Putting Out Old Flames by Allyson Charles

Author:Allyson Charles [Charles, Allyson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-06-13T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“That has got to be the tastiest thing ever.” Sharon licked her spoon clean, her eyes pinned to the large glass window of the Apothic Garden.

“The soup here is fantastic.”

Sharon shot her a disgusted look. “I’m not talking about soup. I’m talking about that hoard of delicious half-naked men pounding away in your mother’s store.”

It hadn’t taken much arm-twisting on Sharon’s part to get Jane to take part in her reconnaissance mission. Spying on the men of Firehouse 10 was a hobby for the women of Pineville, and when her friend had heard the firemen were going to be hammering nails in her mother’s store, well, it was on.

Behind her sunglasses, Jane darted a glance up and down the sidewalk. The pair sat under the umbrella of a sidewalk table at Soup’s On, the hole-in-the-wall eatery next to her mom’s store. Still no sign of her mother.

Jane tried to relax. She shouldn’t be there. Her mom and the owner of Soup’s On, Mr. Kane, had previously had some differences of opinion on Mr. Kane’s contribution to the downtown society’s beautification project. Or lack thereof. Every other business owner on Main Street had donated to the project. Her mother had decided to never patronize that “free rider’s” restaurant again.

And she’d decided Jane should join the boycott. Jane lifted her spoon to her mouth and sighed, her stomach doing a happy dance. She’d missed the soup.

Fabulous food, a great show—two firemen held up a large section of sheetrock while a third hammered it to the studs—it was a perfect afternoon. If her mom didn’t catch her supporting the enemy.

“Did you see that young one with the tattoo?” Sharon fanned herself with her hand. “Whoo boy. I wouldn’t kick that one out of bed for eating crackers.”

“Martinez? He’s barely twenty.” Jane swirled her spoon in her split pea. “Don’t be that.”

“What?”

“A cougar,” Jane said. “There’s nothing wrong with a little May-December romance, but Martinez is still a kid. Mentally anyway.” She wrinkled her nose. “That’s just not right.”

“Cougars are in their forties.” Sharon pinned her with a glare. “Do I look forty to you?”

Shaking her head, Jane kept her mouth shut. Opening it now could be dangerous.

Her friend returned her gaze to the construction crew. “For a shot at one of those guys, I might admit to being a bobcat, though.”

Jane snorted. Sharon was beautiful, and any one of those guys would be lucky to spend time with her. She just didn’t think her friend would appreciate a date of fast food and video games, something Jane knew from local gossip that Martinez specialized in.

“You need sunglasses,” Jane said. “Behind them at least you could pretend that you aren’t drooling over our firemen. This is downright embarrassing.”

“Sunglasses mess up my hair,” Sharon said, her focus never wavering. Jane discreetly glanced at said hair. The bangs were still cemented two inches straight up. Only a sledgehammer could mess up that hair.

“Besides,” her friend continued, “I’ve noticed your eyes taking in the man scenery once or twice.

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