Missing by Shelley Shepard Gray

Author:Shelley Shepard Gray [Gray, Shelley Shepard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780062089700
Publisher: Avon Inspire
Published: 2011-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

“Perry loved coconut cream pie. Summer, winter, Christmas? It didn’t matter the occasion. If he came in to the restaurant, why, he’d order it.”

MARY KING YODER

Have you had much of an occasion to visit Mary King’s?” Mose asked after Luke had shaken his hand and they’d exchanged greetings.

“Nope.” Luke looked around at the modest restaurant, housed in a double-wide trailer situated at the edge of town. In Cincinnati, he wouldn’t have gone inside the place unless he’d been told to do so by his sergeant.

But he was learning not to be quite so particular about appearances here. In Crittenden County, appearances were proving to be deceiving. Some of the plainest of places were turning out to be pretty terrific.

Like the current restaurant where they were eating. “Frannie Eicher told me this place was pretty good. I’m looking forward to getting a chicken fried steak.”

Instead of agreeing and opening his plastic menu, Mose tilted his head to the side. “Frannie told you that?”

“Uh-huh. Do you know Frannie? She runs the Yellow Bird Inn.”

Mose chuckled. “I’m sorry. I keep forgetting Frannie is in charge of that place. She didn’t used to be.”

“She is pretty young. How did she come to own it?”

“I’m not rightly sure, if you want to know the truth. Rumor has it that she was good friends with the Gowans.” Mose drummed his fingers on the laminate table. “They were the original owners. Now that I think about it, maybe she lived with them for a time and worked there, too? Or, maybe Mrs. Gowan was her great aunt? You’ll have to ask her for the full story.”

Yeah, that would be the day. He could just see himself asking Frannie all about her childhood, just days after he’d been frank about how his schedule wasn’t her business.

“Mose, what’ll you have?” the server asked, suddenly appearing at their side.

“Chicken fried steak, of course.”

“Mashed potatoes?”

“Uh-hum.”

“Beans or corn?”

“Both.”

“To drink?”

“Iced tea.”

“Sweet?”

“Always.”

Luke bit his lip, having enjoyed watching the conversation lob between them like the final set in a tennis match.

“Sir?” the gal asked.

“I’ll take the exact same thing, except make my tea unsweetened.”

“You got it.” When she turned around, menus in hand, Luke couldn’t help but do some teasing. “So, I guess you come here a lot. You and that waitress have your order down pat.”

Mose grinned. “I come here often enough. And Martha and I do know each other well. A man needs a decent meal every once in a while, you know?”

“I know.”

As he thought about his buddy, and how well-entrenched he was in the county, he couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t put down more roots. “Mose, why haven’t you married yet? There’s got to be some woman around here who would have you.”

Luke waited for his buddy to say the same right back at him. But to his surprise, Mose looked uncomfortable about his situation.

“It’s not so easy finding the right woman, Luke. Especially, you know, given my situation.”

“I thought everyone came to terms with you leaving the order and becoming a sheriff a long time ago.

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