A Rich Man for Dry Creek by Janet Tronstad

Author:Janet Tronstad
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2002-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Steam rose from the sink in the café’s kitchen, but instead of warming the cold air in the room, it only made it damp and more miserable. The drinking glasses from last night felt like they had dew on them as Jenny picked them up to put them in the hot dishwater.

“I should have done these before I left last night,” Jenny half apologized to Linda, who was operating the café with her boyfriend, Duane.

“Are you kidding? It would have been freezing in here then,” Linda said as she reached up to the top shelf and brought down a couple of coffee cups. Linda wore thick, black leggings under a short black leather skirt. “It’s not all that warm right now—would be colder if Duane hadn’t made a large order of biscuits already this morning for the sheriff. The oven doesn’t work right, but it does manage to heat the place some. Any of you want coffee?”

Linda spoke casually and seemingly to the air, but Jenny could see the young woman was not that unfocused. She kept looking at Laurel, Robert’s friend.

Well, it wasn’t so much that Linda was looking at Laurel as it was that she was studying the other woman. Linda, herself, had unnaturally red hair swept up in spikes that were tipped with gold glitter. Her lips were lined with black and one eyebrow was pierced so that a silver ring accented her pixie face.

She looked an unlikely woman to be so taken with Laurel, but she obviously was.

Jenny couldn’t really blame her. Laurel looked as if she belonged in some classic movie. All she needed was a feather boa and one of those little dogs named Fluffy. Laurel should be lounging in a late-night dinner club. Actually, she would fit in almost anywhere better than this tiny café kitchen in Dry Creek, Montana, with its worn linoleum and chipped appliances.

Laurel wore a champagne silk dress. She had gold chains draped around her neck and diamond earrings dripping from her earlobes. Her lips weren’t just red, they were glossy. She looked like she’d bitten into a large berry and kept the stain on her lips and fingertips. Her cheeks were smoothly colored and her platinum blond hair was ruffled expertly. There had to be mousse involved, but it didn’t show. Laurel had the kind of casual elegance that costs a fortune.

If the woman didn’t look so stiff, Jenny would have cheerfully hated her.

Jenny had deliberately decided not to compete with Laurel’s style. Jenny was wearing a pair of black sweatpants, a white T-shirt and a large beige sweater. Nothing draped from her neck or dripped from her ears. Her only ornament was the small pin on her sweater announcing she had donated money to a Seattle animal shelter. Her only makeup was lip balm that she’d put on to keep her lips from becoming cracked in the winter weather. Her hair was clean and combed. That was about it.

“Or I could make you some tea if you’d like,” Linda offered shyly, now addressing her remarks to the glamorous Laurel.

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