Conundrum in Cape Hope by Winnie Reed

Author:Winnie Reed [Reed, Winne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WinReed

Chapter Fourteen

“My accident? Gosh, that was years ago! Who told you about that?”

Sarah Jackson sat with me on her front porch. I could understand why she didn’t want to invite me in, being a stranger and everything. Part of me would’ve loved the chance to take a look inside. I’d seen enough rambling Victorians in Cape Hope to know how exquisite they could be inside, and this place reminded me a lot of them.

“Janice Perlman. I was just visiting with her. You see, I only wanted to know more about Bob since he and my mom are friends and, you know. Maybe I’m a little overprotective. She’s been out of the game for a long time.”

Guilt practically choked me. She would kill me if she knew I was airing her laundry all over town—the very same thing I usually got furious with her over. I was being such a hypocrite, though I told myself again and again it was all for her benefit.

Which was probably exactly the same sort of thing she told herself about me. Like mother, like daughter. If I started wearing splashy floral prints, I’d be in big trouble.

“Oh, Bob.” She smiled a little, leaning back in her rocking chair. She had the whole wealthy retiree look going on, right down to the sweater knotted around her shoulders. Did people actually dress that way when they were just sitting around the house? It wasn’t like we were out shopping or at the golf course or some other fancy place. Like a champagne brunch or something. “Bob was a lot of fun. He’s a nice man. Not for me, not long-term, but nice.”

“And why is that? If you don’t mind my asking, of course.”

She waved it off. “Maybe he was too nice for me. I think that’s always been my problem. That’s the reason my husband is my ex-husband. It’s why I haven’t managed to hold onto a man for longer than a few months at a time since my divorce. When a man is too nice to me, I decide he has ulterior motives and I push him away.” She spoke like a woman who’d been talking to a therapist for a while. Clearly, it wasn’t doing any good, if she was still repeating the same old patterns.

“Well, I guess of all the reasons to break things off with him, that’s hardly a bad one,” I offered.

“I just can’t believe Janice brought up that accident. Gosh, it was so silly. Granted, I was shaken up for days afterward, to the point where I didn’t want to get behind the wheel. But I got over it. What?” She leaned in a little, frowning. “Did she suggest Bob had something to do with that?”

“Not directly,” I was quick to assure her. “Maybe indirectly. I don’t know, she called him a jinx, and your accident was one of the examples she gave.”

“A jinx? That’s rich, coming even from her,” she laughed. “I mean, you never know what’s going to come out of her mouth, but that’s a new one.

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