Miss You Most of All by Elizabeth Bass

Author:Elizabeth Bass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2011-03-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Stephen at the farm was such an oddity that in the first moment Heidi couldn’t quite wrap her mind around it. It seemed more likely that she was hallucinating than that he was actually standing there on the front porch with Laura’s pig gun trained on him. Adding to the plucked-from-her-nightmares feel of the situation was the fact that his hands were lifted like a cornered burglar’s, and that he was surrounded by dogs and the women guests, and that Fred the chicken stood just at Laura’s heels like Laura’s second in command.

But in the next moment the surprise dulled and alarm took over. Did Laura intend to kill him?

She hopped out of the car before Rue had brought it to a full stop and charged toward the front porch. “What are you doing!”

Laura pivoted, though the gun remained pointed at Stephen’s side. “This guy showed up looking for you. From New York. I wasn’t going to take any chances.”

The guests were all huddled a safe distance away from both the questionable visitor and Laura’s gun. Heidi looked at them cowering and rolled her eyes. “This is Stephen,” she told Laura. “Stephen, not Vinnie.”

Stephen’s arms, still raised, gestured in exasperation. “I told her that.”

“How was I to know you were telling the truth?”

“I showed you ID!” said Stephen, irked.

Laura scoffed. “Do you think I just fell off the turnip truck? IDs can be faked.”

“A whole walletful?”

“Where are Webb and Herman and Dylan?” Rue asked.

“They took a load of trash to the dump,” Laura replied.

What a mess. “Put the gun away, Laura,” Heidi said. “This is not a predator.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell Annie Oakley there,” Becca piped up. All the guests seemed a little braver now. “This little tiger doesn’t have the look of a mobster.”

“Mobster?” Heidi glowered at Laura. “What have you been telling people?”

“You should be thankful I’m not letting people waltz up to the house and shoot you,” Laura said.

Poor Stephen. His pale lips quivered in indignation, but even his anger wasn’t the least bit threatening. In New York Heidi had always considered him a pleasantly solid guy, but here in the noon sun, standing right next to lean, rope-muscled Laura, he seemed almost Pillsbury Doughboyish.

She smiled at him apologetically. Some gesture was probably in order, but she couldn’t quite figure out what that would be. A hug seemed way too intimate, but shaking hands would feel weird. Having six curious women witness their reunion wasn’t making things any less awkward.

Rue saw the problem and jumped into the breach. “Well! I’ll bet everybody’s ready for a tea break.”

Watching Rue herd the guests inside, Heidi felt renewed admiration. That X-ray had to be lodged in the forefront of her mind. In her shoes, Heidi wouldn’t have given a damn about the arrival of some strange guy from New York. She sent her friend a silent thank-you.

And then there was Laura, who would not be budged. She loomed above Stephen, sizing him up with her cool stare.

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