying to try," Cooper said.
"I love that you’re willing to grill all year long. Anything you need me to do to get dinner ready?" I said as I looked around at the table, which was already set. “Where’s Topknot?”
"Let’s see. Willie ran up to take a shower really quick, and Topknot went with him. There's coleslaw in the refrigerator, so I guess you could grab that, and then I'm getting ready to take some baked beans out of the oven. There's already a pitcher of iced tea on the table, but we need glasses and ice."
"Topknot really likes Willie. He’s always following Willie around. Is today some special occasion I forgot about? Why are we eating so fancy?"
"It's been a long week, and I just had a hankering for some ribs."
"I'm certainly not complaining.”
Any meal I didn’t have to cook was a good meal. I set my purse and bag down on a little table in the corner of the kitchen and then went to the refrigerator to grab the coleslaw, setting it on the kitchen table while Cooper did the same with the baked beans before platting the ribs. The tangy barbeque aroma made my taste buds tingle and Bella sat watching us and drooling at all the yummy smells. I was just getting ready to yell up the stairs for Willie when he came down holding Topknot.
"Good timing," I said as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “I take it Topknot was hanging out in your room again?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what it is about my room or that bed he likes so much.”
“I think he just likes you,” I said.
“Well, I like him too and I didn't want to be late to this meal. I know you like your ribs," he said teasingly.
"Are you implying that if you weren't down here in time, I might eat them all?" I said, pretending to be offended.
"No. That's not what I'm saying at all," he said, giving me a wink.
"I made plenty for everyone, so even if Presley is extra hungry there should be enough," Cooper said.
"I don't think I like your attitude. Either of you," I said, snatching three ribs from the plate before they could. There wasn't any easy way to eat barbeque ribs besides using your fingers, and we didn't even bother with small talk until we were halfway through the platter of ribs.
“How was work today?" I finally said to Cooper.
"It was another busy, jam-packed week. I honestly never thought the job would be this hard from a constantly go, go, go standpoint. It's meetings, meetings, and more meetings. It seems like no one is happy and they just want to complain without offering any real solution. It's… a lot."
"Do you regret running?" I ask.
Cooper shook his head. "Not at all. I’m just busier than I expected. It’s tiring at times, but it's also invigorating, and I feel like I'm making a little bit of a difference. That’s what’s important to me.”
"I'm sure you're making a huge difference. Has Dale been in again to bug you?"
"Surprisingly, no. Though I heard you had a run-in with Nikki at the bank," Cooper said with a grin.
I could see Willie grinning as well out of the corner of my eye. "There was no run-in," I said defensively. "I had to take a deposit to the bank and while I was there, I just happened to ask her a couple questions."
"Well, she was none too happy," Cooper said.
"Did she come down to City Hall and complain about me?" I said, feeling myself get angry. Who did that? Run to someone's husband and complain. Even if he was the mayor.
"She didn't come to City Hall to complain. Tobey stopped by the bank to deposit something in his personal account, and you had just been there. She was pretty fired up."
That was a little better than her actually seeking Cooper out to complain.
"Well, I guess I can't exactly blame her. I did ask her about the problem she had with Susan, and she was rightfully upset. I can’t blame her for being angry at Susan.”
"Well, don't keep us in suspense. What did Susan do?" Willie said.
"Nikki's family and another family who had a kid in Susan's class are vegans."
"Since when is not eating meat a crime? Though I certainly wouldn’t live that way," he said as he took a noisy bite of his ribs.
"To each his own. How could an issue over dietary habits have gotten so out of hand?” Cooper said.
"Susan turned them in to child protective services for child abuse.” At that comment both men stopped eating and looked at me with almost the same surprised expression.
"You’ve got to be kidding me! Susan turned them in because they are vegan?" Cooper said.
"Apparently she first lectured the mothers on how they were harming their children by not giving them enough protein, and when they said they weren’t going to change their vegan lifestyle, she apparently turned them in. I’m sure the families didn’t think she would actually turn them in, since they knew they weren’t doing anything wrong.”
“I’m sure they weren’t. They were probably shocked when child protective services showed up.”
“They were. That's why Nikki hated her, and that's why the principal was trying to subtly get her to retire early. From what he told me, it wasn't the first time she had really riled up a parent with some inappropriate comments on how they should live their life.”
"You talked to the principal?" Cooper said, reaching for his iced tea glass and taking a drink.
"Yeah. I wanted to see firsthand if there was any truth to what Dale said about the principal and this Nikki Wainscot who had it in for Susan."
"Do you think they would go so far as to kill her?" Willie asked.
"The principal? Not at all. He was concerned about Susan and her interference with family issues, but not angry about it, even though I know it would've made his job easier had she taken early retirement.”
“I doubt this is the biggest issue he's dealing with as a principal. As far as Nikki goes.”
“Tobey said she was irate,” Cooper supplied.
“The bank isn’t open on Saturdays, so if Nikki knew about Susan and the flower arranging contest, she could've possibly found Susan at the right time and locked her in the cooler, but there would have been a lot of luck involved. My money is on this Josie MacArthur person,” I finished up my assessment.
"Dare I ask who Josie MacArthur is?" Cooper asked.
I went into a few minutes of explanation of who she was, how she was supposedly the best in the business, and how she'd already tried to step in and get our space at the festival.
I could see Willie trying to hide a grin behind his napkin.
"Do you have something say?" I asked him.
"You haven't even met this Josie woman and you’re making assumptions. As much as neither Cooper nor I want you to get involved in police matters, if you're going to do it, at least do it the right way. And that's by not jumping to conclusions."
"I know. The woman just rubs me the wrong way, which is saying something, because like you said, I haven't even met her yet. I’m probably projecting a little. I’m frustrated because it's going to be hard to pull this contest off without Susan. I'll be darned if I let Josie beat me in the contest. I didn't really care much about it before, but now I'm determined. We’re the home team. I can’t let Josie win."
"Well, I'm sure whatever you do will turn out fabulous," Cooper said.
"Thank you. If only it was that easy. Now, did any of you get a dessert by any chance?"
After we finished dinner and the apple pie that Willie had picked up at Betty's Baked Goods for dessert, Willie went to his room. He said he was going to spend some time on the computer looking for places to live in Hunter’s Hollow. Cooper and I went into the living room.
"What's your plan for tomorrow," I asked him once we took a seat next to each other on the couch, Bella at our feet and Topknot jumping on the couch and wiggling his tail feathers to sit between us. He had been going to the office on weekends ever since he took office, so I figured tomorrow would be no different.
"Since I haven't had a weekend off, or even a day off for that matter, since I took office and we do need to get the farmhouse painted so we can start packing to move, I thought we could spend the weekend painting."
"That doesn't sound fun at all."
"It's not. But painting the farmhouse ourselves will save money, and painting is kind of fun… or at least satisfying."
"True, there's kind of that sense of accomplishment when you get finished and everything looks pretty and pristine with the new coat of paint. Do you think they will have the color we want at the hardware store?"
"I already ordered it earlier this week."
"You did? But we haven't even decided on a color," I said, sitting up straight and looking over at him, jostling Topknot, who squawked in protest.
"Don't worry. I ordered the light gray that you wanted."
“Cooper! Thanks," I said and reached over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"You're welcome. So tomorrow after breakfast we'll head over."
"Sounds good. Can we stop at Adams Creek Farm on the way? I want to talk to Scott." “Sure.”
I knew we needed get the painting done, but it would only take a few minutes. The Fall Harvest Festival was in a week, and I wanted to talk to Scott about this Josie MacArthur person and just see how much competition she was really going to be.