Still Waters by Shirlee McCoy

Author:Shirlee McCoy
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2004-11-08T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

The following day Tiffany left the house early, hoping to conduct her business at the police station and be back home in time to meet with a locksmith and an alarm company representative later in the day.

It took three hours to be interviewed, fingerprinted and told she’d be called if there was any information about the case. The process would have taken half the time if Tiffany hadn’t known most of the people that worked at the station. Each of them had to express anger at Tiffany’s break-in and sorrow over her breakup. Usually she would have enjoyed the chitchat, but her nerves were on edge, her equilibrium disturbed by a culmination of the past few weeks’ events.

And the kiss.

Tiffany willingly admitted to herself that Jake’s kiss had left her shaken. Her early trip to the police station had as much to do with a desire to avoid him as it did with wanting to get home at a decent time. So why did her eyes stray while she chatted? Why did she look up every time a door opened? If, as she told herself, she wanted to avoid the man, why was she looking for him around every corner?

Unwilling to think about the answers to those questions, Tiffany left the station and stopped at Becky’s Diner for lunch. She hoped the crowded diner would distract her from her thoughts but the hubbub of activity did little to soothe her feelings. The garden salad she ordered looked delicious, the lettuce crisp, the vegetables shiny and fresh. Tiffany ate alone, nearly choking on every bite, until she finally gave up and pushed the plate away.

She hated salad. She hated eating alone. She hated…

“You look fit to be tied. I can’t recall ever seeing you look so angry. Something to do with last night?”

For a moment Tiffany’s heart froze. Did the whole town know about the kiss? “Last night?”

Doris slid into the booth across from her, brown face creased with worry. “Heard there was trouble at your house last night.”

Relieved, Tiffany tried to smile. “Not much. Just some vandalism. How did you hear about it?”

“Girl, you know rumors fly fast and far around here.” Doris’s dark eyes flashed with humor. “Besides Henry Simmons came in for coffee this morning. He had himself all worked up about it. Kept sayin’ a woman needs a man to ease her way through the world. I about hit him over the head with a frying pan.”

“You seem to have done okay without a man.”

“Oh, I had one once. A long time ago.” Eyes staring into the distance, Doris seemed sad, almost frail.

Tiffany reached out and touched her hand. “I didn’t know you’d been married.”

“Married? It never did get that far.” Doris shook her head, smiling at some memory. “We planned to. I even had a white dress picked out for the occasion.”

“What happened?”

“He died. Killed fighting a war that wasn’t a war.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Doris shook her head again, the motion brusque. “No need. Like I said it was a long time ago.

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