With a Southern Touch: Adam\A Night in Paradise\Garden Cop by Jennifer Blake

Author:Jennifer Blake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2012-07-01T16:00:00+00:00

Five

Max wasn’t sure why he was at Aurora’s door the following morning. He didn’t really feel apologetic for stringing her along the night before. After all, it had been exactly what she had intended to do to him, whether he deserved it or not. He had decided to come over, he told himself, purely to see that peace was kept in the new almost-family.

It was Angie who opened the door. She had apparently been sleeping, since she was clad in a huge, knee-length sleep shirt with a cartoon character that depicted yawning on the front. She smiled sheepishly when she saw him.

“Hey.”

“Do you always open the door to anyone who knocks, young lady?” he asked her.

“Peephole. I checked you out first,” she assured him.

“How are you doing this morning?”

“Fine.”

“That’s too bad. You deserve a hangover.”

She grinned. “Sorry. And thanks. I guess I was off the deep end a bit.”

“You were fine.”

As he spoke, the phone began to ring. Angie indicated that he should come in as she left the front door and went to the phone. She didn’t pick up the receiver, just stared at the caller ID.

A moment later, after Aurora’s message, a young male voice came on. “Angie, it’s me. Josh. Pick up. Hey, listen, I’m sorry about being a no-show. Give me a call. Soon.”

Angie reached toward the receiver, then drew her hand back.

“It’s the asshole,” she said gravely.

“And you didn’t pick up. And you’re not going to call back,” he reminded her.

She gave him a broad smile. “Right.” Then she said, “Oh! Mom’s not here. Actually, I think she was going to stop by your place before going over to the home. She was trying to work earlier… I mean really earlier. Then she got annoyed and said something about it all being your fault, so she was going to get you and take off for Paradise.” Angie wrinkled her nose.

“Looks like she missed me. What was she working on?”

“Just a little skit. She can usually whip something like that out in an afternoon. And she loves to do the fairy-tale thing, but we do a lot of improvisation when we do the shows at the home. Actually it’s turned into quite an event. To make up what Gran’s insurance doesn’t quite cover, she entertains there on Fridays. Which is cool, because right now it’s the off-season down here.”

He pointed across the room to a desk. “Is that where she works?”

Angie nodded.

“Think she’d mind if I took a look?”

“Yes,” Angie said with a grin. “But I think you should go right ahead.” She swept a hand in the direction of the computer. “How about some coffee?”

“Sounds good. I’ll only be here a minute, though. I just want to take a quick peek.”

In a small town like Paradise, there were bound to be good things and bad things, Aurora thought.

A good thing was the fact that she knew the owner of the inn, and he not only walked her along to Max’s place, but—when Max didn’t answer right away—let her in.

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